February 17 – Class 59Co-Codiesel locomotives built by EMD for Foster Yeoman introduced into heavy freight service on British Rail, the first US-built (and privately owned) diesel locomotives to operate regularly on the English network.
July 26 – The Lockington rail crash at Lockington, Humberside, England occurs when a van is struck on a level crossing. Eight passengers on the train, and a boy of 11 in the van, lose their lives.
September 19 – Two high speed trains collide near Rugeley, Staffordshire, England, in the Colwich rail crash; the driver of one of the two trains was the only fatality of this accident.
October 31 – Closure of the "Corkickle Brake" serving a chemical works at Whitehaven, Cumbria, the last commercially operated standard gaugecable railway in the United Kingdom.