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New book charts history of Great Western Railway during world wars

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The wartime history of the Great Western Railway is brought to life in a new book featuring an array of unseen images from the archives of Swindon Steam Museum

A new book about the role of the Great Western Railway during the world wars will fascinate history-lovers in south Somerset.

Wartime GWR ^ serving the nation during two world wars features a collection of photographs taken from the archives of the Great Western Railway at Swindon Steam Museum.

The GWR company was founded in 1833 and the first trains linking London to the West Country and Wales ran five years later.

The railway line was designed by world-renowned engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

Authors Elaine Arthurs and Felicity Jones are member of the steam museum in Swindon, who had unique access to rare and unseen archive material.

The book is published by Ian Allan Publishing ^ a specialist publisher in the areas of aviation, rail, modelling and road transport.

A spokesman for the published said: ^The vast collection of photographs in Wartime GWR ^ serving the nation during two world wars reveal how the First and Second World Wars changed the lives of lives of staff on the GWR, as well as the passengers who used it.

^The book tells the story of a time of enormous social change, where women became the new workforce while the men were away at war ^ and railways were at the forefront of the war effort as the country struggled to transport large numbers of people, goods and arms.

^The book is an evocative and enthralling tribute to the wartime effort of those who worked on the Great Western Railway.^

Hardback copies of the book cost ^25.