Great Western Railway: Illustrated History Books & Guides

In the Footsteps of I.K. Brunel

Isambard Kingdom Brunel is arguably the greatest engineer in British history and as one of the great Victorian engineers who laid the foundations of modern Britain his achievements are still widely celebrated.
This detailed guide covers the extraordinary legacy that Brunel has left for all to see. The triumph that is the Great Western Railway, the first tunnel under the Thames, the Clifton Suspension Bridge and the SS Great Britain will be familiar to many, but even his spectacular failures such as the gargantuan SS Great Eastern and the Atmospheric Railway in Devon have left traces in the landscape that can be still be discovered today.

Recent developments in the story of Brunel's legacy are included such as the recently discovered Bishop's Bridge at Paddington, the proposal to make the Great Western Railway a UNESCO World Heritage site and the government listing of structures all along the route.
This extensive guide not only provides contemporary and present day illustrations of Brunel's lasting legacies, but also an extensive gazetteer of places where his work can still be seen today.

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First Great Western : Gateway to the West

This is the story of First Great Western, the Train Operating Company whose performance rose from being the worst for a long distance operator in the UK to becoming one of the best in a few short years; whose passengers felt so disgruntled they even organized a fares strike.
The franchise grew out of the Great Western, set up upon privatisation in 1993, and the company as it currently stands was created after the merger of the First Great Western, Great Western Link and Wessex Trains franchises in 2006. But in 2008, the Department for Transport became so disillusioned it issued a Remedial Notice Plan (the first step to a holder losing its franchise) before a new management team kick started the company back into life.

In this book, the reader can find out how First Great Western became an award winning train operator after coming so close to losing the franchise. They can see photographs of the only Pullman Dining service in the UK on the Paddington - Penzance sleeper train.
We learn what goes on at one of its main Traction Maintenance Depots and how new life was breathed into rolling stock old enough to be considered railway heritage. The book also discusses how electrification of the Great Western Main Line will improve passenger services and cut journey times.
This is a book that will have plenty to interest modern railway enthusiasts, but will also have much to offer to readers with an interest in the running of a successful rail business in this era of privatisation.

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Great Western Revival - Western Locomotives in the Preservation Era

Thanks to a quirk of fate, and the survival of so many locomotives in the Barry scrapyard, the GWR is well represented in the steam preservation scene today.

John Maybery takes us through the surviving Great Western locomotives, from the Kings and Castle passenger locos through Halls and Manors and onto the ubiquitous Prairie and pannier tanks.
He also covers the narrow gauge locomotives of the Vale of Rheidol Railway, which was Britain's last nationalised steam passenger railway until privatisation in 1989.

The diesel railcars and the replica broad gauge locomotives are also covered in this fully illustrated and informative book.

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GWR - Portrait of an Industry

Incorporated by Act of Parliament in 1835 and completed just six years later, the Great Western Railway became one of the great icons of the Age of Steam, and perhaps the world's most famous railway company.
Spanning Southern England from the Thames to the Bristol Channel, the history of Brunel's greatest achievement, and the surprising offshoots of the company as an industry, are represented here for the first time in full colour from the Amberley Archive.

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Railways Through the Vale of the White Horse

A commemorative history of the railways of the beautiful Oxfordshire district 'Vale of the White Horse', running twenty-seven miles from Steventon to Wootton Bassett. The book spans the history of the route from the opening in 1840 until 1965, when British Rail withdrew all the local passenger services between Didcot and Swindon and all the intermediate stations were closed.

Fully illustrated with hundreds of historical photographs and detailed track diagrams, "Railways Through the Vale of the White Horse" is an ideal resource for anyone with an interest in this scenic railway route and a nostalgia for the early days of railways in Britain.

With personal insight and images from railway historian Adrian Vaughan, the book covers:
- Great Western Railway's development of the route, as part of Brunel's 'Bristol Railway'
- Original correspondence between Brunel and his staff
- The building and progression of all the stations from Steventon to Wootton Bassett
- Station staff, passenger statistics and goods income reports
- The signal boxes, introduced in 1874, through to their abolition between 1965 and 1968.

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Swindon Steam - A New Light on GWR Loco Development

In this book L. A. Summers investigates the facts behind the myths and mysteries using modern research and newly discovered information. What was life really like for railwaymen in the days of steam? Did the locomotive superintendents of some companies network their ideas, and further, was GWR influence to be seen in far-flung parts of the world like Egypt, Malaya and Australia?

The author reveals the facts about the mythical 'Hawksworth Pacific' and in the projects that were never progressed, the Stanier-Hawksworth 4-cylinder compound, the express passenger Pacific tank of the early 1930s, the wide firebox 2-8-0 based on the LMS 8F, the coal fuelled gas turbine, the Caprotti County and the one that was completed - Dean's express passenger 4-2-4T, only ever to run a few yards outside the works.
The author paints a broad canvas putting Swindon in its British, European and world wide context.

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Swindon Works : The Legend

The age of steam is past, the heyday of Swindon Works is long gone - but the legend lives on. What made the Great Western Railway's Swindon Works iconic? Was it its worldwide reputation; perhaps its profound impact in shaping the new town of Swindon; or that it melded those who worked there into one big family?

In a new and exciting format, this book, by popular railway historian Rosa Matheson, helps explain why the never-ending love story endures. With big facts and fascinating stories, it is a must read not only for ex-Works employees and their families, nor just for GWR fans and railway enthusiasts, but also for any newcomer seeking to find a good way into railway history.

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Swindon Works 1930-1960

Despite the disruption caused by economic depression, the Second World War, nationalisation and the transition from steam to diesel manufacture, the 1930s through to the 1950s was, in many ways, the greatest period in the GWR Works' long history.

This book puts the company's range of output into perspective and records the means by which it was achieved, particularly from the viewpoint of the workers but also from that of the company as a business.
As with most historical research, this account is made up of fragments from many varied sources, not least from first-hand recollections of those who worked 'inside'. This book, together with the companion In and Around Swindon Works, sets out, for the first time, a comprehensive account of this vast subject over a thirty year period.
The author also confronts many widely held views and dispels some of the myths, one being that 'everything that can be written about the GWR has already been written'.

A fully revised and enlarged edition of "Working at Swindon Works 1930-1960", first published in 2007. It describes various aspects of the famous railway works of the Great Western Railway, later British Railways Western Region.

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Swindon Works Through Time

Two men started the transformation from sleepy hilltop community into a thriving town. Gooch and Brunel chose the area near Swindon to build a factory for the Great Western Railway and for more than 140 years The Works was renowned for high-quality heavy engineering.
Gooch, Armstrong, Dean, Churchward and Collett would be responsible for the design and building of some of the world's finest locomotives and stock. In 1948 the GWR became British Railways and later diesels replaced steam.

In the town of Swindon a job in The Works was known locally as working 'inside'. After the peak in the 1920s when nearly 14,000 were employed there, the workforce was gradually eroded.
Sadly, in March 1986, Swindon Works was officially closed. Much of the great factory was demolished but thankfully some of it remains as a retail outlet. It is now twenty-eight years since the final hooter blew but Swindon will long be remembered affectionately as a railway town.

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The Carriage & Wagon Works of the GWR at Swindon Works

The Great Western Railway at Swindon, with its highly skilled craftsmen, is world-famous. It has been written about and filmed countless times, and many of its old steam locomotives have been saved from the scrapyards and lovingly rebuilt to run again on heritage lines.
But despite such affection, its skill in the construction and repair of the carriages and wagons has often been sadly overlooked.

Rolling stock is essential for the operation of any railway and no doubt played a key role in the success of the GWR, transporting people and goods of all kinds across its extensive network.
Retired GWR railwayman Ken Gibbs seeks to redress the balance and reveal for the first time exactly 'how they did it' - showcasing the history and work of the Carriage and Wagon Works at Swindon.

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The Great Western Railway - How it Grew

The Great Western Railway (GWR) was founded in 1833 and would connect London to the West. It was engineered by the famous Isambard Kingdom Brunel and was known to many as 'God's Wonderful Railway'.

Here is the story of how it grew. Ken Gibbs traces the GWR's history from the very beginning. He describes the canals that existed in the approximate area eventually covered by the Great Western Railway, and their fate as the railway developed.
He then examines the tramroads and plateways that existed in the area fed by the canals, the mining, quarrying, iron working, and commercial interests as the Industrial Revolution spread, accompanied by the Great Western Railway.
The final section looks at the only real opposition to the Great Western: the existing and new railway companies that became targets for takeover as the Great Western expanded its hold and its territory.

With Nationalisation in 1947, the GWR's independence ended. All the struggles with canals, plateways, tramroads and other railway companies were now confined to the history books and the memories of the reducing numbers who knew the Great Western Railway as it was at the height of the steam years.

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The Great Western Railway in the First World War

In August 1914 the GWR was plunged into war, the like of which this country had never experienced before. Over the years that followed life changed beyond measure, both for the men sent away to fight and the women who took on new roles at home.

Not since 1922 has the history of the GWR in the First World War been recorded in a single volume. Using modern data-bases and enjoying greater access to archives, Sandra Gittins has been able to produce a complete history which traces the GWR from the early, optimistic days through the subsequent difficult years of the Great War, including Government demands for war manufacture, increased traffic and the tragic loss of staff.
From GWR ships and ambulance trains to the employment of women, every part of the story is told, including the saddest of all, which is represented by a Roll of Honour.

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The GWR Exposed - Swindon in the Days of Collett and Hawksworth

At the Grouping of Britain's railways in 1923 the Great Western Railway had an advantage over the other Big Four Railway companies in that it essentially retained the same management structure that it had before the Grouping. Yet the next 25 years were arguably characterised by a series of mistakes in engine building policies as the advances made by the other companies were largely ignored.

This is an explosive account of the role of two leading locomotive engineers - Collectt and Hawksworth - who were responsible for GWR engine building policy following Churchward's legacy, revealing a series of mistakes and missed opportunities in the years leading up to nationalisation.
The claims made in this GWR history are substantiated by material that has never been published before and will be fascinating reading for all enthusiasts of the railway and for more general readers.

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The GWR Handbook : The Great Western Railway 1923-47

For many the GWR was synonymous with holidays by the sea in the West Country, but it was built to serve as a fast railway line to London, especially for the merchants and financiers of Bristol.
Its operations stretched as far as Merseyside, it provided most services in Wales, and it was the main line to Cardiff, Bristol, Cornwall and Birmingham.

This book, a classic first published in 2006, reveals the equipment, stations, network, shipping and air services, bus operations including Western National, and overall reach and history of the GWR.

Forming part of a series, along with The LMS Handbook, The LNER Handbook and The Southern Railway Handbook, this new edition provides an authoritative and highly detailed reference of information about the GWR.

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The Steam Workshops of the Great Western Railway

The 19th century was a time of innovation and expansion across the industrial landscape, and nowhere more so than on the railways, as the new age of iron, steel and steam, literally, gathered pace.
At the head of the race up was the iconic Great Western Railway. As this mighty corporation grew, it absorbed an astonishing 353 railway companies. Many of them had their own workshops, depots and manufacturing, often assembling locomotives to the designs of other companies. All these, along with the various designs, became the responsibility of the GWR on takeover, and followed its standardisation of components where this was possible. These works became the beating heart of the GWR's vast empire, where majestic engines were built and maintained by some of the most skillful and inventive engineers of the day.

Retired GWR railwayman Ken Gibbs presents a comprehensive portrait of the works from Brunel to the final days of steam in the mid-twentieth century, and beyond to the rediscovery and renovation of many of the workshops for their unique heritage.

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Wartime GWR

An unrivalled collection of photographs taken from the archive of the GWR at Swindon STEAM Museum, which graphically reveal how two world wars changed the way of life on the GWR and the lives of all its staff forever.
In a time of enormous social change women became the new workforce while the men were away at war, and railways were at the forefront of the war effort as they struggled to maintain the flow of people, goods and armaments.

This is an evocative and enthralling tribute to the GWR's wartime efforts and is compiled by two members of STEAM - Museum of the GWR who have unique access to a wealth of rare and unseen material.

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