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[OTD] 1st April 2006 - Greater Western Franchise takes over our trains
 
[OTD] 1st April 2006 - Greater Western Franchise takes over our trains
Posted by grahame at 09:06, 1st April 2026
 
Twenty years ago today, Wessex Trains, Thames Trains and Great Western were combined into a single franchise, run by First, that operated most of the passenger trains in the Thames Valley west from London, Wessex, the Cotswolds,and the South West, with incursions into South Wales.

What do you consider the key events of the last 20 years? Was the change a success? What will the next 20 years bring?







Images under collective commons licenses
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Paddington_Station_Panorama.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Great_Western_Link#/media/File:166217_at_Reading.JPG

 
The Coffee Shop forum is provided by customers of Great Western Railway (formerly First Great Western). The views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit https://www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site at admin@railcustomer.info if you feel that the content provided by one of our posters contravenes our posting rules. Our full legal statment is at https://www.greatwesternrailway.info/legal.html

Although we are planning ahead, we don't know what the future will bring here in the Coffee Shop. We have domains "firstgreatwestern.info" for w-a-y back and also "greatwesternrailway.info"; we can also answer to "greatbritishrailways.info" too. For the future, information about Great Brisish Railways, by customers and for customers.
 
Current Running
GWR trains from JourneyCheck
 
 
Code Updated 11th January 2025