This series, specially commissioned by the Economic History Society, provides a guide to the current interpretations of the key themes of economic and social history in which advances have recently been made or in which there has been significant debate. Originally entitled 'Studies in Economic History', in 1974 the series had its scope extended to include topics in social history, and the new series title, 'Studies in Economic and Social History', signalises this development. The series gives readers access to the best work done, helps them to draw their own conclusions in major fields of study, and by means of the critical bibliography in each book guides them in the selection offurther reading. The aim is to provide a springboard to further work rather than a set of prepackaged conclusions or shortcuts. ECONOMIC HISTORY SOCIETY The Economic History Society, which numbers over 3000 members, publishes the Economic History Review four times a year (free to members) and holds an annual conference. Enquiries about membership should be addressed to the Assistant Secretary, Economic History Society, Peterhouse, Cambridge. Full-time students may join the Society at special rates.

Britain's privatized railways continue to provoke debate about the organization, financing, and development of the railway system. This important book provides an authoritative account of the progress made by British Rail prior to privatization, and a unique insight into its difficult role in the government's privatization planning from 1989. Based on free access to the British Railway Board's archives, the book provides an analysis of the main themes: a process of continuous organizational change; the existence of a persistent government audit; perennial investment restraints; the directive to reduce operating costs and improve productivity; a concern with financial performance, technological change, service quality, and the management of industrial relations; and the Board's ambiguous position as the Conservative government pressed home its privatization programme. The introduction of sector management from 1982 and the ‘Organizing for Quality’ initiative of the early 1990s, the Serpell Report on railway finances of 1983, the sale of the subsidiary businesses, the large-scale investment in the Channel Tunnel, and the obsession with safety which followed the Clapham accident of 1988, are all examined. In the conclusion, the book reviews the successes and failures of the public sector, rehearses the arguments for and against integration in the railway industry, and contrasts what many have termed ‘the golden age’ of the mid-late 1980s, when the British Rail-government relationship was arguably at its most effective, with what has happened since 1994.

An examination of the chief executives of leading British railways from 1850 through 1922 indicates that they emerged from predominantly upper-middle and upper class origins, and that they represented a new kind of bureaucratic business elite which enjoyed rising incomes and growing social status. In addition, available evidence reveals nothing to suggest that “executive immobility” was characteristic of British railway management, or that the railways were particularly inefficient or unprogressive in their choice of senior managers.

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