For many the GWR was synonymous with holidays by the sea in the West Country, but it was built to serve as a fast railway line to London, especially for the merchants and financiers of Bristol. Its operations stretched as far as Merseyside, it provided most services in Wales, and it was the main line to Cardiff, Bristol, Cornwall and Birmingham.This book, a classic first published in 2006, reveals the equipment, stations, network, shipping and air services, bus operations including Western National, and overall reach and history of the GWR.Forming part of a series, along with The LMS Handbook, The LNER Handbook and The Southern Railway Handbook, this new edition provides an authoritative and highly detailed reference of information about the GWR.

The gradual growth of the railways in Britain during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, in both passenger and freight traffic, saw the requirement for a more powerful and versatile type of motive power mixed traffic locomotives. The construction of Great Western Halls and Modified Halls gave the Great Western a superb all round locomotive, and for thirty-six years they operated passenger and freight services over the Great Western, and later Western Region. The Hall class were among the largest mixed traffic steam locomotives that ran throughout this country, and this is the first serious volume to focus on them in fifty years. The book charts the history of both classes, from their construction and withdrawal, to their design, development and eventual scrapping. With over 200 black and white, and colour photographs, accompanied by informative captions, each member of the classes is excellently illustrated. It will appeal greatly to those interested in the history of Great Western Locomotive development.

Quarterly accession lists; beginning with Apr. 1893, the bulletin is limited to "subject lists, special bibliographies, and reprints or facsimiles of original documents, prints and manuscripts in the Library," the accessions being recorded in a separate classified list, Jan.-Apr. 1893, a weekly bulletin Apr. 1893-Apr. 1894, as well as a classified list of later accessions in the last number published of the bulletin itself (Jan. 1896)