Great Western, The Wide Gauge Route
By adopting an International route into London for passengers and freight, the freight would be brought on to the former Broad Gauge route of the West London and so on to the old Great Western, which alone among British railways has an existing 9 ft. 8 in. wide load gauge extending not only to the West Country but also to Bristol, South Wales, Birmingham and Wolverhampton. Its potential is summed up by a quotation from the Railway Clearing House Coaching Arrangements book of 1888 which gives the available width (for rolling stock) as 11 ft. 6 in. (9 in. more than the modern American) and the height at centre as 15 ft. Of the railway pioneers only Brunel grasped the true potential and anticipated future requirements. Without alteration it might well be possible for most continental freight stock to work over the former broad gauge routes of the Western and London Midland Regions of British Railways, and some judicious sluing could lead to considerable extension of the International route. In 1952 the 'Mauzin Coach', a French vehicle carrying track testing equipment, was shipped to this country and ran extensive trials on the Western Region of BR (the only routes on which it could run freely) between Paddington and Frome and Hatton (Warwick).