The Industrial Revolution was still shaping the face of Britain at the turn of the 20th century. Canals and railroads had been developed for the transport of raw materials and finished goods, and the problem of how to deliver them locally became more and more pressing. Of course, people still thought of horses and carriages.

But there were signs of change. People were already working on solutions, e.g. companies like Leyland and Thornycroft in Liverpool. Did you know that not only was the 'garbagge and maintenance' of horses a problem, but also the constant stopping and starting at the delivery service? However, when the Royal Agricultural Society of England promised a reward the £100 prize for the best motor car in 1897, people probably thought primarily of steam cars.

A load of one ton was to be transported, which probably could only be done by a single vehicle of this type, very similar to the horse trailer with wooden road wheels and steel tires. Steam-powered tractors pulling one or two trailers also required a lot of space and effort. They were practical because in principle they only had to replace the horses. Of course, the trend should be towards a combination of drive and loading area, especially in the narrow streets of cities.

But they too were initially operated by steam engines, with the waiting time for heating up before the first drive and the problem of not only having to carry fuel but also water. Liverpool are said to have ultimately helped these vehicles by providing special fire hydrants on busy roads. But the coal remained a problem. It was only later that steam engines for road vehicles that could be operated with liquid fuel also appeared.

Also, the new, massive means of transport were harder to manage than horse-drawn carriages, but going back to them was not considered an option. How did one cope with so many carriages when crossing the street and the dirt on the road? Feeding and slaughtering became still more frequent as the amount of horses needed for transportation increased. Unlike today, every company does not need a truck for supply and removal, but also stables and other horse infrastructure.

Despite this, mechanically powered road vehicles were not very popular in this country. Officials, the church establishment and most people were against them. Especially in France, but meanwhile also in Germany, one was ahead with the production of larger quantities of cars. In England, with very few exceptions, it was practically non-existent up to the turn of the century. Vehicles were imported, which were then promptly attributed to rich sons of landowners or advocates of exaggerated modernity.

Nothing helped, soon after the turn of the century the need for means of transport grew, which of course also affected buses. What followed was either divided into vehicles that were further developed from the existing car designs or vehicles that were designed directly for this purposes. But competition between steam, electric and petrol cars still remained for a time. Only from 1910 it became clear that all of these had triumphed over horse- drawn carriages.

The steam drive lasted longer, while the electric drive was then only accepted for very light delivery vehicles. Steam-powered vehicles retained their followers well into the 1920s, albeit in small numbers. Petrol engines prevailed and made the three-ton commercial vehicle the standard. As was later the case, it was the war that began in 1914 that massively advanced the production of such vehicles, not least thanks to a War Department subsidy program.

After the war these were sold as surpluses at cheap prices of two to three hundred pounds. On the one hand a serious competition for manufacturers of new vehicles of around £1,500, on the other hand was it good for starting up small transport companies. There were only a few steam-powered trucks, because small, manoeuvrable vehicles that were economical to produce were preferred, especially during the war. Only one or two manufacturers survived until World War II.

The military also usually demanded the standardization of the products to be delivered. This was not the only reason why all trucks designed for the First World War looked about the same. Front wheel brakes were also not common on passenger cars for a long time. But not even solid rubber tires clearly threw the truck back technically. On the other hand, it was spared thus the problems of flat tires or badly damaged rubber. The cardan shaft was undivided and forced the engine to follow the movement of the rear axle by tilting.

Forty horsepower from a displacement of seven liters has been handed down. Even then, the focus was clearly on a lot of torque, respectively traction. And the four cylinders were not in one piece, but divided into two blocks. In the best case, the engine had a magneto ignition, because then you didn't have to recharge the battery indoors at night, for example. However, on particularly cold days, this was done with the ignition so that the engine could be cranked more easily the next day. One can even imagine that an intact vehicle then tows another.

The Red Flag Act had long since expired, but the speed limit was still only 12 m/h (9.2 km/h), more was possible by idling downhill, but it also becomes more dangerous in mountainous landscapes then. No, you were just as little protected from the weather as the coachmen were back then, unlike upstairs in the truck from 1924. After the wars, the number of horse-drawn carriages increased again with poverty. Not only were the men missing, but also those who had sufficient technical understanding for operating a truck, e.g. knew how to deal with completely unsynchronized transmissions.