Great Western Railway telegraphic codes


Great Western Railway telegraphic codes were a commercial telegraph code used to shorten the telegraphic messages sent between the stations and offices of the railway.
The codes listed below are taken from the 1939 edition of the Telegraph Message Code book unless stated otherwise.

History

The Great Western Railway pioneered telegraph communication over the from Paddington to on 9 April 1839 using the Cooke and Wheatstone telegraph equipment. Although this early system fell into disuse after a few years, from 1850 a new contract with the Electric Telegraph Company saw double-needle telegraphs working at most stations on the line; these were replaced by single-needle machines from 1860. Although used primarily as a safety device to regulate the passage of trains, it was also used to pass messages between the staff. In order to do this quickly and accurately, a number of code words were used to replace complicated or regularly used phrases. The codes were changed from time to time to reflect current needs.
By 1922 most railways in the country had agreed on standard code words, although the GWR had an extended list of codes that could only be used within its own network. In 1943 all railways were brought into a single system of codes and the GWR special codes were discontinued.

Wagons

Note: many of these codes could have an extra letter to identify variations, such as Mink A, or Mink G. Most of these codes were painted onto the wagons for easy identification.
brake van
Note: many of these codes could have an extra letter to identify variations, such as Scorpion C, or Scorpion D.
G
The 1939 Telegraph Message Code book contains in excess of 900 code words yet very few were the familiar codes seen painted on the side of goods wagons. By using these codes long and complex sentences could be sent using just a few words. Some examples of the codes representing phrases include: