When the first edition of this book was published, the railways of Britain had just been nationalised. Most people with a friendly and sympathetic interest in this great industry felt that, following the ravages of war, the very nadir of its fortunes had been touched, and that already the long climb out of that intense depression had begun. But with conditions in the country as a whole returning to normal, with ample supplies of petrol and the motor industry gearing up to unprecedented heights of productivity, competition, which had been serious between the wars, began to assume the most formidable proportions, and the unification of the railways under national ownership did not yield the economies that had been promised............