North British Railway Study Group
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Brief History of the NBR.
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NBR - a few “FIRSTS”
The Edinburgh Perth & Dundee Railway (which became part of the NBR in 1862) introduced the world’s first roll-on / roll-off train ferry in 1850, linking Granton (near Edinburgh) with Burntisland in Fife, across the Firth of Forth.  
The NBR built the UK’s first inside framed, inside cylinder, locomotives with a 4-4-0 wheel arrangement in 1871.
In 1877, the North British was one of the first railway Companies in the UK to adopt continuous brakes on passenger vehicles when it authorised the fitting of the Westinghouse air brake to all its carriages.
The use of sleeping carriages in the UK was pioneered by the NBR when the first one was brought into service on 2nd April 1873.