FREIGHT MARSHALLING YARD OPERATION, CONTROL AND SIGNALLING is the third volume in the series titled “The History and Development of Railway Signalling in the British Isles”.
 
This volume documents the history of marshalling and the major changes in the environment in which it was carried out. Over a period of around 100 years, marshalling yards and the equipment used in them developed to a high degree. As competition from road transport increased, railway companies looked to new and efficient ways of marshalling trains to improve safety, reduce transit times and meet customers' demands. The Beeching Report of 1963 introduced the concept of the “Liner Train”. Advances since that time have brought us to the trainload traffic operations we know today. These changes brought an end to the mechanised marshalling methods of old. The span from 19th century beginnings to the closure of the last British mechanised hump yard in 1990 was a significant era in the history of freight by rail.