Editing Great Western Railway (section)

===Ancillary operations===
[[File:GWR bus AF84 on Helston service.jpg|right|thumb|alt=A sepia picture of an old bus, seen from the front. The cab is open to the elements and three men sit in it, while a boy stands to the right.|One of the first [[GWR road motor services|road motors]] working a service from {{Stnlnk|Helston}} to [[The Lizard]]]]
A number of canals, such as the [[Kennet and Avon Canal]] and the [[Stratford-upon-Avon Canal]], became the property of the railway when they were purchased to remove competition or objectors to proposed new lines. Most of these continued to be operated although they were only a small part of the railway company's business: in 1929 the canals took £16,278 of receipts while freight trains earned over £17 million. (£{{Formatnum:{{Inflation|UK|16278|1929|{{inflation-year|UK}}|r=-3}}}} and £{{Formatprice|{{Inflation|UK|17000000|1929|{{inflation-year|UK}}|r=0}}}} respectively in {{inflation-year|UK}}).<ref name=GWCentenaryF>{{cite journal| title = A Brief Review of the Company's Hundred Years of Business|journal = Great Western Railway Magazine| volume = 47| issue = 9| pages = 495–500| publisher = Great Western Railway| year = 1935}}</ref>{{Inflation-fn|UK|df=y}}

The [[Railways Act 1921]] brought most of the large coal-exporting docks in South Wales into the GWR's ownership, such as those at [[Cardiff]], [[Barry, Glamorgan|Barry]], and [[Swansea]]. They were added to a small number of docks along the south coast of England which the company already owned, to make it the largest docks operator in the world.<ref name=GWCentenaryA/>

Powers were granted by Parliament for the [[Great Western Railway ships|GWR to operate ships]] in 1871.<ref name=GWCentenaryA>{{cite journal| title = Handmaids of the Railway Services| journal = Great Western Railway Magazine| volume = 47| issue = 9| pages = 515–516| publisher = Great Western Railway| year = 1935}}</ref> The following year the company took over the ships operated by Ford and Jackson on the route between [[Neyland]] in Wales and [[Waterford]] in Ireland. The Welsh terminal was relocated to {{Stnlnk|Fishguard Harbour}} when the railway was opened to there in 1906. Services were also operated between {{Stnlnk|Weymouth Quay}} and the [[Channel Islands]] from 1889 on the former Weymouth and Channel Islands Steam Packet Company routes. Smaller GWR vessels were also used as [[Ship's tender|tenders]] at [[Plymouth Millbay railway station|Plymouth Great Western Docks]] and, until the Severn Tunnel opened, on the [[River Severn]] crossing of the [[Bristol and South Wales Union Railway]].<ref name=Duckworth/>

The first railway-operated bus services were started by the GWR between [[Helston railway station]] and [[The Lizard]] on 17 August 1903. Known by the company as "[[GWR road motor services|road motors]]", these chocolate-and-cream buses operated throughout the company's territory on railway feeder services and excursions until the 1930s when they were transferred to local bus companies (in most of which the GWR held a [[Share (finance)|share]]).<ref>{{cite book| last = Kelley| first = Philip J.| title = Great Western Road Vehicles| publisher = Oxford Publishing Company| year = 2002| location = Hersham| isbn = 0-86093-568-X | pages=177–220 }}</ref>

The GWR inaugurated the first railway air service between [[Cardiff]], [[Torquay]] and [[Plymouth]] in association with [[Imperial Airways]]. This grew to become part of the [[Railway Air Services]].<ref name=GWCentenaryA/>