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Big Four British Railway Companies
The "Big Four" was a name used to describe the four largest railway companies in the United Kingdom in the period 1923–1947. The name was coined by ''The Railway Magazine'' in its issue of February 1923: "The Big Four of the New Railway Era". The Big Four were: * Great Western Railway (GWR) * London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) * London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) * Southern Railway (SR) The companies were formed as a result of the Railways Act 1921, in a process known as "The Grouping" (of the railways), which came into effect on 1 January 1923. On 1 January 1948, the companies were nationalised to form British Railways as a result of the Transport Act 1947. Characterisation The three larger companies relied heavily on freight (especially coal), as well as long-distance passenger traffic. The Southern Railway, in contrast, was predominantly a passenger railway, which, despite its small size, carried more than a quarter of the total UK passenger traffic. That w ...
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Rail Transport
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of land transport, next to road transport. It is used for about 8% of passenger and rail freight transport, freight transport globally, thanks to its Energy efficiency in transport, energy efficiency and potentially high-speed rail, high speed.Rolling stock on rails generally encounters lower friction, frictional resistance than rubber-tyred road vehicles, allowing rail cars to be coupled into longer trains. Power is usually provided by Diesel locomotive, diesel or Electric locomotive, electric locomotives. While railway transport is capital intensity, capital-intensive and less flexible than road transport, it can carry heavy loads of passengers and cargo with greater energy efficiency and safety. Precursors of railways driven by human or an ...
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London Passenger Transport Board
The London Passenger Transport Board was the organisation responsible for local public transport in London and its environs from 1933 to 1948. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and brand was London Transport (brand), London Transport. History The London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB) was established pursuant to the London Passenger Transport Act 1933 enacted on 13 April 1933. The bill had been introduced by Herbert Morrison (politician), Herbert Morrison, who was Secretary of State for Transport, Transport Minister in the Second MacDonald ministry, Labour Government until 1931. Because the legislation was a hybrid bill it had been possible to allow it to 'roll over' into the new parliament under the incoming First National ministry, National Government. The new government, although dominated by Conservative Party (UK), Conservatives, decided to continue with the bill, with no serious changes, despite its extensive transfer of pri ...
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Devon General
Devon General was the principal bus operator in south Devon from 1919. The name was first used by the Devon General Omnibus and Touring Company which was created in 1919. In 1922 it was purchased by the National Electric Construction Company which merged with British Electric Traction in 1931. Nationalisation in 1969 resulted in 1971 with the company being merged into Western National. In 1983 a new Devon General Limited was created which became the first operating subsidiary of the National Bus Company (UK), National Bus Company to be privatised in 1986 when it became the first company of Transit Holdings. It was sold to the Stagecoach Group in 1996 and renamed Stagecoach Devon in 2003. Coaches were operated under various names, principally Fleet Cars from 1925 until 1933, and Grey Cars from 1932 until 1971. Its main principal depots were in Exeter and Torquay, but the area of operation covered most of south, east and mid Devon. History The Devon General Omnibus and Touring ...
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National Omnibus And Transport Company
National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, census-designated place * National, Nevada, ghost town * National, Utah, ghost town * National, West Virginia, unincorporated community Commerce * National (brand), a brand name of electronic goods from Panasonic * National Benzole (or simply known as National), former petrol station chain in the UK, merged with BP * National Book Store, a bookstore and office supplies chain in the Philippines * National Car Rental, an American rental car company * National Energy Systems, a former name of Eco Marine Power * National Entertainment Commission, a former name of the Media Rating Council * National Motor Vehicle Company, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA 1900–1924 * National Radio Company, Malden, Massachusetts, USA 1914–1991 * National Supermarket ...
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Thomas Tilling
The Tilling Group was one of two conglomerates that controlled almost all of the major bus operators in the United Kingdom between World Wars I and II and until nationalisation in 1948. Tilling, together with the other conglomerate, British Electric Traction (BET), became the main constituents of the country's nationalised bus industry in the late 1960s and was sufficiently well known to have entered popular culture as part of London's Cockney rhyming slang (Thomas Tilling = shilling). The company continued as an industrial conglomerate after the nationalisation of its bus interests; it was acquired by BTR plc in 1983. Origins The company traces its origins to 1846, when Thomas Tilling started in business. Tilling was born in 1825 at Gutter's Hedge Farm, Hendon, Middlesex, of parents who had moved there from Gloucestershire. In 1846, at the age of 21, he went into the transport business in London as a jobmaster in Walworth using a horse and carriage which cost him £30. ...
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Scottish Motor Traction
Scottish Motor Traction (SMT) was a Scottish bus operator founded in 1905 that ran services for most of the 20th century. History Scottish Motor Traction (SMT) was founded in Edinburgh in 1905 by William Johnston Thomson. It operated buses in much of central Scotland. Aside from its bus operations, by 1930 SMT had dealerships in Edinburgh selling cars and trucks at 89 Haymarket Terrace and 71 Lothian Road. It also operated an air taxi service using a De Havilland Fox Moth between 18 July and 31 October 1932. For many years it owned Dryburgh Abbey Hotel. Following legislation that allowed railway companies to invest in bus operators, the London & North Eastern Railway and London, Midland & Scottish Railway took stakes in SMT in 1929. The next year, following its takeover of another operator, SMT started an express coach service from Edinburgh to London. SMT also acquired control of Walter Alexander & Sons bus services and coachbuilding operations, the Alexander family joining ...
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British Electric Traction
British Electric Traction Company Limited, renamed BET plc in 1985, was a large British industrial conglomerate. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but was acquired by Rentokil in 1996, and the merged company is now known as Rentokil Initial. History Early history Tramway services The company was founded in 1895 as British Electric Traction Company Ltd., with Sir Charles Rivers Wilson as chairman and Emile Garcke as managing director. It was involved in the electrification of tramways in British towns and cities, and also in Australia and New Zealand, for example in Auckland. From operating trams, BET moved on to manufacturing them with the purchase of Brush Electrical Engineering Company in 1901. The BET became the largest of the private owners of tramways in the British Isles. During its history, it gained control in England of the Metropolitan Electric and South Metropolitan systems in London, as well as systems in Barnsley, Barrow-in-Furness, Birmin ...
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United Automobile Services
United Automobile Services was a bus company, which operated local and regional bus services in County Durham, Cumbria, Northumberland, North Yorkshire and Tyne & Wear, England. It provided bus services across a wide geographical area, stretching from the border town of Berwick-upon-Tweed in the north, Filey in the south, and Carlisle in the west. History The company was founded in Lowestoft, Suffolk in May 1912, with two routes. One route operated in Suffolk, with the other operating over 200 miles away in County Durham, between Bishop Auckland and Durham, England, Durham. During the 1920s, the company expanded in Lincolnshire and Norfolk, as well as County Durham, Northumberland and North Yorkshire. In 1929, control passed to the Tilling Group and the London and North Eastern Railway, and in 1931 the new owners split off the East Anglian operations into a separate company, First Eastern Counties, Eastern Counties Omnibus Company. United also started East Midland Motor Ser ...
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Crosville Motor Services
Crosville Motor Services was a bus operator based in the north-west of England and north and mid-Wales. History On 27 October 1906, Crosville Motor Company was formed in Chester by George Crosland Taylor and his French business associate Georges de Ville, with the intention of building motor cars. The company name was a portmanteau on the names of the founders. In 1909, Crosville commenced its first bus service, between Chester and Ellesmere Port. By 1929 Crosville had consolidated an operating area covering the Wirral Peninsula, Wirral and parts of Lancashire, Cheshire and Flintshire. The Railways (Road Transport) Act, 1928 gave the four railway companies the opportunity to provide bus services. But rather than run in competition they bought into or purchased outright existing bus companies. In February 1929, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway made an offer of £400,000 to purchase Crosville, which was effected in November 1929. The new LMS (Crosville) company then i ...
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Bristol Tramways And Carriage Company
The Bristol Omnibus Company was a dominant bus operator in Bristol, and was one of the oldest bus companies in the United Kingdom. It ran buses over a wide area of Gloucestershire, Somerset, Wiltshire and neighbouring counties. History Early history The Bristol Omnibus Company traces its origins to 1875, when George White formed the Bristol Tramways Company and began a horse drawn service in Bristol from Upper Maudlin Street to Blackboy Hill. In 1887 the Bristol Tramways Company merged with the Bristol Cab Company to form the Bristol Tramways & Carriage Company.Companies House extract company no 25088
First Somerset & Avon Limited formerly First Bristol Buses Limited formerly Bristol Omnibus Company Limited formerly Bristol Tramways & Carriage Company Limited.
In 1887, the company began a ...
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Fishguard & Rosslare Railways & Harbours Company
Fishguard (, meaning "Mouth of the River Gwaun") is a coastal town in Pembrokeshire, Wales, with a population of 3,400 (rounded to the nearest 100) as of the 2021 census. Modern Fishguard consists of two parts, Lower Fishguard and the "Main Town". Fishguard and Goodwick are twin towns with a joint Town Council. Lower Fishguard is believed to be the site of the original hamlet from which modern Fishguard has grown. It is in a deep valley where the River Gwaun meets the sea, hence the Welsh name for Fishguard. It is a typical fishing village with a short tidal quay. The settlement stretches along the north slope of the valley. The main town contains the parish church, the High Street and most of the modern development, and lies upon the hill to the south of Lower Fishguard, to which it is joined by a steep and winding road. The west part of the town that faces Goodwick grew in the first decade of the 20th century with the development of Fishguard Harbour. Etymology The Engli ...
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Somerset And Dorset Joint Railway
The Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway (S&DJR, also known as the S&D, S&DR or SDJR), was an English railway line Joint railway, jointly owned by the Midland Railway (MR) and the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) that grew to connect Bath, Somerset, Bath (in north-east Somerset) and Bournemouth (then in Hampshire; now in south-east Dorset), with a branch in Somerset from Evercreech Junction railway station, Evercreech Junction to Burnham-on-Sea and Bridgwater. Strictly speaking, its main line only ran from Bath Junction to Broadstone, Dorset, Broadstone, as the Bath to Bath Junction section was wholly owned by the MR and the Broadstone to Bournemouth section was owned by the LSWR. Brought under joint ownership in 1876, the S&DJR was used for freight and local passenger traffic over the Mendip Hills, and for weekend holiday traffic to Bournemouth. Criticised as the "Slow and Dirty" or the "Slow and Doubtful", it closed in 1966 as part of the Beeching axe despite protests f ...
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