| 1634 | Sir Richard Dunscombe introduces the sedan chair to London. | ||
| 1784 | Mail coaches introduced. | ||
| 1801 | Surrey Iron Railway authorised by Parliament. | ||
| 1829 | Metropolitan Police Force established. | ||
| George Shillabeer commences the first horse-drawn omnibus service between Paddington Green and the Bank. | |||
| 1832 | First legislation covering buses, Stage Carriage Act 1832, enacted. Railway companies to pay a duty of ½d (0.4p) per mile for every four passengers carried. | ||
| 1833 | London & Greenwich Railway authorised. | ||
| 1836 | London & Greenwich Railway opened between London Bridge and Deptford. | ||
| Commercial Railway authorised, later renamed as the London & Blackwall Railway. | |||
| 1837 | Grand Junction Railway opened throughout. | ||
| First section of Great Western Railway opened. | |||
| 1838 | London & Greenwich Railway completed. | ||
| Further legislation requires buses to display licences and number of passengers allowed prominently, while drivers and conductors working within ten miles of General Post Office licensed with numbered badges. First Registrar of Metropolitan Public Carriages appointed by Home Secretary. | |||
| Paddington and Euston stations opened. | |||
| 1839 | Commercial Railway renamed as London & Blackwall Railway. | ||
| Extension of L&BR to Fenchurch Street authorised. | |||
| 1840 | London & Blackwall railway opens. | ||
| First legislation on railway safety. | |||
| Board of Trade given powers to regulate the railways. | |||
| 1841 | Christmas Eve, a Great Western train derailed at Sonning, killing eight passengers, forces Parliament to take a closer interest in the railways. | ||
| 1842 | Mileage duty on omnibuses reduced from 3d per mile to 1½d per mile. | ||
| Railway Clearing House starts business. | |||
| HM Queen Victoria makes her first railway journey, travelling between Slough and Paddington. | |||
| Midland Railway formed from amalgamation of three smaller companies. | |||
| 1844 | ‘Gladstone’s Act, The Railway Regulation Act 1844, provides for ‘Parliamentary Trains’ with low fares and also permits nationalisation in the future. | ||
| Midland Railway formed on amalgamation of Birmingham & Derby Junction, Midland Counties and North Midland Railways. | |||
| 1845 | Gauge Commission starts work, and in twelve months supports 4 ft 8½ in as standard gauge, but makes exception for Great Western and its associated lines. | ||
| 1846 | London & North Western Railway formed on amalgamation of Grand Junction (which included the Liverpool & Manchester), London & Birmingham and Manchester & Birmingham Railways. Royal Commission on Railway Termini within or in the immediate vicinity of the Metropolis appointed. | ||
| 1847 | Collection of duties transferred from the Commissioners of Stamps to the Commissioners of Excise. | ||
| 1850 | Metropolitan Public Carriages Office closed and duties transferred to the Metropolitan Police, with Public Carriage Office opened on 10 April. | ||
| 1851 | 1 May to 15 October 1851, Great Exhibition opens at the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park. | ||
| London & South Western Railway extended from Nine Elms to Waterloo. | |||
| GWR introduces season tickets on London suburban services. | |||
| 1855 | World’s first special postal train introduced by the Great Western Railway between London and Bristol: no passengers carried until 1869, when first-class accommodation added. | ||
| London General Omnibus Company formed in Paris as the Compagnie General des Omnibus de Londres. | |||
| The government duty on horse omnibuses reduced from 1½ d a mile to 1d. | |||
| 1858 | Local Government Act limits rating assessments of railway property to a quarter of their net value. | ||
| London General Omnibus Company transfers its head office to London. | |||
| 1862 | Chalk Farm: London & North Western Railway lays first standard production steel rails. | ||
| 1863 | Metropolitan Railway opens between Paddington and Farringdon using mixed GWR broad gauge and standard gauge. | ||
| 1866 | Bankers Overend Gurney collapse on 10 May with gross liabilities of £18 million, forcing many railway companies into receivership. Duty on horse omnibuses reduced from 1d per mile to ¼ d. | ||
| 1867 | Metropolitan Railway changes to standard gauge. | ||
| 1868 | First section of the Metropolitan District Railway, the ‘District’, opens between South Kensington and Westminster Bridge. | ||
| St Pancras Station opens. | |||
| Tower Subway Company opens tube tunnel under the River Thames. | |||
| Government nationalises telegraph companies, many of which are owned by railway companies. | |||
| 1869 | Duties on horse drawn public transport removed. | ||
| Responsibility for horse buses passed to the Metropolitan Police under the Metropolitan Public Carriage Act, which took effect in 1870. | |||
| 1870 | Tramways Act provides statutory basis for street tramways. | ||
| 1871 | Railway Regulation Act imposes duty to report all accidents, not just involving passengers. | ||
| 1872 | Third-class passengers conveyed by all trains on the Midland and Great Eastern Railways. | ||
| 1873 | First-class sleeping cars introduced on services to Scotland from King’s Cross. Two months later, Euston follows. | ||
| 1874 | Midland Railway introduces Britain’s first Pullman cars. | ||
| 1875 | Bogie coaches appear. | ||
| Midland Railway abolishes second-class fares and scraps or upholsters third-class carriages. | |||
| First electrical passenger emergency communication introduced on London Brighton & South Coast Railway. | |||
| 1879 | Dining cars introduced by Great Northern Railway between King’s Cross and Leeds. | ||
| 1881 | London Brighton & South Coast Railway experiments with electric lighting in Pullman car. | ||
| 1884 | Metropolitan and Metropolitan District Railways complete Inner Circle, the ‘Circle’, and connection with East London Railway. | ||
| 1885 | First mail train between King’s Cross and Aberdeen, but no passenger accommodation. | ||
| 1888 | ‘Race to the North’ between Euston and King’s Cross Anglo-Scottish expresses. | ||
| 1889 | Regulation of Railways Act enforces the use of block system, interlocking of signals and points, and continuous fail-safe brakes on passenger trains. | ||
| London County Council formed. | |||
| 1890 | City & South London Railway opened, the first underground electric railway. | ||
| 1892 | Great Western Railway introduced corridor carriages, although initially only guards can use corridor connections. | ||
| Great Western Railway completes conversion to standard gauge. | |||
| 1895 | Race to Aberdeen with West Coast train covering 541 miles in 8 hrs 32 mins against East Coast train covering 523½ miles in 8 hrs 38 mins. | ||
| 1896 | The Locomotives on Highways Act raises speed limit and removes many restrictions on mechanically-powered roads vehicles. | ||
| 1898 | Waterloo & City Railway opens, ending Waterloo’s isolation. | ||
| 1899 | South Eastern & Chatham Railway formed by combining services of London Chatham & Dover and South Eastern railways. | ||
| 1900 | Central London Railway opens. | ||
| 1902 | Underground Electric Railways Group formed by Yerkes. | ||
| 1904 | Great Western City of Truro sets unofficial speed record of more than 100 mph. | ||
| Great Western Railway inaugurates non-stop running between Paddington and Plymouth. | |||
| Motor Car Act 1903 takes effect, requiring drivers to be licensed and vehicles registered. | |||
| 1905 | Inner Circle electrified. | ||
| 1906 | Great Northern Piccadilly & Brompton Railway opens. | ||
| Bakerloo Line reaches Waterloo. | |||
| 1907 | Baker Street & Waterloo Railway opens. | ||
| Charing Cross Euston & Hampstead Railway or ‘Hampstead tube’ opens. | |||
| Thomas Tilling’s sons introduce first longer distance or commuter motor bus service between Sidcup min Kent and Oxford Circus. | |||
| LSWR acquires Waterloo & City. | |||
| 1908 | Britain’s first all-Pullman train, the Southern Belle, introduced between Victoria and Brighton by London Brighton & South Coast Railway. | ||
| 1909 | Electric train service starts on the LBSCR’s South London Line, linking Victoria and London Bridge. | ||
| 1910 | London Electric Railway formed. | ||
| 1914 | First World War begins; Britain’s railways pass into government control. | ||
| 1919 | Ministry of Transport formed. | ||
| 1921 | Government control of railways in Great Britain and Ireland ends. | ||
| Railways Act requires formation of Southern; Western; North Western, Midland and West Scottish; and North Eastern, Eastern and East Scottish ‘groups’ in Great Britain. | |||
| 1923 | Grouping sees 123 railway companies combined into four, although many joint railways continue. | ||
| 1928 | London & North Eastern Railway introduces world’s longest non-stop service between King’s Cross and Edinburgh. | ||
| London & North Eastern Railway introduces first all-steel carriages on the Pullman ‘Queen of Scots’ between King’s Cross, Edinburgh and Glasgow. | |||
| Third-class sleeping cars introduced by Great Western, London & North Eastern and London Midland & Scottish Railways. | |||
| 1933 | London Passenger Transport Board is formed. | ||
| Southern Railway completes Britain’s first mainline electrification between London (Victoria and London Bridge) and Brighton. | |||
| 1935 | London Passenger Transport Arbitration Tribunal announces the apportioning of receipts within the LPTB area. | ||
| London & North Eastern Railway introduces Britain’s first streamlined train, the Silver Jubilee, and on trials runs at average of 100 mph for forty-three miles and reaches 112½ mph twice. | |||
| 1937 | London Midland & Scottish Railway introduced Coronation Scot streamlined express between Euston and Glasgow, and on trials reaches 114 mph near Crewe. | ||
| 1939 | Second World War breaks out and railways taken into government control, although serious delays in fixing compensation. | ||
| Restricted timetables introduced. | |||
| Catering services cut back. | |||
| 1941 | Ministry of War Transport, includes Ministry of Transport and takes shipping from the Board of Trade. | ||
| First-class abolished on London suburban services. | |||
| 1945 | Second World War ends. | ||
| Labour government vows to nationalise transport. | |||
| 1947 | Ministry of War Transport abolished and Ministry of Transport reformed. | ||
| Transport Bill enacted setting up British Transport Commission and preparing for nationalisation of railways, canals, railway-owned assets such as ports and bus companies, and for later nationalisation of road haulage. | |||
| 1948 | The ‘Big Four’ railway companies nationalised, including joint lines, and some other smaller railways. The new British Railways divides itself into six regions. | ||
| Non-stop services between King’s Cross and Edinburgh reinstated. | |||
| 1956 | British Transport Commission plans most future electrification to be 25kv ac overhead. | ||
| 1960 | Inauguration of electric services between Euston and Manchester via Crewe on the London Midland Region, British Railways. | ||
| 1963 | Reshaping of British Railways, the ‘Beeching Report’ published. District Line train conducts trials with automatic driving equipment. | ||
| 1964 | Central Line conducts trials with automatic train operation using Woodford-Hainault shuttle. | ||
| 1966 | Electric service introduced from Euston to Manchester and Liverpool. | ||
| 1974 | Electric services inaugurated between Euston and Glasgow. | ||
| 1991 | Electric services inaugurated between King’s Cross and Edinburgh. | ||
| 1994 | British Rail restructured ready for privatisation. | ||
| First services through Channel Tunnel, running to Waterloo International. | |||
| 1996 | First privatised railway begins operations. | ||
| 2000 | London Regional Transport becomes Transport for London, TfL. | ||
| 2007 | Channel Tunnel trains transferred from Waterloo to St Pancras International. | ||
| 2009 | High-speed domestic railway services from Kent start to use the Channel Rail Link, or High Speed 1, HS1, to St Pancras. |