It is often forgotten that in the early nineteenth century, before the arrival of the railways, Britain had the fastest and most efficient form of public overland transport the world had ever seen. By the 1820s, what had once been a hideous chore became a fashionable pastime and a boon to business. But this golden age of public long-distance coaching was short. Within twenty years, as the railways spread across Britain, it was in rapid decline, unable to compete with its faster, more comfortable and much cheaper rival.