ABSTRACT
The decades of James Pickfords' history which have been surveyed witnessed a series of sharp breaks in the technology of inland transport. In the eighteenth century, road haulage divided into three groups of operators, London carriers, inter-provincial carriers and local carriers, categories which fit broadly the threefold distinction recognised by the 'A', 'B' and 'C' licence classifications of the 1933 Road and Rail Traffic Act. Pickfords reflected the contemporary pattern in which businesses were intimately linked with the personality of the owner or a dominant partner. The more successful and exceptional the enterprise, the closer the identification and the less likely it was to survive his death. The railway link was important to Pickfords in another way. Apart from residual canal traffic, the long-distance movement of freight was accomplished by the railways. The transport system has been revolutionised several times, on occasions in a way destructive of even the strongest will to survive.
