Directors of the Great Western Railway 1833

The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838. The GWR was called by some "God's Wonderful Railway" and by others the "Great Way Round" but it was famed as the "Holiday Line", taking many people to English Channel and Bristol Channel resorts in the West Country and the south-west of Wales such as Torquay, Dartmouth, Minehead and Tenby.

The Great Western Railway originated from the desire of Bristol merchants to maintain their city as the second port of the country and the chief one for American trade.