Brunel’s “Billiard Table”

The route from London to Bristol was the main reason for building the Great Western Railway – to get goods to and from the main arrival port for America. Known as “the Greater Way Round” because it matched the landscape rather than cut across it, where possible, it was also known as Brunel’s Billiard Table because it was so smooth – avoiding hills. I only occasionally used the route, but did spend the Summer of 1975 at Oxford, and made a few forays south onto this line and the stations it served.