Decolonising the Master's Gift: Britain's Railways, Decolonisation, and the International Market 1945-1975

该项目研究了英国铁路问题之间的复杂关系，包括国有化的工业和私人制造商，以及在非殖民化期间和之后的更广泛的世界。英国战后的铁路曾经是国内和殖民地的重要产业，但随着非殖民化进程迫使它们重新谈判自己在曾经占据主导地位的海外封闭市场中的地位，它们面临着生存危机。该项目将铁路博物馆的藏品与外部档案配对，并通过收购新的和多样化的口述历史来加强馆藏，探索英国国内铁路行业与其海外（前）殖民地之间不断变化的联系。这是一个英国和它的铁路都在不断变化的时期。新思想、新技术和新人员正在迅速改变工作实践。适应这个新的后殖民世界的艰难过程对国内外的铁路工业产生了深远的影响。这个博士项目使英国战后铁路的历史多样化，将其置于后殖民世界更广泛的发展研究中，并重新审视这样一个关键行业的地位，以前是殖民发展和规划的关键，在后帝国时代。近年来，人们坚决反对铁路是殖民主义的“积极利益”的概念，公司的作用，制造商，工程师和殖民精英在十九世纪和二十世纪初重新审视。然而，还没有一部著作恰当地阐述了英国的铁路是如何在非殖民化和后殖民世界中航行的。在帝国时代曾主导出口市场的大公司迅速倒闭。其他国家则不得不适应市场，不仅在机车车辆方面，而且在信号、系统、电信和其他不断变化的技术方面。在历届政府的敦促下，英国铁路公司不得不面对新的全球市场，不得不在前殖民地竞争合同，而这些殖民地以前是封闭的商品商店，铁路公司还试图应对快速的技术变革和竞争。铁路公司提供了一个引人注目的透镜，通过它可以了解英国与战后新的后殖民地世界之间的关系。战后时期，英国及其铁路都处于不断变化之中。新思想、新技术和新人员正在迅速改变工作实践。适应这个新的后殖民世界的艰难过程对国内外的铁路工业产生了深远的影响。这个博士项目多样化的战后铁路在英国的历史，把它放在更广泛的发展研究后殖民世界，并重新审视这样一个关键行业的地方，以前是殖民地发展和规划的关键针，在后帝国时代。

This project examines the complex relationship between Britain's railway concerns, both nationalised industry and private manufacturers, and the wider world during and after decolonisation. Once an essential industry both at home and in the colonies, Britain's post-war railways faced an existential crisis as the process of decolonisation forced them to renegotiate their place in formerly closed markets abroad that they had once dominated. Pairing Railway Museum collections with external archives, and enhancing holdings through the acquisition of new and diverse oral histories, this project explores the changing links between Britain's railway industry at home and its (former) colonies abroad. This was a period when both Britain and its railways were in flux. New ideas, new technologies, and new personnel were rapidly changing working practices. The fraught process of adapting to this new post-colonial world had a profound impact on railway industries at home and abroad. This PhD project diversifies the history of post-war rail in Britain, placing it within wider developing studies of the post-colonial world and re-examining the place of such a key industry, formerly a lynch-pin of colonial development and planning, in a post-Imperial age.In recent years there has been a firm push-back against the notion that railways were a 'positive benefit' of colonialism, with the role of companies, manufactures, engineers, and colonial elites in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries re-examined. Yet no work has properly addressed how Britain's railways navigated the decolonising and post-colonial world. Major companies, which had dominated the export market of the Imperial age, folded rapidly. Others had to adapt to market their expertise not only in rolling stock but in signalling, systems, telecommunications, and other changing technologies. Urged by successive governments to tackle new global markets, forced suddenly to compete for contracts in former colonies which had been former closed-shops for their goods, and trying to manage rapid technological change and competition, the railways offer a compelling lens through which to understand the relationship between Britain and the new post-war, post-colonial world. The post-war period was one in which both Britain and its railways were in flux. New ideas, new technologies, and new personnel were rapidly changing working practices. The fraught process of adapting to this new post-colonial world had profound impact on railway industries at home and abroad. This PhD project diversifies the history of post-war rail in Britain, placing it within wider developing studies of the post-colonial world and re-examining the place of such a key industry, formerly a lynch-pin of colonial development and planning, in a post-imperial age.