102-567: The Great Western Steam Ship Company operated the first regular transatlantic steamer service from 1838 until 1846. Related to the Great Western Railway , it was expected to achieve the position that was ultimately secured by the Cunard Line . The firm's first ship, Great Western was capable of record Blue Riband crossings as late as 1843 and was the model for Cunard's Britannia and her three sisters. The company's second steamer,
204-468: A guard riding in the coach to uncouple it from the main train and bring it to a stop at the correct position. The first such " slip coach " was detached from the Flying Dutchman at Bridgwater in 1869. The company's first sleeping cars were operated between Paddington and Plymouth in 1877. Then on 1 October 1892 its first corridor train ran from Paddington to Birkenhead, and the following year saw
306-723: A Bristol engineer and businessman. The next year, the Great Western Steam Ship Company was established, even though the rail line was still years from completion. Construction on the Brunel designed Great Western was started in June 1836 at William Patterson 's shipyard. Her large size (1,350 GRT) sparked controversy when Dionysius Lardner spoke to the British Association for the Advancement of Science and concluded that
408-502: A day less on her return. However, on 23 September 1846 Great Britain ran ashore because of a navigational error and was not expected to survive the winter. The directors suspended all sailings of Great Western and went out of business. The company was forced to sell the salvage rights at a fraction of Great Britain' s original cost Great Britain was saved, sold and served various owners until 1937. List sourced from Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway ( GWR )
510-663: A day of overtaking Sirius to New York. To complete the voyage, Sirius was forced to burn spars when coal ran low. Because British and American did not begin its regular service until the following year, the Great Western Steam Ship Company is considered the first regular transatlantic steamship service. Great Western proved clearly superior to British Queen and was the model for every successful Atlantic wooden paddle-wheeler. During 1838–1840, Great Western averaged 16 days, 0 hours (7.95 knots) westward to New York and 13 days, 9 hours (9.55 knots) home. In 1838,
612-536: A fortnightly service beginning by May 1840. While Cunard did not currently own a steamship, he had been involved in an earlier steamship venture ( Royal William ) and owned coal mines in Nova Scotia. Cunard's major backer was Robert Napier , who was the Royal Navy's supplier of steam engines. Napier was eager to support Cunard because he just had a falling out with Junius Smith of British and American. Cunard also had
714-473: A group of men dragging a wooden cart to the north shore of the island which he named Hecla and Griper Bay . It was the first of August before the ships were able to float out of the harbour. They got as far west as 113°46'W before turning back. It was too late in the season and new ice was already beginning to form. They reached England in October 1820 having lost one man. Parry's voyage, which had taken him through
816-407: A legal entity for nearly two more years, being formally wound up on 23 December 1949. GWR designs of locomotives and rolling stock continued to be built for a while and the region maintained its own distinctive character, even painting for a while its stations and express trains in a form of chocolate and cream. About 40 years after nationalisation British Rail was privatised and the old name
918-699: A legal requirement that the GWR, along with all other British railways, had to serve each station with trains which included third-class accommodation at a fare of not more than one penny per mile and a speed of at least 12 mph (19 km/h). By 1882, third-class carriages were attached to all trains except for the fastest expresses . Another parliamentary order meant that trains began to include smoking carriages from 1868. Special " excursion " cheap-day tickets were first issued in May 1849 and season tickets in 1851. Until 1869 most revenue came from second-class passengers but
1020-541: A monthly Bristol-Halifax-New York service to begin in 18 to 24 months. The St. George Steam Packet Company also bid £45,000 for a monthly Cork-Halifax service including their Sirius and £65,000 for a monthly Cork-Halifax-New York service. Great Western's directors were confident that they would win the contract because of the demonstrated success of their first steamer. However, the Admiralty rejected both bids because neither company offered to begin service early enough. Guppy
1122-552: A pocket park but he is named on the west face of the Officers Monument in the centre of the area. Parry's character was influenced by his religiousness, and besides the journals of his different voyages he also wrote a Lecture to Seamen , and Thoughts on the Parental Character of God (1878, co-author). He was noted as "an evangelical [Christian] and an ardent advocate of moral reform in the navy." Parry also pioneered
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#17328443555061224-465: 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
1326-627: A task completed through to Exeter on 1 March 1876 by the GWR. The station here had been shared with the LSWR since 1862. This rival company had continued to push westwards over its Exeter and Crediton line and arrived in Plymouth later in 1876, which spurred the South Devon Railway to also amalgamate with the Great Western. The Cornwall Railway remained a nominally independent line until 1889, although
1428-432: A transatlantic port. The Great Western Railway was formed in 1833 to build a Bristol-London line and appointed Isambard Kingdom Brunel as chief engineer. The issue of the line's length was discussed at an 1835 director's meeting when supposedly Brunel joked that the line could be made longer by building a steamship to run between Bristol and New York. The necessary investors were recruited by Brunel's friend, Thomas Guppy,
1530-500: A £5,000 award offered by Parliament. Finally blocked by ice they turned back to a place Parry called Winter Harbour on the south shore of Melville Island , somewhere near 107- or 108° W. Cutting their way through new ice the ships reached anchorage on 26 September. Here they were frozen in for the next 10 months. There were three months of total darkness and in the new year the temperature dropped to −54 °F (−48 °C). The men were kept busy with regular exercise while
1632-544: Is Box Tunnel , the longest railway tunnel driven by that time. Several years later, the railway opened the even longer Severn Tunnel to carry a new line between England and Wales beneath the River Severn . Some other notable structures were added when smaller companies were amalgamated into the GWR. These include the South Devon Railway sea wall , the Cornwall Railway 's Royal Albert Bridge , and Barmouth Bridge on
1734-557: The 3 + 1 ⁄ 2 -mile (5.6 km) Clevedon branch line ; others were much longer such as the 23-mile (37 km) Minehead Branch . A few were promoted and built by the GWR to counter competition from other companies, such as the Reading to Basingstoke Line to keep the London and South Western Railway away from Newbury . However, many were built by local companies that then sold their railway to their larger neighbour; examples include
1836-476: The Great Britain was an outstanding technical achievement of the age. The company collapsed because it failed to secure a mail contract and Great Britain appeared to be a total loss after running aground. The company might have had a more successful outcome had it built sister ships for Great Western instead of investing in the too advanced Great Britain . By the 1830s, Liverpool was overtaking Bristol as
1938-602: The Cambrian Railways . In the early years the GWR was managed by two committees, one in Bristol and one in London. They soon combined as a single board of directors which met in offices at Paddington. The board was led by a chairman and supported by a secretary and other "officers". The first Locomotive Superintendent was Daniel Gooch , although from 1915 the title was changed to Chief Mechanical Engineer. The first Goods Manager
2040-577: The Channel Islands and France. The railway's headquarters were established at Paddington station. Its locomotives and rolling stock were built and maintained at Swindon Works but other workshops were acquired as it amalgamated with other railways, including the Shrewsbury companies' Stafford Road works at Wolverhampton, and the South Devon's workshops at Newton Abbot . Worcester Carriage Works
2142-774: The Launceston and Brixham branches. Further variety came from the traffic carried: holidaymakers ( St Ives );. royalty ( Windsor ); or just goods traffic ( Carbis Wharf ). Brunel envisaged the GWR continuing across the Atlantic Ocean and built the SS ; Great Western to carry the railway's passengers from Bristol to New York . Most traffic for North America soon switched to the larger port of Liverpool (in other railways' territories) but some transatlantic passengers were landed at Plymouth and conveyed to London by special train. Great Western ships linked Great Britain with Ireland,
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#17328443555062244-583: The Midland Railway and it was converted to standard gauge in 1854, which brought mixed-gauge track to Temple Meads station – this had three rails to allow trains to run on either broad or standard gauge. The GWR extended into the West Midlands in competition with the Midland and the London and North Western Railway . Birmingham was reached through Oxford in 1852 and Wolverhampton in 1854. This
2346-599: The Midland and South Western Junction Railway , a line previously working closely with the Midland Railway but which now gave the GWR a second station at Swindon, along with a line that carried through-traffic from the North via Cheltenham and Andover to Southampton . The 1930s brought hard times but the company remained in fair financial health despite the Depression . The Development (Loans, Guarantees and Grants) Act 1929 allowed
2448-727: The Parry Channel three-quarters of the way across the Canadian Arctic Archipelago was probably the single most productive voyage in the quest for the Northwest Passage . Luck was on their side; 1819 was unusually ice-free and no ship was able to travel so far west until Edward Belcher 's expedition in 1850. A narrative of the expedition, entitled Journal of a Voyage to discover a North-west Passage , appeared in 1821, publisher John Murray paying 1,000 guineas for it. Upon his return Lieutenant Parry received promotion to
2550-506: The Parry Channel , probably the most successful in the long quest for the Northwest Passage , until it was finally negotiated by Roald Amundsen in 1906. In 1827, Parry attempted one of the earliest expeditions to the North Pole . He reached 82° 45' N , setting a record for human exploration Farthest North that stood for nearly five decades before being surpassed at 83° 20' N by Albert Hastings Markham in 1875. Parry
2652-559: The River Avon , then climbing back up through Chippenham to the Box Tunnel before descending once more to regain the River Avon's valley which it followed to Bath and Bristol. Swindon was also the junction for a line that ran north-westwards to Gloucester then south-westwards on the far side of the River Severn to reach Cardiff , Swansea and west Wales. This route was later shortened by
2754-611: The " grouping ", under which smaller companies were amalgamated into four main companies in 1922 and 1923. The GWR built a war memorial at Paddington station, unveiled in 1922, in memory of its employees who were killed in the war. The new Great Western Railway had more routes in Wales, including 295 miles (475 km) of former Cambrian Railways lines and 124 miles (200 km) from the Taff Vale Railway . A few independent lines in its English area of operations were also added, notably
2856-454: The "gauge war" and led to the appointment by Parliament of a Gauge Commission , which reported in 1846 in favour of standard gauge so the 7-foot gauge was proscribed by law ( Railway Regulation (Gauge) Act 1846 ) except for the southwest of England and Wales where connected to the GWR network. Other railways in Britain were to use standard gauge. In 1846, the Bristol and Gloucester was bought by
2958-597: The 1-mile-1,452-yard (2.94 km) Box Tunnel , which was ready for trains on 30 June 1841, after which trains ran the 152 miles (245 km) from Paddington through to Bridgwater. In 1851, the GWR purchased the Kennet and Avon Canal , which was a competing carrier between London, Reading, Bath and Bristol. The GWR was closely involved with the C&;GWUR and the B&;ER and with several other broad-gauge railways. The South Devon Railway
3060-472: The 1819–1821 expedition. In 1930, a large sandstone rock at Winter Harbour on Melville Island marking Parry's 1819 wintering site, approximately 5.5-metre-long (18 ft) and 3-metre-high (9.8 ft), was designated a National Historic Site of Canada . Parry Street in Cooks Hill is named after him due to his work at the A A Company. Parry was cited as the author of some plant species of Greenland in
3162-505: The GWR by Brunel's Chepstow Bridge in 1852. It was completed to Neyland in 1856, where a transatlantic port was established. There was initially no direct line from London to Wales as the tidal River Severn was too wide to cross. Trains instead had to follow a lengthy route via Gloucester, where the river was narrow enough to be crossed by a bridge. Work on the Severn Tunnel had begun in 1873, but unexpected underwater springs delayed
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3264-454: The GWR held a large number of shares in the company. One final new broad-gauge route was opened on 1 June 1877, the St Ives branch in west Cornwall , although there was also a small extension at Sutton Harbour in Plymouth in 1879. Part of a mixed gauge point remains at Sutton Harbour, one of the few examples of broad gauge trackwork remaining in situ anywhere. Once the GWR was in control of
3366-447: The GWR route being via Chippenham and a route initially started by the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway . Further west, the LSWR took over the broad-gauge Exeter and Crediton Railway and North Devon Railway , also the standard-gauge Bodmin and Wadebridge Railway . It was several years before these remote lines were connected with the parent LSWR system and any through traffic to them
3468-417: The GWR to obtain money in return for stimulating employment and this was used to improve stations including London Paddington , Bristol Temple Meads and Cardiff General ; to improve facilities at depots and to lay additional tracks to reduce congestion. The road motor services were transferred to local bus companies in which the GWR took a share but instead, it participated in air services . A legacy of
3570-401: The GWR to reach Crewe . Operating agreements with other companies also allowed GWR trains to run to Manchester . South of the London to Bristol main line were routes from Didcot to Southampton via Newbury , and from Chippenham to Weymouth via Westbury . A network of cross-country routes linked these main lines, and there were also many and varied branch lines . Some were short, such as
3672-488: The Midlands but which had been built as standard gauge after several battles, both political and physical. On 1 April 1869, the broad gauge was taken out of use between Oxford and Wolverhampton and from Reading to Basingstoke. In August, the line from Grange Court to Hereford was converted from broad to standard and the whole of the line from Swindon through Gloucester to South Wales was similarly treated in May 1872. In 1874,
3774-586: The Strait to the ice-filled Gulf of Boothia , the north end of which Parry had approached in 1819. When new ice began to form they went a short distance southeast and wintered at Igloolik . The ship was not freed from ice until 8 August. Since it was late in the season and there were signs of scurvy, Parry turned for home and reached Shetland in mid-October 1823. During his absence, he had been promoted to post rank in November ;1821, and shortly after his return he
3876-471: The broad gauge was that trains for some routes could be built slightly wider than was normal in Britain and these included the 1929-built " Super Saloons " used on the boat train services that conveyed transatlantic passengers to London in luxury. When the company celebrated its centenary during 1935, new "Centenary" carriages were built for the Cornish Riviera Express, which again made full use of
3978-455: The broad-gauge Bristol and Gloucester Railway had opened, but Gloucester was already served by the 4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ( 1,435 mm ) standard gauge lines of the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway . This resulted in a break-of-gauge that forced all passengers and goods to change trains if travelling between the south-west and the North. This was the beginning of
4080-445: The chief one for American trade. The increase in the size of ships and the gradual silting of the River Avon had made Liverpool an increasingly attractive port, and with a Liverpool to London rail line under construction in the 1830s Bristol's status was threatened. The answer for Bristol was, with the co-operation of London interests, to build a line of their own; a railway built to unprecedented standards of excellence to out-perform
4182-615: The coast of Baffin Bay without making any new discoveries. Parry and many others thought that Ross was wrong to turn back after entering Lancaster Sound at the north end of Baffin Island. Partly as a result, Parry was given command of a new expedition in HMS ; Hecla , accompanied by the slower HMS Griper under Matthew Liddon. Others on the expedition were Edward Sabine , science officer and Frederick William Beechey . For protection from ice
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4284-662: The coast of the Melville Peninsula and wintered at the southeast corner of Winter Island . From the Inuit he learned that northward the coast turned west. In March and May Lyon led two sledging expeditions into the interior. Freed from the ice in July they then went north and found the Fury and Hecla Strait , which was ice-filled. They waited for the ice to clear, but it did not. In September Lieutenant Reid trekked 100 miles (160 km) west along
4386-500: The company paid a 9% dividend, but that was to be the firm's only dividend because of the expense of building the company's next ship. Unfortunately, the events in 1839 doomed the company. Materials were already collected to build a second ship, tentatively named City of New York when Brunel convinced the directors to build an entirely different ship, an iron-hulled steamer of unusually large dimensions. Construction of Great Britain proved disastrously protracted and expensive, and for
4488-540: The company's previously circuitous routes. The principal new lines opened were: The generally conservative GWR made other improvements in the years before World War I such as restaurant cars, better conditions for third class passengers, steam heating of trains, and faster express services. These were largely at the initiative of T. I. Allen, the Superintendent of the Line and one of a group of talented senior managers who led
4590-733: 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
4692-536: The ensuing pressure. After 48 hours work on the pumps they made an attempt to deliberately beach the ship for repairs. Stores were unloaded, but by 25 August it was clear that the keel was broken and the advancing ice forced them to abort further efforts. Most of the stores were left on the beach and the crew taken on board the Hecla which reached England in October ;1825. Parry thought he could see open water south of
4794-626: The expedition. In 1827, he reached 82°45′N, which remained the highest latitude attained for the next 49 years. He published an account of this journey under the title of Narrative of the Attempt to reach the North Pole, &c. . In April 1829 he was knighted. Parry served as Commissioner of the Australian Agricultural Company based at Tahlee on the northern shore of Port Stephens, New South Wales , from 1829 to 1834 . Parry
4896-485: The firm's receipts were £33,400 against expenditures of £25,600. However, the company was still financially stressed because of the cost of building Great Britain , which ultimately reached £117,295. In 1843, Great Britain was finally launched with great fanfare. She was no less than three times the size of Cunard's Britannia Class . The company's fortunes improved in 1845 when Great Britain entered service. She recorded 14 days, 21 hours (9.3 knots) to New York and
4998-475: The first trains heated by steam that was passed through the train in a pipe from the locomotive. May 1896 saw the introduction of first-class restaurant cars and the service was extended to all classes in 1903. Sleeping cars for third-class passengers were available from 1928. William Edward Parry Sir William Edward Parry FRS (19 December 1790 – 8 July 1855) was a Royal Navy officer and explorer best known for his 1819–1820 expedition through
5100-666: The following April. The British and American Steam Navigation Company was also planning a transatlantic steamship service, but its first unit, the British Queen , was not ready when Great Western scheduled its initial sailing. To beat its rival, British and American chartered the Irish Sea steamer, the 700 GRT Sirius from the St. George Steam Packet Company for two voyages. While Sirius left Cork , Ireland four days before Great Western departed Avonmouth , Great Western still came within
5202-414: The largest practical ship for a transatlantic service was 800 GRT, which was too small for a direct New York service. Brunel argued that larger ships were more efficient and was ultimately proved correct. However, Lardner's conclusions scared away some potential Bristol investors and the new firm was undersubscribed. Great Western was launched in July 1837 and ready for her maiden Bristol-New York voyage
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#17328443555065304-416: The line to Faringdon Road on 20 July 1840. Meanwhile, work had started at the Bristol end of the line, where the 11 + 1 ⁄ 2 -mile (19 km) section to Bath opened on 31 August 1840. On 17 December 1840, the line from London reached a temporary terminus at Wootton Bassett Road west of Swindon and 80.25 miles (129 km) from Paddington. The section from Wootton Bassett Road to Chippenham
5406-411: The line was not direct from London to Bristol. From Reading heading west, the line would curve in a northerly sweep back to Bath. Brunel surveyed the entire length of the route between London and Bristol himself, with the help of many, including his solicitor, Jeremiah Osborne of the Bristol law firm Osborne Clarke , who on one occasion rowed Brunel down the River Avon to survey the bank of the river for
5508-529: The lines being constructed to the North West of England . The company was founded at a meeting in Bristol on 21 January 1833. Isambard Kingdom Brunel , then aged 27, was appointed engineer on 7 March 1833. The name Great Western Railway was adopted on 19 August 1833, and the company and was incorporated by the Great Western Railway Act 1835 ( 5 & 6 Will. 4 . c. cvii) on 31 August 1835. This
5610-548: The mail, instead of naval vessels, on a regular schedule. He attained the rank of rear-admiral in 1852, and in the following year became a governor of Greenwich Hospital , and retained this post until his death. He died after a long illness at Bad Ems in Germany on 8 July 1855 , but his body was returned to London for burial. He is buried in Greenwich Hospital Cemetery. The cemetery is now largely cleared to create
5712-638: The masterpieces of railway design". Working westwards from Paddington, the line crosses the valley of the River Brent on Wharncliffe Viaduct and the River Thames on Maidenhead Railway Bridge , which at the time of construction was the largest span achieved by a brick arch bridge. The line then continues through Sonning Cutting before reaching Reading after which it crosses the Thames twice more, on Gatehampton and Moulsford bridges. Between Chippenham and Bath
5814-419: The mixed gauge was extended along the main line to Chippenham and the line from there to Weymouth was narrowed. The following year saw mixed gauge laid through the Box Tunnel, with the broad gauge now retained only for through services beyond Bristol and on a few branch lines. The Bristol and Exeter Railway amalgamated with the GWR on 1 January 1876. It had already made a start on mixing the gauge on its line,
5916-461: The network. The original Great Western Main Line linked London Paddington station with Temple Meads station in Bristol by way of Reading , Didcot , Swindon , Chippenham and Bath . This line was extended westwards through Exeter and Plymouth to reach Truro and Penzance , the most westerly railway station in England. Brunel and Gooch placed the GWR's main locomotive workshops close to
6018-616: The next six years Great Western operated alone. Even more disastrous was the British Government's decision to award the transatlantic mail contract to Samuel Cunard . Three years earlier, a Committee of Parliament decided that mail packets managed by the Post Office should be replaced by contracts with private shipping companies and that the Admiralty should assume responsibility. Famed Arctic explorer, Admiral Sir William Edward Parry
6120-447: The north of England to the south coast (via the London and South Western Railway – LSWR) without transshipment . The line to Basingstoke had originally been built by the Berks and Hants Railway as a broad-gauge route in an attempt to keep the standard gauge of the LSWR out of Great Western territory but, in 1857, the GWR and LSWR opened a shared line to Weymouth on the south coast,
6222-498: The officers put on plays and produced a newspaper. The first case of scurvy was reported in January and by March fourteen men were on the sick list, about half with mild scurvy. Parry carried mustard and cress seeds and planted them in his cabin. The leaves seemed to help. There was some excitement in early March when the first melt water appeared, but by the end of the month the ice was still 6 feet (2 m) thick. In June Parry led
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#17328443555066324-488: The opening of a more direct east–west route through the Severn Tunnel . Another route ran northwards from Didcot to Oxford from where two different routes continued to Wolverhampton , one through Birmingham and the other through Worcester . Beyond Wolverhampton the line continued via Shrewsbury to Chester and (via a joint line with the LNWR ) onwards to Birkenhead and Warrington ; another route via Market Drayton enabled
6426-439: The outbreak of World War I in 1914, the GWR was taken into government control, as were most major railways in Britain. Many of its staff joined the armed forces and it was more difficult to build and maintain equipment than in peacetime. After the war, the government considered permanent nationalisation but decided instead on a compulsory amalgamation of the railways into four large groups. The GWR alone preserved its name through
6528-423: The previous voyage led to improvements. The two vessels were nearly identical since Gripper had not been able to keep up with Hecla , and all the equipment was made to be entirely interchangeable. They had cork insulation, cork plugs for the portholes and an improved heating system, coal-burning stove , placed in the lowest deck to deal with cold and condensation. The men were issued better clothing and lemon juice
6630-689: The protection of the Spitsbergen whale fishery. Parry took advantage of this opportunity for the study and practice of astronomical observations in northern latitudes, and afterwards published the results of his studies in a small volume on Nautical Astronomy by Night . From 1813 to 1817 he served on the North American Station . In 1818 he received command of the brig Alexander in the Arctic expedition under Captain John Ross . This expedition followed
6732-506: The railway into the Edwardian era : Viscount Emlyn ( Earl Cawdor , Chairman from 1895 to 1905); Sir Joseph Wilkinson (general manager from 1896 to 1903), his successor, the former chief engineer Sir James Inglis; and George Jackson Churchward (the Chief Mechanical Engineer ). It was during this period that the GWR introduced road motor services as an alternative to building new lines in rural areas, and started using steam rail motors to bring cheaper operation to existing branch lines. At
6834-468: The railway: one illustrated with lithographs by John Cooke Bourne ; the other, a critique of Brunel's methods and the broad gauge. The first 22 + 1 ⁄ 2 miles (36 km) of line, from Paddington station in London to Maidenhead Bridge station , opened on 4 June 1838. When Maidenhead Railway Bridge was ready the line was extended to Twyford on 1 July 1839 and then through the deep Sonning Cutting to Reading on 30 March 1840. The cutting
6936-437: The rank of commander. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in February 1821. In April 1821 he again left for the Arctic commanding HMS Fury accompanied by HMS Hecla under George Francis Lyon . Others with him were George Fisher , scientist and chaplain, William Hooper, purser and diarist, lieutenant Henry Parkyns Hoppner and then midshipmen Francis Crozier and James Clark Ross . Experience from
7038-414: The route. George Thomas Clark played an important role as an engineer on the project, reputedly taking the management of two divisions of the route including bridges over the River Thames at Lower Basildon and Moulsford and of Paddington Station . Involvement in major earth-moving works seems to have fed Clark's interest in geology and archaeology and he, anonymously, authored two guidebooks on
7140-447: The same route in June 1879 and became known as The Zulu . A third West Country express was introduced in 1890, running to and from Penzance as The Cornishman . A new service, the Cornish Riviera Express ran between London and Penzance – non-stop to Plymouth – from 1 July 1904, although it ran only in the summer during 1904 and 1905 before becoming a permanent feature of the timetable in 1906. The Cheltenham Spa Express
7242-741: The ships were clad with 3-inch (7.6 cm) oak, had iron plates on their bows and internal cross-beams. They also carried food in tin cans , an invention so new that there were as yet no can openers . Instead of taking Ross's route anti-clockwise around Baffin Bay (which Ross was charting) he was able to cross the bay straight to Lancaster Sound. Fighting his way through ice he reached clear water on 28 July and entered Lancaster Sound. He passed Ross's farthest west and kept going. Blocked by heavy ice, they went south for more than 100 miles (160 km) into Prince Regent Inlet before turning back. Continuing west they passed 110° W (about 600 miles (970 km) west of Lancaster Strait) which entitled them to
7344-498: The strong backing of Nova Scotian political leaders such as Howe at the time when London was concerned about building support in British North America after the rebellion. In May 1839, Admiral Parry accepted Cunard's tender over the loud protests of Great Western's directors. Parliament investigated Great Western's complaints, and upheld the Admiralty's decision. The company also faced difficulties at its home port. The water
7446-559: The use of canning techniques for food preservation on his Arctic voyages. However, his techniques were not infallible: in 1939 viable spores of certain heat-resistant bacteria were found in canned roast veal that had travelled with Parry to the Arctic Circle in 1824. The crater Parry on the Moon was named after him, as were Parry County, New South Wales , Parry Sound, Ontario , and the optical phenomenon Parry arc , documented by him during
7548-472: 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. The Great Western Railway originated from the desire of Bristol merchants to maintain their city as the second port of the country and
7650-472: The village of Swindon and the locomotives of many trains were changed here in the early years. Up to this point the route had climbed very gradually westwards from London, but from here it changed into one with steeper gradients which, with the primitive locomotives available to Brunel, was better operated by types with smaller wheels better able to climb the hills. These gradients faced both directions, first dropping down through Wootton Bassett Junction to cross
7752-429: The volume of third-class passengers grew to the extent that second-class facilities were withdrawn in 1912. The Cheap Trains Act 1883 resulted in the provision of workmen's trains at special low fares at certain times of the day. The principal express services were often given nicknames by railwaymen but these names later appeared officially in timetables, on headboards carried on the locomotive, and on roofboards above
7854-429: The whole line from London to Penzance, it set about converting the remaining broad-gauge tracks. The last broad-gauge service left Paddington station on Friday, 20 May 1892; the following Monday, trains from Penzance were operated by standard-gauge locomotives. After 1892, with the burden of operating trains on two gauges removed, the company turned its attention to constructing new lines and upgrading old ones to shorten
7956-496: The wider loading gauge on that route. With the outbreak of World War II in 1939, the GWR returned to direct government control, and by the end of the war a Labour government was in power and again planning to nationalise the railways. After a couple of years trying to recover from the ravages of war, the GWR became the Western Region of British Railways on 1 January 1948. The Great Western Railway Company continued to exist as
8058-509: The windows of the carriages. For instance, the late-morning Flying Dutchman express between London and Exeter was named after the winning horse of the Derby and St Leger races in 1849. Although withdrawn at the end of 1867, the name was revived in 1869 – following a request from the Bristol and Exeter Railway – and the train ran through to Plymouth. An afternoon express was instigated on
8160-401: The work and prevented its opening until 1886. Brunel had devised a 7 ft ( 2,134 mm ) track gauge for his railways in 1835. He later added 1 ⁄ 4 inch (6.4 mm), probably to reduce friction of the wheel sets in curves. This became the 7 ft 1 ⁄ 4 in ( 2,140 mm ) broad gauge. Either gauge may be referred to as "Brunel's" gauge. In 1844,
8262-422: The wreck site. He published an account of this voyage in 1826. The wreck site, Fury Beach, near 72°30′N 92°30′W / 72.500°N 92.500°W / 72.500; -92.500 ( Fury Beach ) where the coast turns west became an important landmark. Sir John Ross reached it in 1829. He found the hulk gone and many stores, Fury ' s boats and anchors piled on the beach. When his ship
8364-682: 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
8466-526: 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,
8568-423: Was a bad year for ice and he did not reach Lancaster Sound until 10 September. He entered Prince Regent Inlet but after 60 miles (97 km) of ice he was forced to winter at a place he called Port Bowen on the eastern shore. In late July 1825 they freed themselves from the ice, but 60 miles (97 km) further south they were caught by wind and ice and the Fury was driven against the western shore and damaged by
8670-505: Was also in disfavor at the Admiralty because of his critical remarks about the Royal Navy's steamship designs made at an 1837 scientific meeting. Cunard, who was back in Halifax, did not even know of the tender until after the original deadline. Cunard returned to London and started negotiations with Admiral Parry, who was Cunard's good friend from the time Parry was a young officer stationed in Halifax twenty years earlier. Cunard offered Parry
8772-478: Was appointed acting Hydrographer of the Navy . His Journal of a Second Voyage, &c. , appeared in 1824. In May 1824 he left London in the Hecla accompanied by Henry Parkyns Hoppner in the Fury . With them were Horatio Thomas Austin , James Clark Ross , Francis Crozier and William Hooper. The goal this time was Prince Regent Inlet at the west end of Baffin Island where he had been blocked by ice in 1819. It
8874-492: Was appointed as Comptroller of Steam Machinery and Packet Service in April 1837. Nova Scotians led by their young Assembly Speaker, Joseph Howe lobbied for steam service to Halifax . The Rebellions of 1837 were still ongoing and London realized that the proposed Halifax service was also important for defence reasons. That November, Parry released a tender for North Atlantic mail service to Halifax. Great Western bid £45,000 for
8976-475: Was appointed in 1850 and from 1857 this position was filled by James Grierson until 1863 when he became the first general manager. In 1864 the post of Superintendent of the Line was created to oversee the running of the trains. Early trains offered passengers a choice of first- or second-class carriages . In 1840 this choice was extended: passengers could be conveyed by the slow goods trains in what became third-class. The Railway Regulation Act 1844 made it
9078-502: Was born in Bath, Somerset , the son of Caleb Hillier Parry and Sarah Rigby. He was educated at King Edward's School . At the age of thirteen he joined the flagship of Admiral Sir William Cornwallis in the Channel fleet as a first-class volunteer, in 1806 became a midshipman, and in 1810 received promotion to the rank of lieutenant in the frigate Alexander , which spent the next three years in
9180-525: Was by far Brunel's largest contract to date. He made two controversial decisions. Firstly, he chose to use a broad gauge of 7 ft ( 2,134 mm ) to allow for the possibility of large wheels outside the bodies of the rolling stock which could give smoother running at high speeds. Secondly, he selected a route, north of the Marlborough Downs , which had no significant towns but which offered potential connections to Oxford and Gloucester . This meant
9282-635: Was completed in 1849, extending the broad gauge to Plymouth , whence the Cornwall Railway took it over the Royal Albert Bridge and into Cornwall in 1859 and, in 1867, it reached Penzance over the West Cornwall Railway which originally had been laid in 1852 with the 4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ( 1,435 mm ) standard gauge or "narrow gauge" as it was known at the time. The South Wales Railway had opened between Chepstow and Swansea in 1850 and became connected to
9384-435: Was created by flattening land north of Worcester Shrub Hill Station , Reading Signal Works was established in buildings to the north of Reading railway station , and in later years a concrete manufacturing depot was established at Taunton where items ranging from track components to bridges were cast. More than 150 years after its creation, the original main line has been described by historian Steven Brindle as "one of
9486-450: Was frozen in further south he depended on those stores before being rescued. In 1850, Charles Codrington Forsyth reached it but was blocked by ice. In the following year Parry obtained the sanction of the Admiralty for an attempt on the North Pole from the northern shores of Spitsbergen at Sjuøyane . On 23 October 1826 , Parry married Isabella Louisa Stanley, daughter of John Stanley, 1st Baron Stanley of Alderley , before undertaking
9588-547: Was handled by the GWR and its associated companies. By now the gauge war was lost and mixed gauge was brought to Paddington in 1861, allowing through passenger trains from London to Chester. The broad-gauge South Wales Railway amalgamated with the GWR in 1862, as did the West Midland Railway , which brought with it the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway , a line that had been conceived as another broad-gauge route to
9690-547: Was not deep enough for Great Western to dock at Avonmouth, forcing the ship to anchor midstream. The Docks Company refused to dredge a deeper berth and charged twice the rate as Liverpool. The result was that Bristol lost further ground to it rival ports. After the collapse of British and American, Great Western decided to alternate departures between Avonmouth and Liverpool, before abandoning Avonmouth entirely in 1843. The company remained profitable even though it now competed directly against Cunard's fortnightly service. In 1843,
9792-457: Was opened on 31 May 1841, as was Swindon Junction station where the Cheltenham and Great Western Union Railway (C&GWUR) to Cirencester connected. That was an independent line worked by the GWR, as was the Bristol and Exeter Railway (B&ER), the first section of which from Bristol to Bridgwater was opened on 14 June 1841. The GWR main line remained incomplete during the construction of
9894-761: Was revived by Great Western Trains , the train operating company providing passenger services on the old GWR routes to South Wales and the South West. This subsequently became First Great Western, as part of the FirstGroup , but in September 2015 changed its name to Great Western Railway in order to 'reinstate the ideals of our founder'. The operating infrastructure, however, was transferred to Railtrack and has since passed to Network Rail . These companies have continued to preserve appropriate parts of its stations and bridges so historic GWR structures can still be recognised around
9996-482: Was stored in kegs rather than glass bottles. The goal this time was to find a passage near the northwest end of Hudson Bay. After working slowly through the ice of Hudson Strait he headed directly west to Frozen Strait which Christopher Middleton had found impassable in 1742. He passed Frozen Strait in a fog and found himself in Repulse Bay which he re-checked and found land-locked. He then ran northeast and mapped
10098-479: Was subsequently selected for the post of comptroller of the newly created department of steam machinery of the Navy, and held this office until his retirement from active service in 1846, when he was appointed captain-superintendent of Haslar Hospital . He reorganised the packet service , which had been transferred from the Post Office to the Admiralty in January ;1837. Steamship companies were contracted to carry
10200-643: Was the fastest train in the world when it was scheduled to cover the 77.25 miles (124.3 km) between Swindon and London at an average of 71.3 miles per hour (114.7 km/h). The train was nicknamed the 'Cheltenham Flyer' and featured in one of the GWR's 'Books for boys of all ages'. Other named trains included The Bristolian , running between London and Bristol from 1935, and the Torbay Express , which ran between London and Kingswear . Many of these fast expresses included special coaches that could be detached as they passed through stations without stopping,
10302-479: Was the furthest north that the broad gauge reached. In the same year the Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway and the Shrewsbury and Chester Railway both amalgamated with the GWR, but these lines were standard gauge, and the GWR's own line north of Oxford had been built with mixed gauge. This mixed gauge was extended southwards from Oxford to Basingstoke at the end of 1856 and so allowed through goods traffic from
10404-542: Was the scene of a railway disaster two years later when a goods train ran into a landslip ; ten passengers who were travelling in open trucks were killed. This accident prompted Parliament to pass the Railway Regulation Act 1844 , requiring railway companies to provide better carriages for passengers. The next section, from Reading to Steventon crossed the Thames twice and opened for traffic on 1 June 1840. A 7 + 1 ⁄ 4 -mile (12 km) extension took
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