Nowhere had the nineteenth-century rivalry between competing railway companies had a more marked effect on the much later motor-omnibus industry than in the South West of England. Criss-crossing and, in some cases, almost parallel lines, laid or acquired by the GWR and London & South Western Railway, created territorial allegiances that are remembered to this day.

In the 1920s, the railway companies’ operating terrain formed the basis for the establishment of two offshoots from the National Omnibus & Transport Co. Ltd. It was a time when the railway companies involved bought their way into the omnibus industry. The resultant Western National and Southern National omnibus companies shared a common address in Exeter but had different railway company directors on their boards.

This book begins by outlining the founding of the National Omnibus & Transport Co. together with the express service and Royal Blue subsidiaries’ operations. It then focuses on the history of the Southern National company’s operations.