British Railways Board: Great Western Railway: 150th Anniversary Celebrations: Correspondence...

AN 131

1980-1986

This series contains records relating to the 150th anniversary celebrations of the Great Western Railway Company. Subjects covered include commemorative events, royal visits, the exhibition train, locomotive namings, photographs, postage stamps, postcards and other memorabilia.

This series has been arranged with correspondence files first, in order of their relative importance, followed by other associated papers and artefacts.

Minutes and reports of the Great Western Railway Company are in RAIL 250

Public Record(s)

English

33 files and volumes

Subject to 30 year closure unless otherwise stated

The Great Western Railway Company was incorporated by the Great Western Railway Act 1835 and it was felt by various enthusiasts that the 150th anniversity should be celebrated. They formed an ad hoc committee in 1980 to arrange appropriate events and interested British Rail's Western Region which, realising that it would be a good public relations exercise, took over and made the celebration official.

Many different events were arranged, the foremost of which was to have been an exhibition at Swindon Works. In early 1985, however, the British Railways Board announced the closure of the Works and the exhibition was necessarily cancelled. The other events, a touring exhibition train, a lecture tour and sundry local exhibitions and events, duly took place.