Great Western Railway

Great Western Railway

Logo of the Great Western Railway, incorporating the shields, crests and mottoes of the cities of London (left) and Bristol (right)
Map of the railway pre-grouping (1920)
Map of the railway post-grouping (1926)
History
1835	Act of incorporation
1838	First train ran
1869–92	7 ft 1⁄4 in (2,140 mm) Brunel gauge changed to 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
1903	Start of road motor services
1923	Keeps identity though the Grouping
1935	Centenary
1948	Nationalised
Successor organisation
1948	British Rail, Western Region
Constituent companies See full list of constituents of the GWR 1854 Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway Shrewsbury and Chester Railway 1862 South Wales Railway 1863 West Midland Railway 1876 Bristol and Exeter Railway South Devon Railway 1889 Cornwall Railway 1922 Rhymney Railway Taff Vale Railway Cambrian Railways 1923 Midland & S W Junction Railway
Key locations
Headquarters	Paddington station, London
Locale	England; Wales
Workshops	Swindon Wolverhampton
Major stations	Birmingham Snow Hill Bristol Temple Meads Cardiff General London Paddington Reading General
Route mileage Mileage shown as at end of year stated[1][2][3][4][5] 1841 171 miles (275 km) 1863 1,106 miles (1,780 km) 1876 2,023 miles (3,256 km) 1899 2,504 miles (4,030 km) 1919 2,996 miles 68 chains (4,823.0 km) 1921 3,005 miles (4,836 km) 1924 3,797 miles (6,111 km) 1925 3,819 miles 69 chains (6,147.5 km)
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The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838 with the initial route completed between London and Bristol in 1841. It was engineered by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who chose a broad gauge of 7 ft (2,134 mm)—later slightly widened to 7 ft 1⁄4 in (2,140 mm)—but, from 1854, a series of amalgamations saw it also operate 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard-gauge trains; the last broad-gauge services were operated in 1892.

The GWR was the only company to keep its identity through the Railways Act 1921, which amalgamated it with the remaining independent railways within its territory, and it was finally merged at the end of 1947 when it was nationalised and became the Western Region of British Railways.

The GWR was called by some "God's Wonderful Railway" and by others the "Great Way Round" but it was famed as the "Holiday Line", taking many people to English and Bristol Channel resorts in the West Country as well as the far southwest of England such as Torquay in Devon, Minehead in Somerset, and Newquay and St Ives in Cornwall. The company's locomotives, many of which were built in the company's workshops at Swindon, were painted a middle chrome green colour while, for most of its existence, it used a two-tone "chocolate and cream" livery for its passenger coaches. Goods wagons were painted red but this was later changed to mid-grey.

Great Western trains included long-distance express services such as the Flying Dutchman, the Cornish Riviera Express and the Cheltenham Spa Express. It also operated many suburban and rural services, some operated by steam rail motors or autotrains. The company pioneered the use of larger, more economic goods wagons than were usual in Britain. It ran ferry services to Ireland and the Channel Islands, operated a network of road motor (bus) routes, was a part of the Railway Air Services, and owned ships, canals, docks and hotels.