Great Western Railway

The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom, that was started in 1833. It was engineered by Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

The railway company also ran bus services and owned ships and hotels. In 1948, the government took control of the company and Great Western Railway then was renamed the Western Region of British Railways.

The first railway line built by the Great Western Railway opened in 1838. It started in London and ended in Maidenhead which was  west. By 1841, the area of service had been made much longer and so their trains went farther west to the towns of Reading, Swindon, Bath and Bristol. By 1852, the railway line had become  long and went to Penzance. Penzance railway station is both the farthest south and farthest west in Great Britain.  

In 1923, the GWR took over several smaller railways (most of them in Wales) and became one of the Big Four British railway companies. In 1948, Britain's railways were nationalized and the GWR became the Western Region of British Railways.

 Related pages 
 Reading railway station

Category:Big Four (British railway companies)
Category:1833 establishments in Europe
Category:1948 disestablishments in the United Kingdom
Category:1830s establishments in the United Kingdom