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. It was engineered by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who chose a broad gauge of 7 ft —later slightly widened to 7 ft 1⁄4 in —but, from 1854, a series of amalgamations saw it also operate 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in standard-gauge trains; the last broad-gauge services were operated in 1892.
Grafton is a civil parish in Wiltshire, England, in the Vale of Pewsey about 7 miles (11 km) southeast of Marlborough. Its main settlement is the village of East Grafton, on the A338 Burbage - Hungerford road; the parish includes the village of Wilton and the hamlets of West Grafton, Marten and Wexcombe.
Leamington Spa railway station serves the town of Royal Leamington Spa, in Warwickshire, England. It is situated on Old Warwick Road towards the southern edge of the town centre. It is a major stop on the Chiltern Main Line between London and Birmingham, and the branch line to Coventry.
Reading railway station is a major transport hub in Reading, Berkshire, England. It is on the northern edge of the town centre, near the main retail and commercial areas and the River Thames, 36 miles (58 km) from London Paddington.
Didcot Parkway is a railway station serving the town of Didcot in Oxfordshire, England. The station was opened as Didcot on 12 June 1844 and renamed Didcot Parkway on 29 July 1985 by British Rail to reflect its role as a park and ride railhead. It is 53 miles 10 chains down the line from London Paddington and is situated between Cholsey to the east and Swindon to the west.
Mortimer railway station is a railway station in the village of Stratfield Mortimer in the county of Berkshire in England. It is 43 miles 14 chains (69.5 km) from London Paddington. The station is notable for its well-preserved Brunel-designed Great Western Railway (GWR) station buildings, which are still in use. The station is served by local services operated by Great Western Railway.
Exeter St Davids is the principal railway station serving the city of Exeter in Devon, England. It is 193 miles 72 chains from the zero point at London Paddington on the line through Bristol which continues to Plymouth and Penzance. It is also served by an alternative route to London Waterloo via Salisbury and branch lines to Exmouth, Barnstaple, and Okehampton. It is currently managed by Great Western Railway and is served by trains operated by Great Western Railway, South Western Railway and CrossCountry.
Taunton railway station is a junction station on the route from London to Penzance, 143 miles (230 km) west of London Paddington station. It is situated in Taunton, Somerset, and is operated by Great Western Railway. The station is also served by CrossCountry trains and by the West Somerset Railway on special event days and by mainline steam excursions.
Wolverton railway station serves the town of Wolverton in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The station is on the West Coast Main Line, about 52 miles (84 km) from Euston, between Milton Keynes Central and Northampton. The station is one of the seven stations serving the Milton Keynes urban area.
Stoke-on-Trent railway station is a mainline railway station serving the city of Stoke-on-Trent, on the Stafford to Manchester branch of the West Coast Main Line. It also provides an interchange between local services running through Cheshire, Staffordshire and Derbyshire.
Beeston railway station is a Grade II listed railway station on the Midland Main Line which serves the town of Beeston in Nottinghamshire, England. It lies 3.2 miles (5.1 km) south-west of Nottingham railway station, and 750 metres (0.5 mi) south-east of Beeston transport interchange for local buses and Nottingham Express Transit trams. The station is managed by East Midlands Railway.
Weston-super-Mare railway station serves the seaside town of Weston-super-Mare in North Somerset, England. It is situated on a loop off the main Bristol to Taunton Line, 137 miles 33 chains from the zero point at London Paddington via Box.
Chippenham railway station is on the Great Western Main Line (GWML) in South West England, serving the town of Chippenham, Wiltshire. It is 93 miles 76 chains down the line from the zero point at London Paddington and is situated between Swindon and Bath Spa on the GWML. The Wessex Main Line diverges from the GWML to the southwest of Chippenham and runs to Trowbridge via Melksham.
The Bristol and Exeter Railway (B&ER) was an English railway company formed to connect Bristol and Exeter. It was built on the broad gauge and its engineer was Isambard Kingdom Brunel. It opened in stages between 1841 and 1844. It was allied with the Great Western Railway (GWR), which built its main line between London and Bristol, and in time formed part of a through route between London and Cornwall.
Southampton Terminus railway station served the Port of Southampton and Southampton City Centre, England from 1839 until 1966. The station was authorised on 25 July 1834 and built as the terminus of the London and Southampton Railway, which later changed its name to the London and South Western Railway (LSWR). The station opened as "Southampton" on 10 June 1839, although it was not officially operational until 11 May 1840, due to the track not being fully linked between Winchester and Basingstoke.
Wolverhampton Low Level was a railway station on Sun Street, in Springfield, Wolverhampton, England.
Malmaison operates sixteen hotels in the United Kingdom. The company was established in 1994, and is now owned by Frasers Property.
The Reading–Basingstoke line is a railway link between the South West Main Line and the Great Western Main Line, constructed by the Great Western Railway between 1846 and 1848. The line is served by GWR local services between Reading and Basingstoke, stopping at the intermediate stations of Reading West, Mortimer and Bramley. The line is also an important through route for longer distance passenger and freight services: CrossCountry services from Bournemouth and Southampton to Birmingham and the North of England and freight trains between the Port of Southampton and the Midlands use the line. South Western Railway weekend workings also operate between Reading and Salisbury.
Oswestry railway station is a Grade II listed heritage railway station in Oswestry, Shropshire, England. It was closed when passenger services were withdrawn in 1966. The station building today is used as commercial premises although the Cambrian Railways Society are restoring it.
The Yeovil–Taunton line was a railway line in England, built by the Bristol and Exeter Railway (B&ER) to connect its main line with the market town of Yeovil in Somerset. It opened in 1853 using the broad gauge of 7 ft 1⁄4 in and was the first railway to serve Yeovil. It ran from a junction at Durston although in later years passenger trains on the line ran through to and from Taunton where better main and branch line connections could be made.
