What was the original gauge of Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s Great Western Railway?

Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s Great Western Railway originally used a broad gauge of 7 feet ¼ inch.

The gauge was selected during the railway’s construction in the 1830s. Brunel believed wider track would allow smoother running, greater stability and potentially faster trains than the standard gauge used by many other British railways.

Great Western trains initially ran between London and the west of England on this broad gauge. However, the existence of competing standard-gauge railways created operational problems at connecting stations, because trains could not simply continue across the different track widths.

Parliament eventually supported conversion to standard gauge. The Great Western Railway completed the change in 1892, ending broad-gauge operation in Britain. The measurement is sometimes rounded or written in different typographic forms, but the traditional historical specification is 7 feet ¼ inch.