1847 The canal at Bridge Street
1878 Site found for new factory
1879 Horse and cart delivers goods
1884 Steam locos appear at Cadbury
1911 Cadbury begin operating canal boats
1918 George Jnr sets up Transport Department
1921 First railhead depot set up in London
1924 Special Easter Egg Service
1930 Fourteen railhead depots now running
1955 Last steam loco bought
1957 Diesel locos arrive
1963 Steam engines ousted
1976 Cadbury rail system closed
1993 State-of-the art warehouse opened
2003 Cadbury streamlines distribution
1847
John Cadbury moved his cocoa manufacture to a Bridge Street factory with a canal link to the Birmingham Navigation Canal.
1878
Bournville was chosen as the new factory site, because of its excellent canal, rail and road links as well as country location.
1879
A horse-drawn van delivers raw materials from Lifford station and takes back finished Cadbury products for distribution.
1883
Cadbury begin building an internal railway network at Bournville to speed up the transport of raw materials and finished products.
1884
Cadbury buy their own brand steam locomotives for the Bournville site. Each one weighs up to 40 tonnes.
1911
Cadbury own their own fleet of canal boats which are used to carry the majority of raw materials to the Bournville factory.
1918
George Jnr heads up a new Transport Department at Cadbury, a control centre that kept the business running smoothly.
1921
The first railhead distribution depot was set up in London. It was serviced by full trainloads of goods from Bournville.
1924
A special Easter Egg Service train ran so that customers in popular British resorts would get their eggs on time.
1930
Fourteen railhead depots were now running in the UK and Ireland. A fleet of over 60 Cadbury vans delivered orders from them.
1955
Cadbury bought their very last steam locomotive, which ran on coke to minimise smoke pollution.
1963
The first diesel loco had arrived in 1958, and by 1963 diesel had replaced all of Cadbury’s steam locomotives.
1976
The Cadbury rail system was now responsible for under 10% of Bournville’s traffic and it closed this year.
1993
Cadbury moved their main warehouse out of Oldbury to a custom-made state-of-the-art building in Minford, Sutton Coldfield.
2003
Cadbury introduce a new, streamlined transport system for greater efficency and a smaller carbon footprint.