Railway Clearing House

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The British Railway Clearing House (RCH) commenced operations on 2 January 1842 in small offices at 11 Drummond Street opposite Euston station, London. These were premises owned by the London and Birmingham Railway, which also provided the initial costs of setting up the organisation. Its immediate function was to allocate, to the numerous pre-grouping railway companies, the appropriate share of the fares charged for passengers and goods travelling over the lines of more than one company.

The founding members, whose first meeting was on 26 April 1842, were:

London and Birmingham Railway
the companies which would form the Midland Railway in 1844
Manchester and Leeds Railway
the companies which would form the North Eastern Railway in 1854

This first meeting agreed the principles by which the ongoing activities of the RCH were to be funded. This involved a fixed payment per station served (£5, reduced in 1844 to £2 for stations which were not termini) plus an apportionment of the balance of costs according to the total share of receipts afforded to each partcipating company.

By the end of December 1845, the following companies had joined:

Birmingham and Gloucester Railway
Chester and Birmingham Railway
Grand Junction Railway and its allies
- North Union Railway
- Liverpool and Manchester Railway
Lancaster and Preston Railway (a bitter rival of the North Union)
Manchester and Birmingham Railway
Newcastle and Carlisle Railway

Owing to expansion the RCH moved to larger purpose-built premises in Seymour Street in early 1849, which remained its headquarters for the duration of its existence. By the end of 1850 a further 21 companies had joined, including several of the leading Scottish companies, bringing the total of British railway mileage in the scheme to over half (55.8%). However it still lacked the Great Western Railway and the companies south of London.

In due course the RCH was regulated by the The Railway Clearing Act of 25 June 1850. Though initiated by the members companies themselves, the Bill in fact reduced the scope of the RCH, while making it easier to enforce debt collection among members (hitherto not formally regulated). A later attempt via Parliament to re-extend the powers and potential membership of the RCH foundered on conflicting interests in 1859.

Nevertheless, the RCH went on to set technical standards for various items, such as goods wagons, to promote standardisation across the rail network. If a wagon was described as an RCH wagon, this meant it had been built to comply with RCH standards.

The RCH also set technical standards for cable connections between coaches for the operation of train lighting and push-pull trains. These cables were known as RCH jumpers.

The RCH had some similarities to the modern Association of Train Operating Companies.