Grouping Britain's Railways: Creating the 'Big Four' in 1923

"The Grouping was unnecessary, its conception flawed, its planning muddled, and its execution clumsy". That's the controversial conclusion reached in this new publication from Pendragon Publishing, the first history of the 1923 Grouping to be published in book form for many years. Lavishly illustrated, this book explores why the idea of compact, zonal, railway groups, quickly emerged as something quite different, with new rival companies having no territorial rights, and with competition and duplication of routes remaining unchanged. Employing a blend of official archives, personal memoirs and contemporary publications, from The Times to the Boys Own Paper, this unprecedented development in Britain's transport history is subjected to clinical examination.