British Railways (Western Region)

The Western Region (WR) of British Railways was a territorial Region from 1 January 1948 until 1992. It directly inherited the Great Western Railway's territory, the West of England, South Wales and the West Midlands.

The Western Region was unique among the BR Regions in adopting diesel-hydraulic transmission for its main-line traction in the late 1950s, in preference to the BR-standard diesel-electric. The German-licensed Class 22 (1959), Class 42 'Warship' (1958), Class 35 'Hymek' (1961) and Class 52 'Western' (1961) gave the Region a recognisably distinct character through the 1960s. The diesel-hydraulic experiment was effectively abandoned in 1971; all the Region's hydraulics were withdrawn by 1977 except the Class 52, which lasted until 1977.

The Region was an early home of the InterCity 125 HST, introduced on the Paddington–Bristol/South Wales services in 1976. The Region was sectorised in the 1980s and the geographic structure formally abolished in 1992.