Editing Great Western Railway (section)

===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}}