route. Two 14-seat buses were acquired from the London and South Western Railway for the purpose. The arrangement lasted from 1906 to 1933. Grouping of the railways Following the Railways Act 1921, most of the railway companies of Great Britain were compulsorily "grouped" into four larger units: the old Great Western Railway and certain large South Wales companies - of which the ADR was one - were "constituents" (in contradistinction to smaller companies that were "subsidiaries") of the larger Great Western Railway. At the grouping, the issued capital of the ADR was £3.66 million, with net income in 1921 of £194,875, and paying a dividend in 1921 of 5% on ordinary stock. It had miles of running lines (but 100 miles of sidings capable of holding 12,000 wagons), 38 locomotives and four passenger carriages. There were 690 goods wagons, and 1,707 employees. The merger with the Great Western took effect from 25 March 1922. Hutton asserts that it seems probable that the former PC&NR lines transferred to the Newport District of the GWR. Nationalisation and after In 1948 the railways of Great Britain were taken into national ownership under British Railways. The British Transport Commission was a supervisory body intended to oversee all the nationalised transport systems. Under the Transport Act 1962; the British Transport Docks Board (BTDB) was established as a nationally owned body, and the Newport Docks were transferred to it. The Transport Act 1981 was intended to privatise the BTDB, and in 1982 the docks became part of Associated British Ports, a private sector company with certain statutory powers. The dock can (2002) handle vessels up to 40,000 dwt, and has a combined water area of 125 acres. The only rail access is from the former GWR main line at Alexandra Dock Junction, facing for trains approaching from Newport passenger station. Decline of the railways The motor bus service in Newport was mirrored from the 1930s by independent road passenger and goods services in the rural parts of the Alexandra's network as the quality of public roads in rural areas improved. This led to a decline in profitability of the railway's passenger and goods business, although the mineral traffic held up for the time being. After World War II and nationalisation of the railways, the decline accelerated, and the PC&NR passenger service between Pontypridd and Machen was closed from 17 September 1956. A workmen’s service continued between