The Great Western Railway company is remembered with nostalgia, 175 years after its foundation

Covering the most beloved of Britain’s prenationization railway companies, this history details how the Great Western Railway built and ran the great main line from London to the West Country and Cornwall—today’s First Great Western franchise—and how it was engineered by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who built such wonders as the Box Tunnel and the Saltash bridge. The designers of its steam locomotives are also discussed, from Churchward to Hawkesworth. Wonderful stations—such as the soaring Paddington and Bristol Temple Meads—as well as innumerable idyllic country halts with little more than a pagoda shelter and a couple of milk churns awaiting collection are also explored. (hb)

Author: Andrew Roden