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Great Western Railway

#Rail transport in the United Kingdom #Works of Isambard Kingdom Brunel #Pregrouping British railway companies #Seven foot gauge railways #Big four British railway companies

1 The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked ________ with the south west and west of England and most of Wales.

2 After the war the government considered permanent ________ but decided instead on a compulsory amalgamation of the railways into four large groups.

3 Work on the ________ had begun in 1873, but unexpected underwater springs delayed the work and prevented its opening until 1886.

4 In 1864 Gooch was succeeded by Joseph Armstrong who brought his ________ experience to the railway.

5 1910: the Birmingham Direct Line built jointly with the ________ to give a shorter route from London to Aynho and the North.

6 The company's locomotives, many of which were built in the company's workshops at Swindon, were painted a ________ colour, while for most of its existence it used a two-tone "chocolate and cream" livery for its carriages.

7 The principal express services were often given ________ by railwaymen but these names later appeared officially in timetables, on headboards carried on the locomotive, and on roofboards above the windows of the carriages.

8 The GWR extended into the West Midlands in competition with the Midland and the ________.

9 The road motor services were transferred to local ________ companies in which the GWR took a share, but instead it participated in air services.

10 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 resorts in ________.

💡 Interesting Facts

  • the Great Western Railway's Cornish Riviera Express (pictured) was named following a public competition in The Railway Magazine?
  • the steam rail motors, introduced by the Great Western Railway in 1903 to stimulate traffic, were so successful that they had to be replaced by conventional trains?
  • the Tregenna Castle Hotel in St Ives, Cornwall was the Great Western Railway's first holiday destination hotel?
  • the six Charles Tayleur locomotives ordered by Isambard Kingdom Brunel for the Great Western Railway were unsuccessful?
  • the Great Western Railway operated road motor (bus) services in England and Wales from 1903 until 1933 as it was cheaper than building new railways?
  • the Great Western Railway built three different stations to serve the town of Wootton Bassett in just 63 years?
  • more than 900 different Great Western Railway telegraphic codes were in use to make the GWR's telegraph messages more efficient?
  • only one of the 266 1076 Class steam locomotives built for the Great Western Railway was named, and the rest had only numbers?
  • the Great Western Railway operated ships in connection with their trains to provide services to Ireland, the Channel Islands and France?
  • Isambard Kingdom Brunel used light rails and heavy timber baulks for the Great Western Railway's baulk road track because existing technology could not produce strong rails?
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