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| Postcards of the Past |
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| Great Western Railway (GWR) |
| The Great Western Railway came into being in 1833 and was originally intended to link London (Paddington) and Bristol. Follow this link for a history of the company. |
| GWR "Flower" Class engine no 4107 "Cineraria". |
| Search the internet for more about "God's Wonderful Railway" (or the "Great Way Round"). |
| We'd be delighted if you would sign our Guest Book ! We welcome suggestions, corrections and constructive criticism - or just say "Hello !" and tell us where you come from. |
| The "Castle" Class engine 4079 "Pendennis Castle". |
| The Cornish Riviera Express, hauled by GWR King Class Engine, "King William IV" 6002. |
| Some books about the GWR - click on the relevant advertisement to see more about the book, and to buy it should you wish. |
| The Cornish Riviera Express, introduced in 1904 and still running today from Paddington to Penzance. |
| The Fishguard Boat Express, which ran from Paddington to Fishguard. |
| Engne number 3433 "City of Bath" (renumbered 3710) pulling the Flying Dutchman, which ran from Paddington to Exeter (and later to Plymouth) from 1849 until 1892. |
| Another postcard of the Cornish Riviera Express, this time hauled by a "Saint" Class engine number 2916 (I think !). |
| A third postcard of the Cornish Riviera Express. |
| A GWR "Railcar", introduced in the 1930s. A couple of these, numbers 26 and 29, used to run between Stratford-upon-Avon and Leamington in the 1950s. |
| "Viscount Portal", No 7000. My friend's dad was signalman at Wilmcote. One day in the early 1950s he got a phone call from the signalman at Stratford to say Viscount Portal was on the way up - he yelled out to us kids and we saw this engine as she thundered through the station on her way to Birmingham. |
| The Plymouth Express. |
| The "Birmingham to London 2 hours Express - new route". The engine, No 2907, is a Saint Class, "Lady Disdain". |
| Engine No 1019, "County of Hereford", leaving Paddington for Liverpool. There is an error on this card as the number shown is 1019 and should be 1017 ! 1019 was "County of Merioneth". |
| This GWR goods engine has been identified by Stephen Axtell as engine number 2601. It was introduced in 1899 and withdrawn in December 1904 and was nick named Kruger. Thanks Stephen ! |
| A GWR train emerging from Box Tunnel. |
| Reproductions of postcards with a (Z) following the description are available to buy from Zazzle - just click on the (Z) ! |
| The Torbay Express. |
| "Viscount Churchill", formerly No 111 "Great Bear", and rebuilt in 1924 as a Castle class engine, retaining its original number. |
| Advertise your business on this page ! Follow this link. |
| If you would like to help financially with expanding and maintaining this website, we would appreciate your contribution, however small. Times are hard ! |
| I have three memories of the diesel railcar service from Stratford-upon-Avon. The first is the smell of the diesel, the second is the fact that they seemed to have to keep the engine running, even when the car was waiting in the station for some time, with fumes everywhere, and the third concerns Gilbert Harding. As schoolkids we used to travel from Stratford to Wilmcote on the 3.38pm, and there were quite a few of us, from a couple of schools in Stratford, most going to stations further up the line. One afternoon Gilbert and his entourage got on the train and were immediately surrounded by a host of children all trying to get his autograph, poor man ! He soon got off the train and left the station to get a taxi to Leamington and presumably caught the London train there. Were you one of those children ? Tell us if you were ! |
| The Cornish Riviera Express. |
| The Plymouth Express. |
