The North Western Road Car Company was formed in April 1923 from the amalgamation bus services in
Buxton,
Macclesfield and
Stockport operated by the British Automobile Traction Company, which was owned by
British Electric Traction (BET). The company, initially headquartered in
Macclesfield before later moving to
Stockport, operated bus services in
Cheshire,
Derbyshire,
Lancashire,
Staffordshire and
West Riding of Yorkshire through a combination of growth and the acquisition of other bus companies, such as the takeover in 1924 of the Mid-Cheshire Motor Bus Company Limited, which brought new operations in
Northwich and
Flixton. North Western expanded into
Manchester in March 1928 following an agreement with the
Manchester Corporation to launch four long-distance services from the city to parts of
Derbyshire and
Cheshire, followed by the launch of various co-ordinated regional services within the city the following April. North Western also operated express
coach services to
London,
North Wales and
Yorkshire. Under the terms of the Railways (Road Transport) Act 1928, allowing for the
Big Four British railway companies to provide bus services, shares in North Western were acquired by the
London, Midland and Scottish Railway and
London North Eastern Railway. After the ceasing of an alliance between the BET and the
Tilling Group during the 1940s, which saw both companies holding a 50% share in North Western, the company changed hands back to British Electric Traction. which in turn became the
National Bus Company (NBC) the following year. The NBC eventually split North Western between its neighbouring companies; on 4 March 1972, its head office and depots in Stockport,
Oldham,
Glossop,
Altrincham and
Urmston areas were transferred to the
SELNEC passenger transport executive, who formed a new company named SELNEC Cheshire to run the former North Western services. The remaining depots and services in Cheshire were transferred to fellow NBC subsidiary
Crosville Motor Services that same day, however the services originating from
Warrington - direct service 37 to Altrincham via Lymm Church, the indirect service 38 via
Dunham Massey, and service 42 to
Urmston - were jointly licensed with
Warrington Corporation, while the depots in Buxton,
Castleton and
Matlock were transferred to
Trent Motor Traction. North Western kept hold its Manchester depot and an office at Lower
Mosley Street bus station for its remaining express coach services. However, amid an NBC-wide segregation of leisure coaching from bus operations, on 6 February 1974, North Western was merged with
Ribble Motor Services coaching subsidiary W.C. Standerwick and renamed National Travel (North West) Limited. ==Depots==