Editing Traction engine (section)

=== Decline ===
[[File:Aa Steamtractionengine nearChelford P1010009.JPG|thumb|right|Preserved Burrell road locomotive pulling a water cart, near [[Jodrell Bank]], [[Cheshire]], England]]
Road steam disappeared through restrictions and charges that drove up their operating costs. Through 1921, steam tractors had demonstrated clear economic advantages over horse power for heavy hauling and short journeys. However, petrol lorries were starting to show better efficiency and could be purchased cheaply as war surplus; on a busy route a 3-ton petrol lorry could save about £100 per month compared to its steam equivalent, in spite of restrictive speed limits and relatively high fuel prices and maintenance costs.<ref>{{cite news | work = The Times | date = 12 February 1921 | title = Motor Transport. County Council Haulage II Petrol V. Horse}}</ref>

Throughout the 1920s and 1930s there were tighter restrictions on road steam haulage, including speed, smoke and vapour limits<ref>{{cite news| work = The Times | date = 6 April 1922 | title = Motor Transport. The New Legislation }}</ref> and a 'wetted tax', where the tax due was proportional to the size of the wetted area of the boiler; this made steam engines less competitive against domestically produced internal combustion engined units (although imports were subject to taxes of up to 33%). As a result of the [[Salter Report]] on road funding, an '[[Vehicle excise duty|axle weight tax]]' was introduced in 1933 in order to charge commercial motor vehicles more for the costs of maintaining the road system and to do away with the perception that the free use of roads was subsidising the competitors of rail freight. The tax was payable by all road hauliers in proportion to the axle load and was particularly restrictive on steam propulsion, which was heavier than its petrol equivalent.<ref>{{cite news | work = The Times | title = Motor Taxation. Vehicles Using Fuel Oil (Letters) | date = 24 March 1933 }}</ref>

Initially, imported oil was taxed much more than British-produced coal, but in 1934 [[Oliver Stanley]], the [[Secretary of State for Transport|Minister for Transport]], reduced taxes on fuel oils while raising the Road Fund charge on road locomotives to £100 per year (equivalent to around £9000 today, 2024) provoking protests by engine manufacturers, hauliers, showmen and the coal industry. This was at a time of high unemployment in the mining industry, when the steam haulage business represented a market of 950,000 tons of coal annually. The tax was devastating to the businesses of heavy hauliers and showmen and precipitated the scrapping of many engines.<ref>{{cite news | work = The Times | date = 9 March 1934 | title = Tax on Heavy Oils }}</ref>

The last new UK-built traction engines were constructed during the 1930s, although many continued in commercial use for many years while there remained experienced enginemen available to drive them.{{CN|date=October 2024}}