Back Track
There was nothing inevitable in the creation of the’ Big Four’. The only certainty after the centralised control of the First World War, with its benefits from the elimination of competition, was that there could be no return to the previous set-up. There was less agreement on what should replace it. One option, already mooted before 1914, was outright nationalisation, supported by many in political circles, including a certain Liberal Member of Parliament, one Winston Churchill. However, the Select Committee formed in 1918 merely reported that “unification of the railway system is desirable under certain safeguards, whether the ownership be in public or private hands.” By 1920 the Coalition Government had swung away from nationalisation in favour of some form of consolidation under private ownership.
Responsibility for drawing up a plan fell mainly on the shoulders of the former Deputy General Manager of the North Eastern Railway, Sir Eric Geddes, who, newly appointed as Britain’s first Minister of Transport, was charged with drafting the Railways Bill. In this he was assisted by the Railway Advisory Committee, with a membership including twelve general managers and four trade union general secretaries. Although wider in scope than the Grouping itself, the Bill’s centrepiece was the new structure of the railways, where various options were considered.
Some early proposals
The ideal structure was envisaged as a set of local monopolies, with competition between the groups eliminated as far as possible. Understandably, competition was then perceived as confined
