ABSTRACT
The rapid development of road transport since the Great War has established it as an economic system of transportation in the country. The railways feel that the only effective reply to the challenge is to be furnished by the provision of road services in conjunction with their railway system. Before the war, it is true, though the fact is sometimes forgotten, some few railway companies had utilized road services, though not on any very extensive scale. Since about 1904 the Great Western Railway has run road vehicles in certain parts of the area tapped by their system. Post-war developments in road transport, however, soon led the various railway companies to view mechanical road haulage, both passenger and goods, in a new light. In 1922, certain constituent companies of the new London, Midland and Scottish Group—the Caledonian, the Glasgow and South-Western and the Highland Railways—promoted a special Bill for the purpose of obtaining road powers.
