††††The first public vehicles on the roads of England were the 'long wagons' introduced in the reign of Elizabeth 1 (1558-1603). They were meant for transporting goods, but the poorer people soon began to travel in them. These wagons did so much damage the roads that a weight restriction was placed on them by an Act of Parliament in 1621. Later, in 1751, another Act of Parliament ordered wagons to have tyres at least 23 centimetres wide. Some years later, parliament promised that wagons with tyres at least 40 centimetres would be excused road tolls.
Horse-drawn wagons were the first vehicles to be fitted with brakes. A hard block of wood was applied to the iron tyre of a cartwheel cartwheel by a hand lever operated from the driver's seat.
The use of wagons as a form of long-distance road transport declined rapidly with the coming of the railways and motorised road vehicles. Wagons were still widely used on farms until the 1940s, when working horses were finally replaced by tractors. The term 'wagon' is still used for an open railway truck.
