It could be agued that the great Western or 'Gods' Wonderful Railway' was for many years the most famous railway in England. Much of the railway that we see today was the work of probably one of the great engineers of his time, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The company was also served by locomotive engineers such as Gooch, Armstrong, Churchward, Collett and Hawksworth, who between them produced a series of locomotives that were well designed, elegant and powerful.
Serving many holiday resorts of the south west, with trains such as 'The Cornish Riviera Express', the publicity department exploited to great effect the Great Western as the 'Holiday Line’. It is probably true to say that in the years before the Second World War the company was producing some of the most effective publicity material in England.
Using previously unpublished material from the extensive 'Great Western Trust' collection at Didcot Railway Centre, the book illustrates in both black and white and colour many facets that made the Great Western 'Great'.