List of Great Western Railway heritage sites

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
Great Western Railway
Coat of arms of the Great Western Railway.png
Coat-of-arms of the Great Western Railway, incorporating the shields, crests and mottoes of the cities of London (left) and Bristol (right)
History
1835 Act of Incorporation
1838 First train ran
1869–92 7 ft 14 in (2,140 mm) Brunel gauge
changed to
4 ft 8 12 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
1903 Start of road motor services
1904 City of Truro sets speed record
1948 Nationalised
Constituent companies
See full list of constituents of the GWR
1854 Shrewsbury and Birmingham Ry
Shrewsbury and Chester Railway
1862 South Wales Railway
1863 West Midland Railway
1876 Bristol and Exeter Railway
South Devon Railway
1889 Cornwall Railway
1922 Rhymney Railway
Taff Vale Railway
Cambrian Railways
1923 Midland & S W Junction Railway
Successor organisation
1948 Western Region
of British Railways
Key locations
Headquarters Paddington station, London
Workshops Swindon
Wolverhampton
Major stations Bristol Temple Meads
Cardiff General
London Paddington
Reading General
Route mileage
Mileage shown as at end of year stated.[1][2][3]
1841 171 miles (275 km)
1863 1,106 miles (1,780 km)
1876 2,023 miles (3,256 km)
1899 2,504 miles (4,030 km)
1921 2,900 miles (4,700 km)
1924 3,797 miles (6,111 km)
File:5239 near Goodrington.JPG
Paignton and Dartmouth Steam Railway near Goodrington
File:Penzanceentrance.jpg
Penzance station
Box Tunnel
Windsor Bridge

Great Western Railway heritage sites are those places where stations, bridges and other infrastructure built by the Great Western Railway and its constituent railways can still be found. These may be heritage railways, museums, operational railway stations, or isolated listed structures.

Operational GWR style heritage railways

These heritage railways operate on old GWR branch lines. Many other heritage railways and museums also have GWR locomotives or rolling stock in use or on display.

Museums

These museums have a GWR theme or are located in old GWR buildings.

Listed structures

In addition to the places listed below, there are a great many smaller bridges and other structures that have been given listed status. The listing may only cover certain buildings and structures at each location.

World Heritage Site

UNESCO is considering a proposal to list the Great Western Main Line as a World Heritage Site. The proposal comprises seven individual sites.[5] These are Bristol Temple Meads railway station (including Brunel's Company Offices, Boardroom, train shed, and the Bristol and Exeter Railway Offices along with the route over the River Avon); Bath Spa railway station along with the line from Twerton Tunnel to the Sydney Gardens, Middlehill and Box Tunnels; the Swindon area including Swindon railway works and village; Maidenhead Railway Bridge; Wharncliffe Viaduct; and London Paddington station.

Grade I listed

Grade II* listed

Grade II listed

See also

A map of the GWR system

References

  1. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Reprinted 1982, Ian Allan, ISBN 0-7110-0411-0
  2. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Reprinted 1982, Ian Allan, ISBN 0-711004-12-9
  3. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.