It would have been mid ’70s when I first got in to cycling, so I may be remembering it wrong.
Only proper “racing” or “touring” bikes had derailleurs.
Everything else was single speed, or Sturmey Archer Three Speed if you were posh. The dropouts faced forwards and the axle had nuts.
Racing and touring bikes had much shorter dropouts as there was no need to adjust the chain tension, although, now I think about it, I remember we used to laugh at a friend who became known as Close Clearance Chris because he had bought a custom built racing frame, then found he had to let the tyre down to get the wheel out. The dropouts must have faced forward and not been vertical like a modern mountain bike.