Container service allowed railway and haulage companies to transport goods from door to door without needing to re-load the goods between road vehicles and railway vans. Using a combination of flat-bed road vehicles and these con(tainer)flat wagons the container was lifted from the collecting road vehicle onto container onto the wagon at the nearest railway station. Moved by rail to the destination station the container was again lifted onto a road vehicle for final delivery.
Containers had been in use for furniture removals since the early 1900s, by the 1930s all of the four principal railway companies offered containers for removals.