Great Western Railway Map 1950 – Pre-Beeching GWR Network

This is a striking map of the Great Western Railway network as it stood in 1950, showing just how extensive the British rail system was before the Beeching cuts of the 1960s reduced it dramatically. The Great Western had been nationalised only two years earlier, in 1948, and its lines from Paddington to the West Country and Wales still ran much as they had under the old company.

Detailed inset maps show the rail lines around South Wales, Birmingham, and the approach into Paddington station in London. Locations across the network include Cornwall, Somerset, Devon, Dorset, Wiltshire, London, Southampton, Cardiff, Pembroke, St Ives, Plymouth, Exeter, Torquay and Bristol. Many of the branch lines shown here closed within twenty years, so the map is a record of a railway that can no longer be travelled.

This would make a wonderful gift for anyone with an interest in British railway history, or with ties to Wales or the West Country. Like every print in the collection, it is printed on matte paper, ships unframed and is available in a range of sizes, from a compact study print to a large statement piece.