GWR

GWR, or Great Western Railway, is the name used by two related British railway entities. The first GWR was a major 19th‑century railway company that operated in the West of England and in Wales from the 1830s until nationalization in 1948. The second is a contemporary train operating company in the United Kingdom, which has used the GWR brand since privatization in the 1990s.

Founded in 1833 with Isambard Kingdom Brunel as chief engineer, the original GWR sought to connect London with the far west by rail. It adopted Brunel's broad gauge, 7 ft 1/4 in, for much of its early network. The line grew to cover routes to Bristol, Exeter, Plymouth, and parts of South Wales, and became known for Brunel's engineering feats, such as the wrought-iron bridges and the Box sequence of tunnels. The gauge was converted to standard gauge (1435 mm) by 1892, and the company remained one of the largest in Britain. It became one of the Big Four railway companies formed in 1923.

Nationalization in 1948 placed the GWR in British Railways, Western Region. The name ceased as a separate operating company, though its headquarters and later branding remained influential in the region’s rail operations.

With privatization of British Rail in the 1990s, a franchise originally named Great Western Trains and later branded as First Great Western, and then Great Western Railway (GWR), began operating services from London Paddington to the South West and Wales. The brand GWR has been used since 2015. The present operator is owned by FirstGroup, running long-distance InterCity services and local commuter routes on the Great Western Main Line and associated branches, including routes to Bristol, Bath, Cardiff, Exeter, Plymouth, and Penzance.

Rolling stock has evolved from high-speed diesel locomotives such as the Class 43 power cars in the InterCity 125 era to modern Hitachi-based Intercity Express Trains. GWR has shifted to more energy-efficient rolling stock with renewed schedules and rebuilt tracks on its network.