Road Transport in the Front Line
Page 18
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A N interesting sidelight on the relative values of road and rail transport, and a striking confirmation, if confirmation be needed, of the absolute indispensability of road transport under prevailing conditions, is afforded by a brief story of the development, during the war, of the roadtransport fleet operated by the Associated Equipment Co., Ltd. Before the war this factory fleet, as it is called, was primarily engaged in collection and delivery duties between its works and the London rail termini. War conditions have compelled the use of more vehicles and for continuous journeys to and from many of the more important provincial centres.
• Here is an instance of a loyal concern, largely occupied in the prosecution of the war effort, and correspondingly reluctant to consume more than the barest minimum of oil fuel, compelled, by the exigencies of the times, to increase that consumption and make moreand more use of road transport. By no other means could its big contribution to essential supplies be maintained at its peak. And this, as we know, is not an isolated but a typical instance. The story is one of thousands, all similar, which, when they can all be told, will comprise a volume of evidence to prove that, whatever may have been the utility of "The lines behind the lines," it is far transcended by the services rendered "In the Front Line" by the road-transport industry of this country.