The Great Western at work 1921-1939 - Adrian Vaughan

Behind the image so beloved by railway enthusiasts, of copper chimneys and chocolate and cream carriages, the Great Western Railway was a tenacious and hard-nosed - if gentlemanly - commercial organization. Struggling against ever worsening odds it provided a service for its customers, secure employment for its servants and a dividend for its shareholders.;This portrait of the GWR details how this great concern was operated during the inter-war years, the most difficult peacetime period the railway ever had to face. Adrian Vaughan gets to the heart of the still much-loved GWR and traces the efforts of all ranks, from director to porter, to serve their public.;Discovers the real history of the GWR and provides a unique insight into the magnificent - and expensive - complications of the railway's work. No less than 28 chapters cover a wide variety of topics, including the aftermath of war, locomotive economy, milk by rail, the Railway Air Service, GWR paternalism and accidents. Nine appendices provide additional, and previously unpublished statistical data, such as financial performance, express, punctuality.