The 1990s saw the end of many types of industrial railway in England. Several water treatment works railways had still been in use into the early 1990s. Nearly all the surface narrow gauge systems in the mining industry have disappeared. The traditional English clay pit railway, with the demise of the last railway at Far Ings is also a thing of the past.

The railways associated with the peat industry have survived longer than most. However, as firms change over to surface milling, or suffer pressure from environmental groups, this has spelt the end in recent years for further railways.