Western Region of British Railways
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The Western Region was a region of British Rail from 1948. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right in the 1980s and was wound-up at the end of 1992. The Region consisted principally of ex-Great Western Railway lines, minus certain lines west of Birmingham, which were transferred to the London Midland Region in 1963, and with the addition of all former Southern Railway routes west of Exeter, which were subsequently rationalised.
[edit] History
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was established during the 19th century. Although run down by the Second World War, its management opposed its nationalisation into British Railways. Even after nationalisation under the Transport Act 1947 and amalgamation with the other railway companies as British Railways, the new Region continued its enmity with its powerful neighbour, the London Midland Region, which had been born out of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway.
[edit] Rolling stock
The Western region built a large number of steam locomotives to GWR designs, even after the advent of diesel shunters. The BR standard class 3 was also built for the Western region.
The Region experimented with diesel hydraulic traction such as the British Rail Class 52 Westerns and British Rail Class 35 Hymeks based on West German designs; these were all eventually replaced with British Rail national standard classes.
