Northern Railway line between Egginton Junction and Derby Friargate (later used only as far as Mickleover) and was used by the Train Control Group. When the Advanced Passenger Train was being developed, a second test track was created on the line between Melton Junction and Edwalton (known as the Old Dalby Test Track), which was acquired specifically to test this revolutionary train. The Mickleover test track was closed and lifted in the early 1990s but Old Dalby is still in use today. End of the line In 1986 finance for the division was moved from the board to the operating divisions. Thus emphasis shifted from pure research to problem solving. In 1989, BR Research became a self-contained unit working under contract to British Rail and other customers, and the way was open for privatisation. When British Rail was sold into private ownership, the Research Division (which had become "BR Research Limited") was bought by AEA Technology in 1996. The resulting business, "AEA Technology Rail", was subsequently sold in 2006 to a venture capital company and became DeltaRail Group. Transmark, the consultancy arm, was sold to Halcrow to become Halcrow Transmark. A somewhat dated display of material relating to the work of the Division was maintained in the Derby Industrial Museum. Legacy The Research Division had an uneasy relationship with other parts of BR, and like most of the products of Harold Wilson's "white heat of technology" speech, were killed off in the early 1980s. The basis of the unease was the traditional approach of most of BR compared with theoretical and aerospace approaches adopted by the Research Division. The hiring of graduates rather than training people up internally also caused tensions. It could be somewhat tactless, or perhaps naive, at times. The APT-E was provided with a single driver position central in the cab, at a time when the unions were resisting the loss of the "second man" (the fireman in steam days). After its first run out to Duffield the APT-E was blacked (boycotted) by the unions for a year. Nevertheless, its empirical research into vehicle dynamics has produced today's high speed trains, both freight and passenger, including the InterCity 125 and InterCity 225. The concept of a tilting system for the APT became part of the Pendolino, while the products of its signalling and operations control research are used over a significant amount of the British railway system.