This book examines the limitations on LNER investment during the period between the two world wars and why the company struggled with financial stringency and failed to generate sufficient net revenue throughout the 25 years of its existence from the 1923 Grouping until nationalisation in 1948.
During the inter-war years the railways found it difficult to finance capital expenditures conventionally. Declining earnings and a deficit on the capital account meant that the LNER could not raise significant fresh capital on the market. Because of this, much of the company’s investment was done with government assistance.
The book contains several tables of investment statistics, and at the back there are two case studies, covering the Grimsby No. 3 Fish Dock and the Cambridge–Mildenhall branch, and a number of appendices explaining topics mentioned in the main text in more detail. Includes around 80 photographss, mostly black & white. 92 pages.