Cyfres B 1. - Great Western Railway (post 1921 Railway Act)

The Great Western Railway (GWR) linked London with the midlands, south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838. The GWR was the only company to keep its identity through the 1921 Railways Act, which had the effect of amalgamating it with the remaining independent railways within its territory. It was finally merged at the end of 1947 when it was nationalised, becoming the Western Region of British Railways. The Great Western Railway Company continued to exist as a legal entity for almost another two more years, being formally wound at the end of 1949.