<P> Many of the first public railways were built as local rail links operated by small private railway companies . With increasing rapidity, more and more lines were built, often with scant regard for their potential for traffic . The 1840s were by far the biggest decade for railway growth . In 1840, when the decade began, railway lines in Britain were few and scattered but, within ten years, a virtually complete network had been laid down and the vast majority of towns and villages had a rail connection and sometimes two or three . Over the course of the 19th and early 20th centuries, most of the pioneering independent railway companies amalgamated or were bought by competitors, until only a handful of larger companies remained (see Railway Mania). </P> <P> The period also saw a steady increase in government involvement, especially in safety matters . The 1840 "Act for Regulating Railways" empowered the Board of Trade to appoint railway inspectors . The Railway Inspectorate was established in 1840, to enquire into the causes of accidents and recommend ways of avoiding them . As early as 1844, a bill had been put before Parliament suggesting the state purchase of the railways; this was not adopted . It did, however, lead to the introduction of minimum standards for the construction of carriages and the compulsory provision of 3rd class accommodation for passengers - so - called "Parliamentary trains". </P> <P> The entire network was brought under government control during the First World War and a number of advantages of amalgamation and planning were revealed . However, the Conservative members of the wartime coalition government resisted calls for the formal nationalisation of the railways (first proposed by William Ewart Gladstone as early as the 1840s) in 1921 . </P> <P> On 1 January 1923, almost all the railway companies were grouped into the Big Four: the Great Western Railway, the London and North Eastern Railway, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway and the Southern Railway companies . A number of other lines, already operating as joint railways, remained separate from the Big Four; these included the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway and the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway . The "Big Four" were joint - stock public companies and they continued to run the railway system until 31 December 1947 . </P>

When were the first railways built in england