Great Western Railway
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The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838 with the initial route completed between London and Bristol in 1841.
GWR arrived in Oxford in 1844, with the opening of the original Grandpoint station. Three proposals were submitted from 1837 to 1842 before construction finally began. A new site was opened in 1852 with the original finally closing in 1872 after operating as a goods station.
Beginnings. The Great Western Railway was originally founded to provide a route from Bristol to London, using broad gauge track as developed by its chief engineer I. K. Brunel. It wasn't long before its sights turned northwards due to the success of its standard gauge rivals, the Grand Junction Railway, and the London & Birmingham Railway.
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1935 was to see the Great Western make history by becoming the first British railway to celebrate 100 years of corporate existence. Away from all the glittering festivities, the company was still reeling from its experiences of the Depression.
In March, 1833, he was chosen to superintend the construction of the Bristol-London railway, which in the same year adopted its present-day title - “Great Western Railway”. Within a month of his engagement Brunel, the son of a famous engineer, had planned and drawn up a route from Bristol to London.
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The company began operating in February 1996 as Great Western Trains, as part of the privatisation of British Rail. In December 1998, it became First Great Western after FirstGroup bought out its partners' shares in Great Western Holdings.
