Notable dates in the history of British Transport Police

1676
Lord Guilford visits Newcastle and notices how colliers use "rails of timber" to assist horse-drawn wagons from the pit to a nearby river. This is one of the first mentions of railways in the UK.

1758

The first Railway Act is passed (to authorise a railway to Middleton Colliery near Leeds).

2 July 1798
The first organised police force in the UK, the Marine Police, commence patrolling the River Thames. It is absorbed into the Metropolitan Police in 1839.

1803
The Surrey Iron Railway opens between Wandsworth and Croydon. This is the first public railway sanctioned by Parliament; horses pull its goods wagons.

1807
The first passenger railway, the Oystermouth Railway, is opened in Swansea Bay. Its carriages are horse drawn.

1822
William James, an engineer employed by the Liverpool and Manchester Railway is assaulted while surveying the line. This is possibly the first railway related crime.

27 September 1825
The Stockton and Darlington Railway is formally opened. It is the first steam hauled railway but only carries freight.

30 June 1826
A Regulation of the Stockton and Darlington Railway refers to the police establishment of: "One Superintendent, four officers and numerous gate-keepers." This is the first mention of railway police anywhere and is three years before the Metropolitan Police Act is passed.

15 September 1830
The opening of the Liverpool to Manchester Railway by the Duke of Wellington. The event was marred by the death of the Rt. Hon William Huskisson, the local MP, who fell under an engine. He was the first person to be killed by a train.

22 November 1830
Minutes of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway refer to their "Police Establishment".

31 May 1835
The Great Western Railway Police is formed. The officer in charge, a superintendent based at Paddington has 707 men under his command.

8 February 1836
A section of the London to Greenwich Railway is opened between Deptford and Bermondsey. This is the first railway in London.

21 March 1838
The first section of the London to Southampton Railway is opened. A later account states: "Policemen were more numerous than any other class of (railway) servant; they acted as signalmen and ticket collectors and were stationed at regular intervals along the line. Their uniforms consisted of a swallow-tail coat, dark trousers and a tall hat with a leather crown."

1840
The Regulation of Railways Act is passed. It includes the offences of railway staff being drunk on duty, impeding or obstructing engines and endangering the safety of persons on the railway.

March 1841
James Thompson is convicted of "holding Miss Emily Stacey in an improper manner" while on the London and Greenwich Line. This is one of the first records of a sex offence on the railway.

1 January 1845
Sgt William Williams of GWR Police becomes the first person to make an arrest using technology. Alerted by a telegraph message sent from Slough, he arrested John Tawell after he stepped off a train at Paddington. Tawell had murdered a girl at Slough.

15 May 1855
The Great Gold Robbery. Gold bullion locked in a box, locked in a safe in a guards compartment of a train is stolen whilst en-route between London and Paris. The thieves replace the gold with lead shot and re-seal the boxes so the crime is not discovered until Paris. It is an 'inside job' and three men are convicted and transported to Australia for life. One of the bullion boxes is on display at the National Railway Museum at York.

10 January 1863
The world's first underground railway opens between Farringdon Street and Paddington.

1864
The Great Western Railway forms the first 'Detective Department'.

September 1867
John Reid and some friends comment on the smoky atmosphere at Gower Street Underground station (now Euston Square) by "coughing outrageously". When a porter, Henry Maunders asks them to be quiet, Reid pulls his beard and is later fined £3 for assault. This may be the first record of a crime on the Underground.

1877
The Great Western Railway Act is passed which gives its police officers jurisdiction on and within half a mile of the railway. It also requires them to produce their Warrant card on demand with a penalty of 40 shillings for failure.

13 September 1880
A bundle of explosives is placed on the track between Bushey and Watford with the purpose of blowing up a train carrying Grand Duke Constantine of Russia. Chief Superintendent Copping of the MR Police assists the Metropolitan Police with the investigation. This is the first record of terrorism on the railway in mainland Britain.

1889
The Regulation of Railways Act created offences of travel fraud which are still in use today.

1905
London Underground electrifies its railway.

26 November 1907

Superintendent Dobie and three other NER Police Officers from Hull Docks visit Ghent in Belgium to study the police dogs in use there. The following year police dogs are used at Hull. The first occasion they are used in the UK.

20 December 1917
The first policewomen are sworn in on the North Eastern Railway. Women police officers were previously employed on the Great Eastern Railway and Great Western Railway.

1920
The Railways Act amalgamates more than a hundred separate railway systems (most with their own police forces) into four groups: the Great Western Railway, the London and North Eastern Railway, the London Midland and Scottish Railway and the Southern Railway. Each of these has a police force headed by a chief of police.

October 1948
The first edition of the staff magazine The Railway Police Journal, later the British Transport Police Journal, is published.

October 1953

The BTP Journal announces the first arrest made in the force using a 'walkie-talkie' radio.

15 October 1959

The first British Transport Police Headquarters is formally opened in Coronation Road, Park Royal, London NW11.

1962
The British Transport Commission is disbanded and the word 'Commission' is dropped from the name of the force which becomes the British Transport Police. The force loses jurisdiction over British Road Services and the British Inland Waterways Board.

31 August 1963
William Owen Gay becomes Chief Constable.

1974
Chief Constable William Owen Gay retires and is replaced by Eric Haslem.

1981
Force Headquarters moves to 15-17 Tavistock Place, London WC1. The building is the former headquarters of Express Dairies.

1981
Kenneth Ogram becomes the new Chief Constable of the BTP.

1984
Associated British Ports decides to no longer use the services of BTP.

18 November 1987
A fire on an escalator at King's Cross Underground station results in the death of 31 people. BTP officer PC Stephen Hanson suffers severe burns.

24 April 1989
Desmond O'Brien OBE, QPM, becomes the new Chief Constable of the BTP.

April 1991
The first edition of BTP staff newspaper The Blue Line is published. Edited by Simon Lubin, it replaces the BTP Journal published since 1948.

March 1994
Superintendent Joyce (London Transport Area) exchanges duties with Deputy Chief Bohrer of the New York City Transit Police. The first international exchange involving BTP.

June 1996
Special constables reintroduced to police the railways. Paid special constables had previously been used during war years.

19 September 1997
Seven people are killed in the Southall Train Crash.

6 October 1997
David Williams QPM, LLB becomes the new Chief Constable of the Force.

September 1997
The BTP Freephone number 0800 40 50 40 is launched.

June 1999
The Midland-Metro, a tram system linking Birmingham and Wolverhampton, starts operation. This is the first tram system to be policed by BTP.

July 1999
BTP website is launched.

5 October 1999
Thirty-one people are killed when the driver of a local train misses a signal and is hit by a Paddington bound express train.

11 May 2000
The 28km of the Croydon Tramlink is opened and policed by BTP.

17 October 2000
Four people are killed at the Hatfield Train Crash which was caused by a broken rail.

28 February 2001
The Selby train crash. A Land Rover driven by Gary Hart comes off the M62 onto the railway. It is hit by a passenger train which collides with a freight train killing 10 people.

1 May 2001
Ian Johnston CBE, QPM becomes the new Chief Constable for British Transport Police.

June 2001
Commencing with London Underground Area, officers begin to get issued with yellow high-visibility tabards as opposed to the orange ones.

11 December 2001
British Transport Police jurisdiction is extended in the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act to effectively cover all of England, Scotland and Wales.

10 May 2002
A faulty set of points south of Potters Bar station in Hertfordshire causes the derailment of a northbound train. The last carriage overturns and becomes lodged under the station canopy. Six passengers are killed as is a pedestrian walking nearby who is struck by debris.

February 2003
A series of four one-hour television programmes called Rail Cops is shown on BBC. It follows the duties of several British Transport Police officers.

13 December 2004
The first BTP Community Police Support Officers are recruited in Liverpool and London.