During World War I, thought was already being given to plans to reconstruct and reshape not only the British transport system but the entire British state for the post-war peace. This reconstruction seemed likely to make peacetime Britain a more egalitarian country, one, in Lloyd George's words, “fit…for heroes to live in”.1 A super-ministry, the Ministry of Ways and Communications (MWC), was proposed as part of the reconstruction movement and was intended to coordinate the whole of British transport: railways, canals, locks and harbours, railway-owned steam vessels, roads and road transport, light railways and tramways, mercantile marine and navigation and aerial transport (although at the time, of course, the latter was extremely limited). Interestingly, and perhaps surprisingly to modern eyes, electricity generation was also proposed to form part of the…
You're reading a preview of
Backtrack (Digital) - 1 Issue, Volume 39 No 4 - April 2025