Great Western stations across the Cotswolds and Southwest England retain character through images before modern access, security, and electrification.

There was never an old railway company so loved and revered as the Great Western. Great Western stations of the old company have survived for nearly 200 years in some cases, but modernisation in the shape of enhanced access, security and electrification means that many have lost their essential character.

GWR Stations: Cotswolds and Southwest England shows the stations as they were for many years, before recent modernisation, and the survivors that have managed to retain their character, usually by keeping a low profile and quietly carrying on with what they were built for so many years ago.

The stations featured are, for the most part, not main line behemoths, but more modest structures found on secondary main lines and branch lines. Many of the old GWR names have been shortened in recent years, but the former names, usually derived from the original Act of Parliament for the line, are used here. It is hoped that these images of lesser historic structures will encourage people to visit the corners of the Cotswolds and Southwest where they are, and help inspire railway modellers to make replicas in miniature.