Railway School of Transport opened 1938; during the second world war the building became the railway training college for the Royal Engineers and was used in conjunction with the local Melbourne Military Railway; after the war put to use rehabilitating railway workers who had been involved in military action; during the 1950’s a diesel traction demonstration building was added to the site and a range of mechanical and electrical engineering courses were introduced; the school was re-titled in 1976, becoming The Railway Engineering School (a central training school for Signalling and Telecommunications including electronics systems, and S&T engineering courses); during the 1980’s further teaching accommodation was added and in 1991 a new conferencing suite was opened by the Quality and Safety Services Department of British Rail; in 1994 the Civil Engineering Training Centre (CETC) transferred from Watford to Derby, and The Railway Engineering School, Derby Signalling & Telecommunications Training Centres at Clapham, Crewe, Edinburgh, Ilford, Reading and York amalgamated to form a new corporate organisation called The College of Railway Technology, which was then vested as a limited company in preparation for the privatisation of British Rail; re-launched in 1998, under the name of Catalis Rail Training Ltd.