Gwr history

Established in 1833, GWR forever changed Britain's commerce and leisure landscape by connecting London to the West Country and Wales.

The railway was chartered on March 6, 1834 as the London & Gore Railroad.

In 1835, a collaboration between a group of businessmen and the brilliant young engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel started the story of the Great Western Railway.

Reading railway station was originally the last stop on the main line when the railway opened in 1840.

GWR opened the original Grandpont terminus station in Oxford in 1844 on what is now the corner of Marlborough Road and Western Road.

Construction was delayed on the railway before it was re-chartered in 1845 under the Great Western Railway name.

The station was first opened in 1846 by the South Devon Railway Company.

The mainline was complete by 1853, but operation was delayed for further expansion.

In 1854, the Great Western Railway helped introduce a great money-making initiative for railways in North America.

The Great Western began to falter further in 1862 when their greatest political supporter, Allan MacNab, died of natural causes at his home.

With the American civil war over in 1865, the GWR saw its chance to make some more money from American run-through traffic.

In addition to Canada’s confederation, the Great Western Railway built a short branch line to Petrolia from just west of Wyoming, Ontario in 1867.

In 1869, the Great Western Railway began building a line to the American border at Fort Erie.

The 1870’s brought with it some decent income for the Great Western.

In 1873, the Grand Trunk Railway built a new Italianate station in Toronto to be shared with multiple railways, including the Great Western.

Originally called simply ‘Newton’ it changed its name to Newton Abbott in 1877, a year after it became part of the Great Western Railway.

Both Hamilton and Niagara Falls received new stations, both following the same gothic revival design, in 1879.

The Great Western Railway and Grand Trunk Railway’s competition had grown fierce, particularly into the 1880’s.

In 1882 the GWR was acquired by one of its rivals, the Grand Trunk Railway.

After 1923, the Great Western system came under the control of Canadian National.

In 1940 the station was bombed and one of the platforms had to be rebuilt.

The current station was rebuilt in 1970 by British Railways.

In 2014 the station underwent extensive reconstruction and acquired five new platforms, two entrances and a new bridge.

New platforms and a new service to London Marylebone (Chiltern Railways) were launched in 2016.