Great Western Railway

The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the midlands, the 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. It was engineered by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who chose a broad gauge of 7 ft (2,134 mm) but, from 1854, a series of amalgamations saw it also operate 4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in (1,435 mm) standard-gauge trains; the last broad-gauge services were operated in 1892. The GWR was the only company to keep its identity through the Railways Act 1921, which amalgamated it with the remaining independent railways within its territory, and it was finally merged at the end of 1947 when it was nationalised and became the Western Region of British Railways.

The GWR was called by some "God's Wonderful Railway" and by others the "Great Way Round" but it was famed as the "Holiday Line", taking many people to English and Bristol Channel resorts in the West Country as well as the far south-west of England such as Torquay in Devon and Minehead in Somerset and Newquay and St Ives in Cornwall. The company's locomotives, many of which were built in the company's workshops at Swindon, were painted a Brunswick green colour while, for most of its existence, it used a two-tone "chocolate and cream" livery for its passenger coaches. Goods wagons were painted red but this was later changed to mid-grey.

Great Western Railway (train operating company)

Great Western Railway (GWR) is a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup. It manages 208 stations and its trains call at over 270. GWR provides the majority of commuter/outer-suburban services from its London terminus at Paddington to West London, the Thames Valley region including Berkshire, parts of Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. It operates long-distance inter-city services along the Great Western Main Line to South West England, Bristol and South Wales. It also provides regional services throughout the West of England to the south coast of England. It also operates the Night Riviera sleeper service between London and Penzance.

Great Western Railway Intercity trains operate to/from Bristol, Weston-super-Mare, Taunton, Paignton, Plymouth, Penzance, Cardiff, Swansea, Carmarthen, Cheltenham and Hereford. The operator serves 19 counties in England, including all counties of South West England, and 9 in Wales.

The company began operating on 4 February 1996 as Great Western Trains, as part of the privatisation of British Rail, and in December 1998 became First Great Western after FirstGroup bought out its partners' shares in Great Western Holdings. On 1 April 2006, First Great Western, First Great Western Link and Wessex Trains were combined into the new Greater Western franchise and brought under the First Great Western brand. On 20 September 2015, FirstGroup started to operate an extended franchise that is due to run until 30 March 2019. To coincide with the new franchise, the company rebranded as Great Western Railway and introduced a new livery.

Great Western Railway (Saskatchewan)

The Great Western Railway (reporting mark GWRS) is a Canadian short line railway company operating on former Canadian Pacific Railway trackage in Southwest Saskatchewan. GWR is the operating company whereas Westcan Rail Saskatchewan Ltd. is the owner of the track and structures. WRS was owned by WestCan Rail of Abbotsford, British Columbia, a railway contracting and maintenance company.

In 2004 the railway was purchased by local investors from the area of Saskatchewan it serves. It is now locally owned and operated. Great Western Railway continues to serve many producer loading sites along their entire rail network, but also provide railcar storage for Class I railways and railcar companies.

GWR operates on 308 miles (496 km) of former Canadian Pacific Railway's Shaunavon, Vanguard, Altawan and Notukeu Subdivisions. GWR also services 60 miles (97 km) on the Fife Lake Railway, which is partially owned by the company, and another 72 miles (116 km) of the Red Coat Road & Rail on a yearly contractual basis.

Western Railway

Western Railway may refer to:

See also

Western Railway zone

The Western Railway is one of the 17 zones of Indian Railways, and is among the busiest railway networks in India. The major railway routes of Indian Railways which come under Western Railways are: Ratlam - Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad - Mumbai and Palanpur - Ahmedabad. The railway system is divided into six operating divisions: Vadodara, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Ratlam and Mumbai. Vadodara railway station, being the junction point for the Ahmedabad - Mumbai route and the Mumbai - Delhi route, is the busiest junction Station in Western Railways and one of the busiest junctions of Indian Railways too, while Ahmedabad Division earns highest revenue followed by Mumbai Division and Vadodara Division. Surat railway station is one of the busiest railway station in Western Railway in non-junction category where more than 160 trains passes per day.

Western Railway General Manager's official bungalow 'Bombarci' (abbreviation of- BOMbay,BARoda and Central India) is located on Altamont road in Cumbala hill, Mumbai.

Western Railway (Austria)

The Western Railway (German: Westbahn) is a two-track, partly four-track, electrified railway line in Austria that runs from Vienna to Salzburg via St. Pölten and Linz Hauptbahnhof and is one of the major lines of Austria. It was originally opened as the Empress Elisabeth Railway in 1858 (Vienna–Linz). The line is owned and operated by Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB).

Routes

The Western Railway consists of the double-track Old Western Railway (Alten Westbahn, line 1) and the double-track New Western Railway (Neuen Westbahn, line 30).

For operational reasons the Western Railway is supplemented by the suburban track (line 23) from Vienna Hütteldorf to Unter Purkersdorf and the relief track (line 3) from Pottenbrunn via St. Pölten to Prinzersdorf.

History

The line was opened from Vienna Westbahnhof to Linz on 15 December 1858 and was extended to Salzburg on 1 August 1860. The continuation to Munich was opened on 12 August 1860. The line was built by the k.k. privilegierte Kaiserin Elisabeth-Bahn ("Imperial and Royal privileged Empress Elisabeth Railway", KEB) company under Hermann Dietrich Lindheim. In addition to the Vienna–Salzburg line, it also built the Wels–Passau Railway (1861) and the St. Valentin–Summerau–České Budějovice line (1872).

Great Western 60

Great Western 60 is a 2-8-0 consolidation built in August 1937 by the American Locomotive Company in Schenectady, New York, and is currently operated on the Black River & Western Railroad (BR&W) in Ringoes, New Jersey.

60 originally operated on the Great Western Railroad (GW) in Colorado. During World War II, a smokebox extension was added to allow the use of poor quality coal because of war-time restrictions. In 1965, #60 was purchased by the newly formed short line Black River & Western for tourist excursions. Although she was used on off line excursions previously, the locomotive hauled its first train (on BR&W trackage) on May 17, 1965.

BR&W completed an intense 12-year overhaul project in August 2012 in time for #60's 75th birthday.

In 2013, #60 was painted into her late 1950s Great Western livery for a photo charter. The new paint scheme included the addition of white trim on the driving wheels and running board, and Aluminum paint on her smokebox (replacing graphite). Additionally, to commemorate Black River and Western's 50th Anniversary in 2015, the crew painted the number plate black and gold representing the "Golden Anniversary".