Great Western Railway

The Great Western Railway, usually abbreviated 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 at a meeting in Bristol, received its enabling act of Parliament on 31 August 1835, and ran its first trains in 1838. The initial main route between London and Bristol was completed in 1841. Its principal London terminus was Paddington station, where the company was headquartered. As one of the major British railway companies, it shaped how passengers and goods moved between the capital and the western regions of England and Wales.