Taking the car by train

摘要

Like so many innovative railway ideas, the concept of carrying cars and their owners on the same train originated in Britain. As long ago as 1904, the Midland Railway made it possible for the handful of people who could afford a car to have their vehicle transported by train. The wagon on which the car travelled could, at a price, be attached to the chosen service of the motorist, but it was a clumsy ad-hoc business and a mileage charge was levied in addition to the hire of the wagon. At around the same time, the Great Western Railway began exhorting motorists to put their cars on the train and in 1909, realised that it had a niche market just waiting to be exploited: from England to Wales via the Severn Tunnel. For there was no road bridge in those days and the car journey from, say, Bristol to Cardiff required a 55-mile detour via Gloucester. Business took off as more and more people joined the ranks of the 'petrol pioneers'.