Good Business for the Nation: The Railway Nationalisation Issue, 1921–47

Reviews the debate over railway nationalisation which took place between the Railways Act of 1921 and the Transport Act of 1947. Shows how the case for public ownership, advanced mainly by the Labour Party and related trade unions, succeeded in winning a large measure of bipartisan support, especially during the 1930s. This owed much to the poor profitability of the four big railway groups in a period of economic depression, the unsatisfactory working of the regulatory system, and increasing support for transport co-ordination. The adoption by Labour of the public corporation as the preferred form of a future nationalised industry reduced opposition. Considers other contributions to the debate, from the political right and the communist-influenced left. Argues that the consensual terms in which public ownership was advocated in the inter-war years did not help the nationalised railways to cope with post-war conditions and issues. (Original abstract)