Great Western Railway Gallery

It could be agued that the great Western or ‘Gods’ Wonderful Railway’ was for many years the most famous railway in England. Much of the railway that we see today was the work of probably one of the greatest engineers of his time, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The company was also served by locomotive engineers such as Gooch, Armstrong, Churchward, Collett and Hawksworth, who bewtween the produced a series of locomotives that were well designed, elegant and powerful. Serving many holiday resorts of the south west, with trains such as ‘The Cornish Riviera Express’, the publicity department exploited to great effect that the ‘Great Western’ was the ‘Holiday Line’. It is probably true to say that in the years before the 2nd world war the company was producing some of the most effective publicity material in England. Using previously unpublished material from the extensive ‘Great Western Trust’ collection at Didcot Railway Centre, the book illustrates in both black and white and colour many facets that made the Great Western ‘Great’. AUTHOR: A retired professional photographer and photography teacher, Laurence Waters has written or contributed as co-author to numerous books on local history subjects. He has an Oxford University Diploma in English Local History. His main interest, however, is the Great Western Railway and over the years he has written a number of books on the subject. Laurence is currently the Honorary Photo Archivist of the Great Western Trust at the Didcot Railway Centre.
200 colour and b/w images