an interesting contrast between the latest technology and Victorian design. Besides pulling their trailers, the railcars could also be seen hauling 4-wheel vans. With top speeds of around , the railcars were not restricted to branch lines but could also work stopping trains on the main lines. Railcar No.2 was withdrawn in 1954 and No.3 was destroyed by fire in 1957 but the remaining two cars were to continue in service until the mid-1960s. Pole report and the NIRTB The railways continued to lose business to unlicensed, "pirate" road freight operators and in 1932, the BCDR, GNR(I) and NCC formally asked the government to create a monopoly covering road transport throughout Northern Ireland. Sir Felix Pole, a former manager of the Great Western Railway, was appointed to investigate the road transport situation. After taking evidence from a wide range of interests, such as the railways, road transport operators, transport users and trades unions, his report was published in July 1934. Pole recommended that a board be set up to control all bus and lorry operations which would co-operate and co-ordinate its activities with the railways. The government accepted these proposals and, on 1 October 1935, the Northern Ireland Road Transport Board (NIRTB) came into being and absorbed buses and coaches from the three railway companies. The NCC handed over 131 buses and 56 lorries together with operating and maintenance staff, the Smithfield bus station in Belfast and other facilities. A joint NCC/NIRTB passenger timetable was issued from 1 October and it was arranged that the NIRTB could continue to use the former NCC bus and lorry facilities at railway stations. However, the hoped for co-operation between road and rail failed to materialise and the new board appeared to be only interested in co-ordinating road transport to better compete with the railways. There were complaints from the public that the NIRTB's rates were higher and its services poorer than those previously provided. In response to demands from the railways and other interested parties, the government set up two enquiries into the road transport situation. A committee headed by Sir William McClintock made a wide-ranging and complex investigation into the financial and organisational structure while a commission of His Honour Herbert Thompson KC specifically investigated rates and fares. The scope of these reports overlapped to some extent and they were published together in late 1938. The McClintock report ascertained that there was