Great Western Railway, financial records

Financial records, 1842-1923, of the Great Western Railway, including records of the Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway, 1853-1922; Llanelly Railway and Dock Company, 1842-1889; Burry Port and Gwendraeth Valley Railway Company, 1862-1923; Whitland and Cardigan Railway, [c. 1870]-1898; Whitland and Taff Vale Railway, [c. 1870] -1880; and Gwendraeth Valleys Railways, 1872-1916.

The Great Western Railway was created by Act of Parliament in 1835 to provide a double-tracked line from Bristol to London. The GWR continued to expand its rail network across western England and Wales. In 1878, Great Western began its own coalmining operation in Blaenavon, Monmouthshire. The Llanelly Railway and Dock Co. railways, serving Llanelli and Burry Port, Carmarthenshire, was absorbed into the GWR in 1889. In 1922-1923, the government reorganisation of the railways into larger units amalgamated the 13 independent railways in South Wales and the Cambrian Railways system in mid Wales into the Great Western Railway. These companies included the Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway, Burry Port and Gwendraeth Valley Railway, and the Whitland and Taff Vale Railway.

Arranged into the following groups: Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway; Llanelly Railway and Dock Company; Burry Port and Gwendraeth Valley Railway Company; Whitland and Cardigan Railway; Whitland and Taff Vale Railway; and Gwendraeth Valleys Railways.

Ar Agor / Open

Dim cyfyngiadau / No Restrictions

Adnau preifat / Private deposit

Acc Nos: 7064; 7056; & 7090.

Mae copiau clawr caled o`r catalogau ar gael yn Archifau Sir Gaerfyrddin ac yn y Gofrestr Cenedlaethol Archifau. Polisi Archifau Sir Gaerfyrddin yw catalogio yn iaith y ddogfen / Hard copies of the catalogue are available at Carmarthenshire Archives and the National Register of Archives. It is the policy of Carmarthenshire Archives to catalogue in the language of the document.

Cyflwr da / Good condition

Compiled by Richard Burman for Archifau Sir Gaerfyrddin / Carmarthenshire Archives using the following source: The following sources were used in the compilation of this description: Carmarthenshire Archives Service, Business Records; The Great Western Archive (http://www.greatwestern.org.uk/), viewed 24 October 2003.

Mae'r holl gofnodiadau sy'n cydymffurfio â pholisi casglu Archifau Sir Gaerfyrddin wedi eu cadw / All records which meet the collection policy of the Carmarthenshire Archives have been retained

Records relating to Cambrian Railways and Lampeter, Aberaeron and New Quay Light Railways transferred to Ceredigion Archives in 1994. Deposited by R. J. Wood, Records Officer, British Rail Record Centre, London, per Susan Beckley, County Archivist, West Glamorgan County Council, Swansea, 1993; Carolyn Charles, The Welsh Industrial and Maritime Museum, Cardiff, 1994; James D'Arcy, Wiltshire Record Office, per Susan Beckley, County Archivist, West Glamorgan County Council, Swansea, 1994

Mae croniadau yn bosibl / Accruals are possible

The main Great Western Railway archive is The National Archives: Public Record Office, Great Western Railway Co., RAIL 250-282. Further records relating to the Great Western Railway and other railway companies are Carmarthenshire Archives Service, Great Western Railway Plans of Burry Port Docks, DB/127; Burry Port and Gwendraeth Valley Railway Records, DB/121; and Llanelli Railway and Dock Company Records, DB/122.