Editing Great Western Railway (section)

==History==

===Formation===
[[File:Bristol Temple Meads railway station train-shed engraving.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Two trains and two empty rail tracks below an ornate roof which recedes into the distance|The interior of Brunel's train-shed at Temple Meads, the first Bristol terminus of the GWR, from an engraving by [[John Cooke Bourne|J.&nbsp;C.&nbsp;Bourne]].]]
The Great Western Railway originated from the desire of [[Bristol]] merchants to maintain their city as the second port of the country and the chief one for American trade.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Channon |first=Geoffrey |url=https://archive.org/details/bha062 |title=Bristol and the Promotion of the Great Western Railway, 1835 |isbn=0-901388-45-9 |publisher=Bristol Historical Association |year=1985 |location=Bristol |publication-date=1985 |language=English}}</ref> The increase in the size of ships and the gradual silting of the [[River Avon, Bristol|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 the lines being constructed to the [[North West England|North West of England]].{{sfn|MacDermot|1927|at=Chapter 1}}

{{anchor|Great Western Railway Act 1835}}
{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title           = Great Western Railway Act 1835
| type                  = Act
| parliament            = Parliament of the United Kingdom
| long_title            = An Act for making a Railway from Bristol to join the London and Birmingham Railway near London, to be called "The Great Western Railway," with Branches therefrom to the Towns of Bradford and Trowbridge in the County of Wilts.
| year                  = 1835
| citation              = [[5 & 6 Will. 4]]. c. cvii
| introduced_commons    = 
| introduced_lords      = 
| territorial_extent    = 
| royal_assent          = 31 August 1835
| commencement          = 
| expiry_date           = 
| repeal_date           = 
| amends                = 
| replaces              = 
| amendments            = 
| repealing_legislation = 
| related_legislation   = 
| status                = 
| legislation_history   = 
| theyworkforyou        = 
| millbankhansard       = 
| original_text         = 
| revised_text          = 
| use_new_UK-LEG        = 
| UK-LEG_title          = 
| collapsed             = yes
}}
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 was incorporated by the Great Western Railway Act 1835 ([[5 & 6 Will. 4]]. c. cvii) on 31 August 1835.{{sfn|MacDermot|1927|pp=4–5, 9, 25–26}}

===Route of the line===
This was by far Brunel's largest contract to date. He made two controversial decisions. Firstly, he chose to use a broad gauge of {{RailGauge|7ft}} 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 [[North Wessex Downs|Marlborough Downs]], which had no significant towns but which offered potential connections to [[Oxford]] and [[Gloucester]]. This meant the line was not direct from London to Bristol. From Reading heading west, the line would curve in a northerly sweep back to Bath.{{sfn|MacDermot|1927|at=Chapter 1}}

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 the route.<ref name="Clifton RFC">{{cite web |url=http://www.cliftonrfchistory.co.uk/captains/press/press.htm |website=Clifton Rugby Football Club History |title=Edward Payne Press |access-date=22 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120723122827/http://www.cliftonrfchistory.co.uk/captains/press/press.htm |archive-date=23 July 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Brunel 200 - Working With Visionaries" >{{cite web |url=http://www.brunel200.com/downloads/osborne_clarke_leaflet.pdf |title= Working With Visionaries |website=Brunel 200 |publisher=Osborne Clarke |access-date=22 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130520183659/http://www.brunel200.com/downloads/osborne_clarke_leaflet.pdf |archive-date=20 May 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[G. T. Clark|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 [[Gatehampton Railway Bridge|Lower Basildon]] and [[Moulsford Railway Bridge|Moulsford]] and of [[Paddington Station]].<ref>{{cite ODNB| last =James| first =B Ll| title =Clark, George Thomas (1809–1898)| year =2004| doi =10.1093/ref:odnb/5461| url =http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/5461| access-date =21 August 2007| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20150924160253/http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/5461| archive-date =24 September 2015| url-status =live}}</ref> Involvement in major earth-moving works seems to have fed Clark's interest in geology and [[archaeology]] and he, anonymously, authored two guidebooks on the railway: one illustrated with [[lithograph]]s by [[John Cooke Bourne]];<ref name="Bourne" /> the other, a critique of Brunel's methods and the broad gauge.<ref>{{cite journal| last = Clark| first = GT| author-link = G. T. Clark |title=The Birth and Growth of the Broad Gauge| journal = Gentleman's Magazine| issue = 279| pages = 489–506| year = 1895}}</ref>

[[File:Sonning cutting.jpg|right|thumb|alt=A trestle bridge on four piers spans a cutting over two rail tracks|The [[Sonning Cutting]] in 1846]]
The first {{convert|22+1/2|mi|km|0}} of line, from Paddington station in London to [[Taplow railway station|Maidenhead Bridge station]], opened on 4 June 1838.{{sfn|MacDermot|1927|at=Chapter 2}} When [[Maidenhead Railway Bridge]] was ready the line was extended to {{Stnlnk|Twyford}} on 1 July 1839 and then through the deep [[Sonning Cutting]] to {{Stnlnk|Reading}} on 30 March 1840.{{sfn|MacDermot|1927|at=Chapter 4}} The cutting was the scene of [[Railway accident at Sonning Cutting|a significant accident]] two years later when a goods train ran into a [[landslip]]; ten passengers who were travelling in open trucks were killed. This prompted [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]] to pass the [[Railway Regulation Act 1844]], requiring railway companies to provide better carriages for passengers.{{sfn|MacDermot|1927|at=Chapter 13}}

[[File:Cheffin's Map - Route of Great Western Railway, 1850.jpg|thumb|left|Route of the Great Western Railway on [[Charles Cheffins|Cheffin's Map]], 1850. The sweep to the north from Reading is clearly seen.]]

The next section, from Reading to {{Stnlnk|Steventon}} crossed the Thames twice and opened for traffic on 1 June 1840. A {{convert|7+1/4|mi|km|0|adj=on}} extension took the line to [[Challow railway station|Faringdon Road]] on 20 July 1840.{{sfn|MacDermot|1927|at=Chapter 4}} Meanwhile, work had started at the Bristol end of the line, where the {{convert|11+1/2|mi|km|0|adj=on }} section to [[Bath Spa railway station|Bath]] opened on 31 August 1840.{{sfn|MacDermot|1927|at=Chapter 5}}

On 17 December 1840, the line from London reached a temporary terminus at {{Stnlnk|Wootton Bassett Road}} west of Swindon and {{convert|80.25|mi|km|0}} from Paddington. The section from Wootton Bassett Road to {{Stnlnk|Chippenham}} was opened on 31 May 1841, as was [[Swindon railway station|Swindon Junction station]]{{sfn|MacDermot|1927|at=Chapter 4}} where the [[Cheltenham and Great Western Union Railway]] (C&GWUR) to [[Cirencester Town railway station|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 {{Stnlnk|Bridgwater}} was opened on 14 June 1841. The GWR main line remained incomplete during the construction of the {{convert|1|mi|1452|yd|km|2|adj=on}} [[Box Tunnel]], which was ready for trains on 30 June 1841, after which trains ran the {{convert|152|mi|km}} from Paddington through to Bridgwater.{{sfn|MacDermot|1927|at=Chapter 5}} In 1851, the GWR purchased the [[Kennet and Avon Canal]], which was a competing carrier between London, Reading, Bath and Bristol.{{sfn|MacDermot|1927|at=Chapter 7}}

The GWR was closely involved with the C&GWUR and the B&ER and with several other broad-gauge railways. The [[South Devon Railway Company|South Devon Railway]] was completed in 1849, extending the broad gauge to [[Plymouth Millbay railway station|Plymouth]],{{sfn|MacDermot|1931|at=Chapter 6}} whence the [[Cornwall Railway]] took it over the [[Royal Albert Bridge]] and into [[Cornwall]] in 1859{{sfn|MacDermot|1931|at=Chapter 7}} and, in 1867, it reached {{Stnlnk|Penzance}} over the [[West Cornwall Railway]] which originally had been laid in 1852 with the {{RailGauge|ussg}} [[standard gauge]] or "narrow gauge" as it was known at the time.{{sfn|MacDermot|1931|at=Chapter 8}} The [[South Wales Railway]] had opened between {{Stnlnk|Chepstow}} and {{Stnlnk|Swansea}} in 1850 and became connected to the GWR by Brunel's [[Chepstow Railway Bridge|Chepstow Bridge]] in 1852. It was completed to {{stnlnk|Neyland}} in 1856, where a transatlantic port was established.{{sfn|MacDermot|1927|at=Chapter 11}}

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 the work and prevented its opening until 1886.<ref name="Walker">{{cite book| last = Walker| first = Thomas A| title = The Severn Tunnel: Its Construction and Difficulties (1872–1887)| publisher = Nonsuch Publishing Ltd| year = 2004| location = Stroud| isbn = 1-84588-000-5}}</ref>

=== Brunel's 7-foot gauge and the "gauge war" ===
{{Sidebar track gauge}}
{{See also|British Gauge War|London and South Western Railway#Gauge wars|Isambard Kingdom Brunel#Great Western Railway|List of GWR broad gauge locomotives}}
[[File:Baulk road point with side step.jpg|thumb|left|upright|alt=A rail track recedes into the distance where a steam train stands; the track has three rails, the middle of which is offset to the right in the foreground but switches to the left in the middle at some complex pointwork where three other rails join from the left|A [[broad-gauge]] train on [[Dual gauge|mixed-gauge]] track]]
Brunel had devised a {{RailGauge|7ft}} track gauge for his railways in 1835. He later added {{convert|1/4|in|mm}}, probably to reduce friction of the wheel sets in curves. This became the {{RailGauge|7ft0.25in}} broad gauge.<ref group="Note">In ''History of the Great Western Railway'' (1927 Edition, Volume 1, Part 1, Page 49), MacDermot states in a footnote <q>In laying the rails an extra quarter of an inch was allowed on the straight, making the gauge 7 ft. {{frac|1|4}} in. strictly speaking, but it was always referred to as 7 feet.</q></ref> Either gauge may be referred to as '''Brunel gauge'''.

In 1844, the broad-gauge [[Bristol and Gloucester Railway]] had opened, but Gloucester was already served by the {{RailGauge|ussg|allk=on}} 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 the "gauge war" and led to the appointment by [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]] of a [[Royal Commission on Railway Gauges|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.{{sfn|MacDermot|1927|at=Chapter 6}}

Other railways in Britain were to use standard gauge. In 1846, the Bristol and Gloucester was bought by the [[Midland Railway]] and it was [[Track gauge conversion|converted]] to standard gauge in 1854, which brought [[mixed-gauge]] track to Temple Meads station&nbsp;– this had three rails to allow trains to run on either broad or standard gauge.{{sfn|MacDermot|1927|at=Chapter 8}}

The GWR extended into the [[West Midlands (region)|West Midlands]] in competition with the Midland and the [[London and North Western Railway]]. [[Birmingham Snow Hill railway station|Birmingham]] was reached through {{Stnlnk|Oxford}} in 1852 and [[Wolverhampton Low Level railway station|Wolverhampton]] in 1854.{{sfn|MacDermot|1927|at=Chapter 6}} This was the furthest north that the broad gauge reached.<ref>{{cite book |last= Steele |first= A.K. |title= Great Western Broad Gauge Album |year= 1972 |publisher= Oxford Publishing Company |location= Headington |isbn= 0-902888-11-0 |page= 4}}</ref> In the same year the [[Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway]] and the [[Shrewsbury and Chester Railway]] both [[Consolidation (business)|amalgamated]] with the GWR, but these lines were standard gauge,{{sfn|MacDermot|1927|at=Chapter 7}} and the GWR's own line north of Oxford had been built with mixed gauge.{{sfn|MacDermot|1927|at=Chapter 6}}

This mixed gauge was extended southwards from Oxford to {{Stnlnk|Basingstoke}} at the end of 1856 and so allowed through goods traffic from the north of England to the south coast (via the [[London and South Western Railway]]&nbsp;– LSWR) without [[transshipment]].{{sfn|MacDermot|1927|at=Chapter 6}}

[[File:Broad and standard mileage operated by GWR.png|thumb|300px|left|'''Broad and standard mileage operated by GWR'''<ref name="MacD1" /><ref name="MacD2" />
'''Key'''<br />
• '''Broad''' gauge&nbsp;– <span style="color:#0070C0">'''blue'''</span> (top)<br/>
• '''Mixed''' gauge&nbsp;– <span style="color:#77933C">'''green'''</span> (middle)<br/>
• '''Standard''' gauge&nbsp;– <span style="color:#F68222">'''orange'''</span> (bottom)<br/>
{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" width=100%
! colspan=4 | Values to chart
|-
!31 December!!Broad!!Mixed!!Standard
|-
|1851||&nbsp;{{convert|269|mi|km}}||&nbsp;{{convert|3|mi|km|0}}||&nbsp;{{convert|0|mi|km|0}}
|-
|1856||&nbsp;{{convert|298|mi|km}}||&nbsp;{{convert|124|mi|km}}||&nbsp;{{convert|75|mi|km}}
|-
|1861||&nbsp;{{convert|327|mi|km}}||&nbsp;{{convert|182|mi|km}}||&nbsp;{{convert|81|mi|km}}
|-
|1866||&nbsp;{{convert|596|mi|km}}||&nbsp;{{convert|237|mi|km}}||&nbsp;{{convert|428|mi|km}}
|-
|1871||&nbsp;{{convert|524|mi|km}}||&nbsp;{{convert|141|mi|km}}||&nbsp;{{convert|655|mi|km}}
|-
|1876||&nbsp;{{convert|268|mi|km}}||&nbsp;{{convert|274|mi|km}}||&nbsp;{{convert|1481|mi|km}}
|-
|1881||&nbsp;{{convert|210|mi|km}}||&nbsp;{{convert|254|mi|km}}||&nbsp;{{convert|1674|mi|km}}
|-
|1886||&nbsp;{{convert|187|mi|km}}||&nbsp;{{convert|251|mi|km}}||&nbsp;{{convert|1918|mi|km}}
|-
|1891&nbsp;||&nbsp;{{convert|171|mi|km}}&nbsp;||&nbsp;{{convert|252|mi|km}}&nbsp;||&nbsp;{{convert|1982|mi|km}}&nbsp;
|}
]]

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 {{Stnlnk|Weymouth}} on the south coast, the GWR route being via Chippenham and a route initially started by the [[Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway]].{{sfn|MacDermot|1927|at=Chapter 6}}

Further west, the LSWR took over the broad-gauge [[Exeter and Crediton Railway]] and [[North Devon Railway]],<ref>{{cite book |last= Nicholas |first= John |title= The North Devon Line |year= 1992 |publisher= Oxford Publishing Company |location= Sparkford |isbn= 0-86093-461-6 |pages= 85–91}}</ref> 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 was handled by the GWR and its associated companies.<ref>{{cite book |last= Whetmath |first= C.F.D. |title= The Bodmin and Wadebridge Railway |edition= 2nd |year= 1967 | pages= 21–28 |publisher= Branch Line Handbooks |location= Teddington | oclc =462667}}</ref>

By now the gauge war was lost and mixed gauge was brought to [[Paddington station|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 the Midlands but which had been built as standard gauge after several battles, both political and physical.{{sfn|MacDermot|1927|at=Chapter 6}}{{sfn|MacDermot|1927|at=Chapter 9}}

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 {{Stnlnk|Grange Court}} to {{Stnlnk|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, 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.{{sfn|MacDermot|1931|at=Chapter 2}}

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, a task completed through to [[Exeter St Davids railway station|Exeter]] on 1 March 1876 by the GWR.{{sfn|MacDermot|1931|at=Chapter 5}} 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 Company|South Devon Railway]] to also amalgamate with the Great Western.{{sfn|MacDermot|1931|at=Chapter 6}} The [[Cornwall Railway]] remained a nominally independent line until 1889, although the GWR held a large number of shares in the company.{{sfn|MacDermot|1931|at=Chapter 7}}

One final new broad-gauge route was opened on 1 June 1877, the [[St Ives Bay Line|St Ives branch]] in west [[Cornwall]],{{sfn|MacDermot|1931|at=Chapter 9}} although there was also a small extension at [[Sutton Harbour]] in Plymouth in 1879.{{sfn|MacDermot|1931|at=Chapter 8}} Part of a mixed gauge point remains at Sutton Harbour, one of the few examples of broad gauge trackwork remaining in situ anywhere.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gregory |first1=R.H. |title=The South Devon Railway |date=1982 |publisher=Oakwood Press |isbn=0-85361-286-2 |page=75}}</ref>

Once the GWR was in control of 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.<ref>{{cite book|author=Clinker, C. R.|title=New light on the Gauge Conversion |year=1978 |publisher=Avon-Anglia |location=Bristol|isbn=0-905466-12-8| pages=15–16 }}</ref>

===Into the 20th century===
[[File:GWR 4038 on Cornish Riviera Express.jpg|thumb|right|alt=A black and white picture of four railway lines in a shallow cutting, a large steam engine leads a train of coaches from middle-left to right-foreground|New corridor coaches on the Cornish Riviera Express]]
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 the company's previously circuitous routes. The principal new lines opened were:{{sfn|MacDermot|1931|at=Chapter 11}}
* 1900: [[Stert and Westbury Railway|Stert and Westbury]] linking the Berks and Hants line with {{Stnlnk|Westbury}} to create a shorter route to {{Stnlnk|Weymouth}} for the [[Channel Islands]] traffic.
* 1903: the [[South Wales Main Line|South Wales and Bristol Direct Railway]] from [[Wootton Bassett Junction railway station|Wootton Bassett Junction]] to link up with the Severn Tunnel.
* 1904: a diversion of the [[Cornish Main Line]] between {{Stnlnk|Saltash}} and {{Stnlnk|St Germans}}, eliminating the last [[Cornwall Railway viaducts|wooden viaducts on the main line]].
* 1906: the [[Langport and Castle Cary Railway]] to shorten the journey from London to {{stnlnk|Penzance}} between {{Stnlnk|Reading}} and {{Stnlnk|Taunton}}.
* 1908: the [[North Warwickshire Line|Birmingham and North Warwickshire]] which, combined with the Cheltenham and Honeybourne of 1906, offered a new route from Birmingham via {{Stnlnk|Stratford-upon-Avon}} to south Wales.
* 1910: the Birmingham Direct Line built jointly with the [[Great Central Railway]] to give a shorter route from London to {{Stnlnk|Aynho}} and the North.
* 1913: the Swansea District Lines which allowed trains to {{Stnlnk|Fishguard Harbour}} to avoid {{Stnlnk|Swansea}}. Fishguard had been opened in an attempt to attract transatlantic liner traffic and provided a better facility for the Anglo-Irish ferries than that at Neyland.

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 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 [[GWR road motor services|road motor services]] as an alternative to building new lines in rural areas, and started using [[GWR steam rail motors|steam rail motors]] to bring cheaper operation to existing branch lines.{{sfn|MacDermot|1931|at=Chapter 11}}

===One of the "Big Four"===
{{See also|List of constituents of the Great Western Railway}}
[[File:DSCN2101-earl-bathurst crop 1200x600.JPG|thumb|left|alt=A green steam engine with three pairs of large wheels and two smaller ones and the reporting letters Y05 on the front|1923 saw the construction of the first of 171 [[GWR 4073 Class|Castle Class]] locomotives]]
At 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 [[Consolidation (business)|amalgamation]] of the railways into four large groups. The GWR alone preserved its name through the "[[Railways Act 1921|grouping]]", under which smaller companies were amalgamated into four main companies in 1922 and 1923. The GWR built [[Great Western Railway War Memorial|a war memorial]] at Paddington station, unveiled in 1922, in memory of its employees who were killed in the war.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/11358 |title=Great Western Railway, Paddington |website=[[War Memorials Register]] |publisher=Imperial War Museums}}</ref>

The new Great Western Railway had more routes in Wales, including {{convert|295|mi|km}} of former [[Cambrian Railways]] lines and {{convert|124|mi|km}} from the [[Taff Vale Railway]]. A few independent lines in its English area of operations were also added, notably 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 Spa railway station|Cheltenham]] and {{Stnlnk|Andover|England}} to [[Southampton Terminus railway station|Southampton]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Roden |first1=Andrew |title=Great Western Railway: A History |date=2010 |publisher=Aurum Press |isbn=978-1-84513-580-5 |pages=180–183}}</ref>

The 1930s brought hard times but the company remained in fair financial health despite the [[Great Depression|Depression]]. The [[Development (Loans, Guarantees and Grants) Act 1929]] allowed the GWR to obtain money in return for stimulating employment and this was used to improve stations including [[London Paddington station|London Paddington]], {{Stnlnk|Bristol Temple Meads}} and [[Cardiff Central railway station|Cardiff General]]; to improve facilities at [[Motive power depot|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 [[Railway Air Services|air services]].<ref name="GWCentenaryA" />

A legacy of 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 "[[GWR Super Saloons|Super Saloons]]" used on the [[boat train]] services that conveyed transatlantic passengers to London in luxury.<ref>{{cite book| last = Harris| first = Michael| title = Great Western Coaches From 1890| publisher = David and Charles| year = 1985|edition=3rd | location = Newton Abbot| isbn = 0-7153-8050-8 | page=83}}</ref> When the company celebrated its centenary during 1935, new "Centenary" carriages were built for the Cornish Riviera Express, which again made full use of the wider [[loading gauge]] on that route.{{sfn|Harris|1985|page=95}}

===World War II and after===
With the outbreak of [[World War II]] in 1939, the GWR returned to direct government control,<!--scope for inserting wartime operations here--> 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 a legal entity for nearly two more years, being formally [[winding-up|wound up]] on 23 December 1949.<ref>{{cite magazine |date=February 1950 |title=Main-Line Companies Dissolved |magazine=[[The Railway Magazine]] |volume=96 |issue=586 |page=73 |publisher=Transport (1910) Ltd |location=London }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book |last=Allen |first=G. Freeman |title=The Western Since 1948 |year=1979 |publisher=Ian Allan |location=Shepperton |isbn=0-7110-0883-3 | pages=11–15 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Haresnape |first=Brian |title=British Rail 1948–78: A Journey by Design |year=1979 |publisher=Ian Allan |location=Shepperton |isbn=0-7110-0982-1 | page=86 }}</ref>

About 40 years after nationalisation [[British Rail]] was [[Privatization|privatised]] and the old name was revived by [[First Great Western|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 (train operating company)|Great Western Railway]] in order to 'reinstate the ideals of our founder'.<ref>{{cite web|title=Changing from First Great Western to GWR|url=https://www.gwr.com/about-us/our-business/our-vision|website=GWR|publisher=Great Western Railway|access-date=2016-01-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160121054102/https://www.gwr.com/about-us/our-business/our-vision|archive-date=21 January 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> 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 the network.<ref>{{cite web |title=Remnants of the Broad Gauge |url=http://www.broadgauge.org.uk/heritage/bg_remnants.html |website=Broad Gauge Society |access-date=2025-04-09}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Iconic infrastructure |url=https://www.networkrail.co.uk/who-we-are/our-history/iconic-infrastructure/ |website=Network Rail |access-date=2025-04-09}}</ref>