History
Faced with an estimate of £85,000 to build a light railway to serve the area south of Helston in Cornwall, the Great Western Railway decided to test the market with bus services on the route. They managed to acquire two vehicles that had been used temporarily on a Lynton and Barnstaple Railway service. The service proved so popular and profitable that further routes were soon established at Penzance and Slough.
By the end of 1904, 36 buses were in operation, 10 more than were in service in London. When the Great Western Railway (Road Transport) Act was passed in 1928 the Great Western had the largest railway bus fleet. This Act regularised the railway's operation of road services and also paved the way for them to be transferred out of the railway's control to bus companies, although the railway was to be a shareholder in these companies and there would still be an effort to coordinate to road and rail services.
Read more about this topic: GWR Road Motor Services
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