1. Introductory 2. Britain's Earliest Roads 3. Roads and the Church 4. Early Trading Conditions 5. Early Road Legislation 6. Early Carriages 7. Loads, Wheels and Roads 8. The Coaching Era 9. The Age of Bad Roads 10. The Turnpike System 11. Trade and Transport in the Turnpike Era 12. Scientific Road-Making 13. Rivers and River Transport 14. River Improvement and Industrial Expansion 15. Disadvantages of River Navigation 16. The Canal Era 17. The Industrial Revolution 18. Evolution of the Railway 19. The Railway Era 20. Railway Expansion 21. Railways and the State 22. Decline of Canals 23. Decline of Turnpikes 24. End of the Coaching Era 25. Railway Rates and Charges 26. The Railway System Today 27. What the Railways Have Done 28. Railways a National Industry 29. Tramways, Motor-Buses and Rail-Less Electric Traction 30. Cycles, Motor-Vehicles and Tubes 31. The Outlook.

Originally published in 1912, this book with extensive source footnotes and bibliography follows the evolution and development of roads, rivers, canals, tramways, buses and cycles. The role that the development of transport played in the growth and expansion of trade and industry and on the general economic and social conditions of the country is one of the main issues that is discussed. Other themes which are examined are the electrification of the railways, railways and the state, railway rates and charges and early trading conditions.