94-602: The Railway Clearing House ( RCH ) was an organisation set up to manage the allocation of revenue collected by pre-grouping railway companies for the conveyance of passengers and goods over the lines (or using the rolling stock) of other companies. It went on to become the major regulatory body overseeing the day-to-day running of railways in Great Britain and setting common standards for railway companies, which ensured their safety and interoperability. The RCH also produced fare structures governing many aspects of rail transport at
188-468: 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
282-590: A government-controlled railway system during and after the Great War of 1914–1918. The provisions of the act took effect from the start of 1923. The British railway system had been built up by more than a hundred railway companies, large and small, and often, particularly locally, in competition with each other. The parallel railways of the East Midlands, and the rivalry between the South Eastern Railway and
376-407: 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
470-699: 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
564-401: A national level and set limits on price increases for passenger travel. When passengers travelled between two stations on the same railway, using trains provided by the same company, that company was entitled to the whole of the fare. Similarly, when goods were consigned between two stations on the same railway, using wagons provided by the same company, that company was entitled to the whole of
658-465: A neutral meeting point where different railways could discuss points of disagreement and make suggestions which could benefit other railways. Besides meeting rooms, the RCH provided secretarial facilities for these discussions. Conferences between railway managers were arranged, as were conferences between the different railways' departmental heads. In this way, railways moved towards many common practices, without
752-465: 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
846-627: 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
940-453: A tribunal. Part 2 dealt with powers and regulation of the railway companies by the Railway and Canal Commission , part 3 dealt with railway rates, charges and conditions of carriage with powers given to a Railway Rates Tribunal , and part 4 with employee wages and conditions. Parts 5 and 6 dealt with light railways and general clauses respectively, with the general clauses of part 6 including
1034-544: 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
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#17328446707211128-557: 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
1222-642: The Birmingham and Gloucester Railway ; Chester and Birmingham Railway ; the Grand Junction Railway and its allies the North Union Railway and Liverpool and Manchester Railway ; the Lancaster and Preston Railway ; Manchester and Birmingham Railway ; and Newcastle and Carlisle Railway . The Grand Junction Railway initially refused, because of the £300 per year cost of using Edmondson tickets , and
1316-599: The British Railways Board (BRB) took over its surviving duties. Along with all RCH staff, they were divided mainly between the department of the board's chief commercial officer and that of its chief accountant. On 22 September 1847, the RCH recommended that Greenwich Mean Time be adopted as the standard time for all railways in the United Kingdom . The RCH went on to set technical standards for various items, such as goods wagons, to promote standardisation across
1410-602: 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
1504-577: 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
1598-506: The Grouping Act , was an act of Parliament enacted by the British government, and was intended to stem the losses being made by many of the country's 120 railway companies, by "grouping" them into four large companies, dubbed the " Big Four ". The intention was to reduce inefficient internal competition between railway companies, and retain some of the benefits which the country had derived from
1692-774: 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,
1786-527: The Liverpool and Manchester saw no need to join, being isolated from the rest of the railway system. Owing to expansion, the RCH moved to larger purpose-built premises in Seymour Street (renamed Eversholt Street in 1938) in early 1849, which remained its headquarters for the rest of its existence. By the end of 1850 a further 21 companies had joined, including several of the leading Scottish companies, bringing
1880-516: The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway at Hastings, were two examples of such local competition. During the First World War the railways were under state control, which continued until 1921. Complete nationalisation had been considered, and the Railways Act 1921 is sometimes seen as a precursor to that, but the concept was rejected, and nationalisation was subsequently carried out after
1974-583: 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
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#17328446707212068-599: 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
2162-559: 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
2256-592: The Second World War , under the Transport Act 1947 . The form of the act was developed by the Minister of Transport , Eric Geddes , who was a former North Eastern Railway executive. Geddes favoured using amalgamations to create privately owned regional monopolies, and suggested increased worker participation from pre-war levels. Geddes viewed the pre-war competition as wasteful, but was opposed to nationalisation, on
2350-803: The Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway (S&DJR), a joint LMS/ SR line in south-western England. The London suburban railway companies, such as the Underground Electric Railways Company of London and the Metropolitan Railway , were also excluded. Later, the London Passenger Transport Act 1933 amalgamated them, along with London area bus and tram operations, into the London Passenger Transport Board (see List of transport undertakings transferred to
2444-611: 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
2538-454: 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
2632-549: The "most superb series of railway maps ever produced in the United Kingdom." The RCH had some similarities to the modern Association of Train Operating Companies , and in particular, its Rail Settlement Plan division. 51°31′53″N 0°08′09″W / 51.5315°N 0.1357°W / 51.5315; -0.1357 Railways Act 1921 The Railways Act 1921 ( 11 & 12 Geo. 5 . c. 55), also known as
2726-597: 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
2820-651: The Future Organisation of Transport Undertakings in Great Britain and their Relation to the State ( Cmd. 787). That suggested the formation of six or seven regional companies, and suggested worker participation on the board of directors of the company. The white paper was opposed by the Railway Companies' Association (RCA) and by MPs representing railway companies' interests. The move to greater worker participation
2914-505: 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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3008-454: 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
3102-447: 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
3196-417: 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
3290-401: 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
3384-587: The London Passenger Transport Board ). Other exempted railways were light railways authorised under the Light Railways Act 1896 , and similar lines, although some of those lines still chose to join the groups. The lines which remained independent were principally those under the influence of Colonel Stephens , who had been instrumental in securing the necessary exemption. Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway ( GWR )
3478-488: 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,
3572-415: The RCH cable, eliminating the need for a separate control cable to be fitted to intermediate coaches. The RCH produced Railway Junction Diagrams (RJDs), which show the junctions where two or more railway companies met, and the distances between these junctions and nearby stations and junctions, in order to aid the calculation of mileage-based rates. Starting in 1859 it also issued what has been described as
3666-762: The Scottish businesses. After consideration of the Railways Bill, it was decided that the Scottish companies, originally destined to be a separate group, would be included with the Midland/North Western and Eastern groups respectively, in order that the three main Anglo-Scottish trunk routes should each be owned by one company for their full length: the West Coast Main Line and the Midland Main Line by
3760-471: 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
3854-403: 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
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3948-445: 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
4042-540: 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
4136-733: 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
4230-412: The fee. However, when coaches or wagons owned by a different company were used, that company would be entitled to a proportion of the fare or fee. If the commencement and terminus of the journey were on different railways, a more complicated situation arose: if the two companies involved did not provide through ticketing, the passenger or goods needed to be re-booked at a junction station; if through booking
4324-486: The former group, and the East Coast Main Line by the latter. The opening paragraph of the Railways Act 1921 states: Part 1 of the act dealt with the terms and procedure of the amalgamations of railway companies. The constituents and subsidiaries of the four groups were set out in the first schedule of the act. Companies that had not formed an amalgamation scheme by 1923 would be amalgamated under terms decided by
4418-447: The grounds that it led to poor management, as well as a mutually corrupting influence between railway and political interests. In his 9 March 1920 Cabinet paper, "Future Transport Policy", he proposed five English groups (Southern, Western, North Western, Eastern and North Eastern), a London passenger group, and separate single groupings for Scotland and Ireland. Geddes' proposals became the 1920 white paper , Outline of Proposals as to
4512-801: The initial costs of setting up the organisation. The founding members, whose first meeting was on 26 April 1842, were: the London and Birmingham Railway ; the predecessors of the Midland Railway (the Midland Counties Railway , Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway , and North Midland Railway ); the Manchester and Leeds Railway ; and the predecessors of the North Eastern Railway (the Leeds and Selby Railway , Hull and Selby Railway , York and North Midland Railway and Great North of England Railway ). This first meeting agreed to principles by which
4606-416: 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
4700-411: 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
4794-529: 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
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#17328446707214888-638: 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
4982-499: The members' companies themselves, the bill, in fact, reduced the scope of the RCH, while making it easier to enforce debt collection among members (hitherto not formally regulated). A later attempt, in 1859, via Parliament, to re-extend the powers and potential membership of the RCH, foundered on conflicting interests. A separate organisation, the United Railway Companies' Committee , was formed in 1858 but folded in 1861. It
5076-419: 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,
5170-538: The need for legislation. The system had a weakness, in that a unanimous vote was required for a recommendation to become compulsory. Another function of the Railway Clearing House was to deal with lost property found in railway carriages. In due course, the RCH was given legal status by a private Act of Parliament, the Railway Clearing Act 1850 ( 13 & 14 Vict. c. xxxiii). Although initiated by
5264-461: 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
5358-400: 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,
5452-426: The ongoing activities of the RCH were to be funded. This involved a fixed payment per station served (£5, reduced in 1844 to £2 for stations that were not termini) plus an apportionment of the balance of costs according to the total share of receipts of each participating company. The first manager was Kenneth Morrison, auditor of the London and Birmingham Railway. By the end of December 1845, more companies had joined:
5546-442: 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
5640-439: 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
5734-407: The rail network. If a wagon was described as an RCH wagon , this meant it had been built to comply with RCH standards. The RCH set technical standards for cable connections between coaches for the remote operation of systems; they were initially used only for control of train lighting. These cables were known as RCH jumpers , and in the 1970s a system for push-pull trains was developed which used
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#17328446707215828-506: 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
5922-468: 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
6016-434: The railways were placed under government control, and the receipts were pooled and then apportioned in fixed proportions according to pre-war receipts. During those periods, the duties of the RCH were very much reduced, but they continued to provide their secretarial functions. As railway companies amalgamated, so the number of members reduced, until it had just one member, the British Transport Commission (BTC). Most of
6110-434: The remaining powers, property, rights and liabilities of the RCH were transferred to the BTC on 24 May 1954, and the RCH was dissolved as a corporate body on 8 April 1955. The BTC then continued the remaining functions of the RCH, still under the name Railway Clearing House. They included the provision of secretarial services and rooms for railway meetings, and meetings between road and rail companies; classification of goods for
6204-460: The requirement of the railway companies to provide the Minister of Transport with statistic and financial reports. The third reading of the act in the House of Commons took place on 9 August 1921, and was passed with a majority of 237 to 62. The House of Lords made various amendments, which were accepted by the Commons on 19 August, and royal assent was given. The state control of the railways which began under war conditions during World War I
6298-414: 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
6392-447: 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
6486-412: The setting of rates; the examination and certification of new packaging materials; the registration of rolling stock; the issue of maps and other publications including scales of charges; and the spot-check of wagons and consignments in transit. By 31 December 1959, the number of staff employed by the RCH had fallen from about 3,200 in 1921, to just 375. The RCH was finally disbanded on 31 March 1963, when
6580-416: The successor companies. They included the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway (M&GN), a London, Midland and Scottish Railway / London and North Eastern Railway joint line in eastern England, the largest of the joint railways in terms of route mileage; the Cheshire Lines Committee (CLC), LMS/LNER joint line in Lancashire and Cheshire , largest in terms of both passenger and freight traffic; and
6674-409: The total of British railway mileage in the scheme to 55.8%. However, it still lacked the Great Western Railway and the companies south of London. In January 1863 a pneumatic tube, one-third of a mile long, was installed between the RCH and the NW Postal District Office so that "parcels or persons are blown from one end to the other in a little over a minute". It was soon realised that the RCH provided
6768-472: 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
6862-472: 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
6956-429: 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
7050-429: 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
7144-496: 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
7238-509: 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
7332-401: 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,
7426-632: 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
7520-526: 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,
7614-475: 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
7708-525: 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
7802-635: 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
7896-435: 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
7990-547: 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
8084-457: 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
8178-452: Was provided, the receipts collected by the first company needed to be divided between them, usually on a mileage basis. The Railway Clearing House was founded as a means by which these receipts could be apportioned fairly. The Railway Clearing House commenced operations on 2 January 1842 in small offices at 111 Drummond Street opposite Euston Station , London . The premises were owned by the London and Birmingham Railway , which also provided
8272-546: Was re-established in June 1867 and became the Railway Companies' Association (RCA) in 1869. There was a certain degree of overlap between the RCA and the RCH, and it was later agreed that the RCA should represent the railways in Parliament, whilst the RCH concentrated on organising the business of railway traffic. In 1897, the RCH was established as a body corporate. During both World Wars,
8366-761: 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
8460-504: Was strongly opposed by the RCA, but supported by the Labour Party . Worker-directors were not included in the final act, being replaced by agreed negotiating mechanisms. In 1921, the white paper, Memorandum on Railways Bill (Cmd. 1292), suggested four English regional groups and two Scottish groups. Scottish railway companies wanted to be incorporated into British groupings, and the RCA proposed five British regional monopolies including
8554-643: 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,
8648-479: 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
8742-542: 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
8836-605: Was to continue for a further two years under the Ministry of Transport Act 1919 . The act took effect on 1 January 1923. On that date most of the mergers took place, although some had taken place during the previous year. The February 1923 issue of The Railway Magazine dubbed the new companies as " The Big Four of the New Railway Era". A number of joint railways remained outside the Big Four, continuing to be operated jointly by
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