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GWR Toad
The GWR Toad is a class of railway brake van, designed by and built for the Great Western Railway. Used by the GWR from 1894, and post-1947 by the Western Region of British Railways, its role was a safety brake on goods trains in the West of England, the Midlands and Wales. No longer in operational use by Network Rail, a number have survived through preservation and on many heritage railways, owing to the design, which incorporates a long, open veranda and large enclosed cabin; this makes the Toad an ideal, cheap, and versatile passenger carriage. Background By HMRI law, every goods train needed a brake van attached at the end of it. This was because most wagons were only fitted with hand brakes, and so the brake van had an important part to play in the safe running of goods trains by adding additional braking capacity. Once trains fitted with vacuum brakes were introduced (from 1904 on the GWR), a guard was required to travel at the rear of every train to ensure that it s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
GWR Toads 17295, 68777 And 35420 At Staverton
GWR may refer to: Transport * Great Western Railway, British railway company 1833–1947 * Great Western Railway (train operating company), British railway company (1996–) * Great Western Main Line, a railway line in the UK * Great Western Railway (other), other railway companies and routes with the name * Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway, an English heritage railway * Aura Airlines (ICAO airline code: GWR), a Spanish airline * Gwinner–Roger Melroe Field (FAA airport code: GWR), Sargent County, North Dakota, USA Media * GWR Group, a defunct British commercial radio company, merged into GCap Media in 2005 **GWR FM (Bristol & Bath) ** GWR FM Wiltshire * GWR Records, a British record label * ''Graswurzelrevolution'', a German anarcho-pacifist magazine Other uses * Geographically weighted regression * Guinness World Records * Gwere language (ISO 639 language code: gwr) * Llygad Gŵr Llygad Gŵr (fl. 1268 or 1258 – c. 1293,) was a Welsh-language poet in the court o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Western Railway Telegraphic Codes
Great Western Railway telegraphic codes were a commercial telegraph code used to shorten the telegraphic messages sent between the stations and offices of the railway. The codes listed below are taken from the 1939 edition of the ''Telegraph Message Code'' bookGreat Western Railway (1939) ''Telegraph Message Code'' unless stated otherwise. History The Great Western Railway (GWR) pioneered telegraph communication over the from Paddington to on 9 April 1839 using the Cooke and Wheatstone telegraph equipment. Although this early system fell into disuse after a few years, from 1850 a new contract with the Electric Telegraph Company saw double-needle telegraphs working at most stations on the line; these were replaced by single-needle machines from 1860. Although used primarily as a safety device to regulate the passage of trains, it was also used to pass messages between the staff. In order to do this quickly and accurately, a number of code words were used to replace complica ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swindon Works
Swindon railway works was opened by the Great Western Railway in 1843 in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. It served as the principal west England maintenance centre until closed in 1986. History In 1835 Parliament approved the construction of the Great Western Main Line between Paddington railway station, London and Bristol Temple Meads railway station, Bristol by the Great Western Railway (GWR). Its Chief Engineer was Isambard Kingdom Brunel. From 1836, Brunel had been buying locomotives from various makers for the new railway. Brunel's general specifications gave the locomotive makers a free hand in design, although subject to certain constraints such as piston speed and axle load, resulting in a diverse range of locomotives of mixed quality. In 1837, Brunel recruited Daniel Gooch and gave him the job of rectifying the heavy repair burden of the GWR's mixed bag of purchased locomotives. It became clear that the GWR needed a central repair works so, in 1840 Gooch identified a sit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Industrial Railway
An industrial railway is a type of railway (usually private) that is not available for public transportation and is used exclusively to serve a particular industrial, logistics, or military site. In regions of the world influenced by British railway culture and management practices, they are often referred to as tramways (which are distinct from trams or streetcars, a passenger technology). Industrial railways may connect the site to public freight networks through sidings, or may be isolated (sometimes very far away from public rail or surface roads) or located entirely within a served property. Overview Industrial railways were once very common, but with the rise of road transport, their numbers have greatly diminished. An example of an industrial railway would transport bulk goods, for example clay from a quarry or coal from a mine, to an interchange point, called an exchange siding, with a main line railway, onwards from where it would be transported to its final desti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beeching Cuts
The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised British Rail, railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Development of the Major Railway Trunk Routes'' (1965), written by Richard Beeching and published by the British Railways Board. The first report identified 2,363 stations and of railway line for closure, amounting to 55% of stations, 30% of route miles, and 67,700 British Rail positions, with an objective of stemming the large losses being incurred during a period of increasing competition from road transport and reducing the rail subsidies necessary to keep the network running. The second report identified a small number of major routes for significant investment. The 1963 report also recommended some less well-publicised changes, including a switch to the now-standard practice of containerisation for rail freight, and the replacement of some ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
East Somerset Railway
The East Somerset Railway is a heritage railway in Somerset, running between Cranmore and Mendip Vale. Prior to the Beeching Axe, the railway was once part of the former Cheddar Valley line that ran from Witham to Yatton, meeting the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway at Wells. History The East Somerset Railway Company was incorporated under the East Somerset Railway Act on 5 June 1856 and was built as a broad gauge line. The line was originally between Witham railway station and Shepton Mallet and this line opened on 9 November 1858. It was planned by Mr. Brunel and built by engineer Mr. Ward and contractor Mr. Brotherwood. The station buildings at Shepton and Witham Friary, as well as the bridges along the route, were constructed of Inferior Oolite from nearby Doulting Stone Quarry. Shepton was now from London by rail, a journey of just over four hours. Four years later the line was extended to Wells; this part of the line was opened on 1 March 1862. The East Somerse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Severn Tunnel
The Severn Tunnel ( cy, Twnnel Hafren) is a railway tunnel in the United Kingdom, linking South Gloucestershire in the west of England to Monmouthshire in south Wales under the estuary of the River Severn. It was constructed by the Great Western Railway (GWR) between 1873 and 1886 for the purpose of dramatically shortening the journey times of their trains, passenger and freight alike, between South Wales and Western England. It has often been regarded as the crowning achievement of GWR's chief engineer Sir John Hawkshaw. Prior to the tunnel's construction, lengthy detours were necessary for all traffic between South Wales and Western England, which either used ship or a lengthy diversion upriver via . Recognising the value of such a tunnel, the GWR sought its development, tasking Hawkshaw with its design and later contracting the civil engineer Thomas A. Walker to undertake its construction, which commenced in March 1873. Work proceeded smoothly until October 1879, at which poi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smithfield Market
Smithfield, properly known as West Smithfield, is a district located in Central London, part of Farringdon Without, the most westerly ward of the City of London, England. Smithfield is home to a number of City institutions, such as St Bartholomew's Hospital and livery halls, including those of the Butchers' and Haberdashers' Companies. The area is best known for the Smithfield meat market, which dates from the 10th century, has been in continuous operation since medieval times, and is now London's only remaining wholesale market. Smithfield's principal street is called ''West Smithfield'', and the area also contains London's oldest surviving church, St Bartholomew-the-Great, founded in AD 1123. The area has borne witness to many executions of heretics and political rebels over the centuries, as well as Scottish knight Sir William Wallace, and Wat Tyler, leader of the Peasants' Revolt, among many other religious reformers and dissenters. Smithfield Market, a Grade II list ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metropolitan Railway
The Metropolitan Railway (also known as the Met) was a passenger and goods railway that served London from 1863 to 1933, its main line heading north-west from the capital's financial heart in the City to what were to become the Middlesex suburbs. Its first line connected the main-line railway termini at , , and King's Cross to the City. The first section was built beneath the New Road using cut-and-cover between Paddington and King's Cross and in tunnel and cuttings beside Farringdon Road from King's Cross to near Smithfield, near the City. It opened to the public on 10 January 1863 with gas-lit wooden carriages hauled by steam locomotives, the world's first passenger-carrying designated underground railway. The line was soon extended from both ends, and northwards via a branch from Baker Street. Southern branches, directly served, reached Hammersmith in 1864, Richmond in 1877 and the original completed the '' Inner Circle'' in 1884. The most important route was northwes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South Wales
South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards to include Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire. In the western extent, from Swansea westwards, local people would probably recognise that they lived in both south Wales and west Wales. The Brecon Beacons National Park covers about a third of south Wales, containing Pen y Fan, the highest British mountain south of Cadair Idris in Snowdonia. A point of some discussion is whether the first element of the name should be capitalised: 'south Wales' or 'South Wales'. As the name is a geographical expression rather than a specific area with well-defined borders, style guides such as those of the BBC and ''The Guardian'' use the form 'south Wales'. In a more authoritative style guide, the Welsh Government, in their international gateway website, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pontnewynydd
Pontnewynydd is a predominantly working class suburb of Pontypool, Torfaen, in Wales. It should not be confused with Pontnewydd in nearby Cwmbran. Location It lies in between Pontypool to the south and Snatchwood to the north. The area of Torfaen is historically industrial and the Pontnewynydd Iron Works once employed many people in the area. This works became known as the Partridge Jones and John Paton (PJ & JP) Iron Works. During the Second World War the works produced much of the corrugated iron for the Anderson shelters that were constructed throughout the country as makeshift air raid shelters. It finally closed in 1961, along with a number of other local works when the Llanwern Steelworks opened in Newport. The Monmouthshire Canal which ran from Newport to Pontnewynydd was authorised by an Act of Parliament on 3 June 1792. The section of canal from Pontymoile to Pontnewynydd was drained in the 1850s and the canal bed used to lay a railway line, which was eventually exten ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Historical Model Railway Society
The Historical Model Railway Society (HMRS) is a British charitable society which supports railway modellers in creating historically accurate models. To this end it collects, preserves and makes available documents, drawings, photographs and other records, covering the period from the early 19th century to the present. History Founded in 1950, the Historical Model Railway Society registered as a charitable incorporated organisation in March 2016, having previously been a registered charity since 1977. The founding president was the influential railway official and historian, George Dow. One of its early members, and for some time its Vice-President, was the railway writer and artist C. Hamilton Ellis, whose 1962 book ''Model Railways 1838–1939'' was said by ''The Times'' to have "led the way in charting the early history of this ... hobby". Location The Historical Model Railway Society has a purpose-built building at the Swanwick Junction site of the Midland Railway – Bu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
