The Railway Gazette (TRG) furnished a wealth of reportage of the Great Western Railway In 1930. This year was a pivotal one: it separated the ‘Roaring Twenties’ – a decade of ubiquitous industrial unrest, the British Empire Exhibition (1924/5), the General Strike (1926) and the Wall Street Crash (1929) – from the ‘Hungry Thirties’, a decade of high unemployment, the dole, the means test, the Jarrow March (1936) and the outbreak of war in September 1939.
The advent of a troubled decade it may have been, yet there were sparks of innovation and moves towards modernity on the GWR. There were also periods of misfortune. The purpose of this article is to selectively record the manifold news reports concerning the Great Western Railway in 1930. These are supplemented, where possible, by press reports.
Railway landslides and subsidence
Heavy rainfall and gale force winds caused serious landslides and subsidence throughout the UK. The most serious landslide occurred on Saturday 4th January, between Dawlish and Dawlish Warren stations. TRG, 10th January, described the situation as follows:
“About 10pm on Saturday, during a heavy gale, a section of the sea wall supporting the Great Western main line between Starcross and Teignmouth was undermined by the sea for a length of 50ft about half a mile on the London side of Dawlish station. The masonry wall carrying the public promenade was washed away, exposing the foundations of the main wall, which were pierced by the heavy waves. As a result, the earthworks behind the wall carrying the railway was washed out leaving both lines unsupported.
“Repairs were put in hand within a few hours, depending on the nature of the tides. A heavy swell combined with a high tide held up remedial work more than once washing out
