Railway Heritage Committee

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{{Use British English|date=January 2018}}

The Railway Heritage Committee (RHC) was set up in the 1990s following the Privatisation of British Rail in the United Kingdom in the 1990s. Its purpose was to identify and designate railway records and artefacts which were historically significant for the British railway system and which were worthy of permanent preservation and being kept securely.

The RHC was an executive non-departmental public body of the Department for Transport.{{cite web|url=http://www.dft.gov.uk/rhc/|archiveurl=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130410151933/http://www.dft.gov.uk/rhc/|title=Railway Heritage Committee Official Web Site|archivedate=10 April 2013|accessdate=20 October 2010}} The committee was abolished in 2013 but its powers were transferred to a new Railway Heritage Designation Advisory Board reporting to the board of trustees of the Science Museum, London from 1 April 2013.{{cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/railway-heritage-committee|title=Railway Heritage Committee|author=Department for Transport|location=London|accessdate=19 October 2013}}{{cite web|url=http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/about_us/smg/corporate/railway_heritage_designation_advisory_board.aspx|title=Railway Heritage Advisory Board - official website|accessdate=20 October 2013}}{{cite web|url=http://www.railwayheritage.org.uk/membership.asp|title=Railway Heritage Committee 2009|publisher=Railway Heritage Committee|accessdate=11 January 2009|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081121173249/http://www.railwayheritage.org.uk/membership.asp|archivedate=21 November 2008|df=dmy-all}}

Sir Gordon Robert Higginson, a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Southampton was the founding chair of the committee.

{{cite web|author=Department of the Official Report (Hansard), House of Commons, Westminster |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199495/cmhansrd/1995-03-29/Writtens-1.html |title=House of Commons Hansard Debates for 29 Mar 1995, section on railways |publisher=Publications.parliament.uk |date= |accessdate=2013-10-20}}