Great Western Railway

The Great Western Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom, from 1835 until 1948, when British Railways was formed. However, the GWR seemed to keep its identity for a time, as the Western Region of BR, until the last of the Diesel Hydraulics were withdrawn in 1977.

Broad Gauge
the GWR, after being founded in 1835, elected to use broad gauge for it's trains, which were wider than the Standard Gauge of 4' 8.5", being 7' 0.25". this caused confusion at junctions between the GWR and the LSWR, who used Standard Gauge. The GWR influenced the railways around their operating areas, such as the South Devon Railway, to adopt the broader gauge, as did the LSWR and their smaller gauge. An act of Parliament declared standard gauge to be the British standard, and Broad gauge was finally abandoned in 1892.

Chief Mechanical Engineers
The GWR had surprisingly few CMEs during it's 112 year existence. before GJ Churchwood, the CME was called the Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon Superintendent, but Churchwood renamed this position. He was succeded in 1921 by CB Collett, who was greatly influenced by his predecesor Churchwood, who in turn was succeded by FW Hawksworth, who saw the GWR through the second world war and up to Nationalisation.

However, perhaps the most famous man associated with the Great Western was Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the first man in charge, appointed engineer right at the start. Daniel Gooch, Joseph Armstrong and William Dean all followed, leading up to Churchwood in 1902.