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Pannier is the group’s journal published twice a year and sent free to all members. This is a quality A4-sized publication and includes substantial papers and historical information. Pannier Supplements are occasional A5-sized booklets dedicated to a particular subject.

The Group maintains all past Panniers in print; back issues can be purchased at the Group’s sales stand or may be ordered from:
Publications Officer, Great Western Study Group, The White House, Frogmore, Kingsbridge, Devon. TQ7 2NZ.

  • PANNIERS £4.00 – Five or more £3.50 (UK P&P £2.10)
  • PANNIER SUPPLEMENTS £3.00 – (members: £2.00) (UK P&P £1.00)
  • PANNIER BINDERS £7.50 each

Please make cheques payable to ‘Great Western Study Group’ (overseas orders payable in pounds sterling).

Pannier Binder - Green with gold lettering of GWR Roundel and "GREAT WESTERN STUDY GROUP"

Click on covers below to see a larger version.

Autumn 2025 – 40 Pages

  • Loco No. 13 (A brief history of its shed allocations)
  • Lengthman’s Duties & Difficulties (PW Institution 1926)
  • Culham Ticket Office (Its recent history and preservation)
  • A New Parcels Office for Culham (A proposed extension)
  • Oxford C&W Works
  • Relaying Permanent Way (PW Institution 1932)
  • Tracing Old Lines
  • And Another Thing … (Comments on and extensions to previous articles)
  • WW1 Ambulance Train No. 16
  • Tail Lamp (A photo of 3359 Kingsbridge with a strange carriage in the background)

Spring 2025 – Consolidation Edition – 44 Pages

  • 2-8-0 Locos of the GWR (Includes tanks, RODs, 8Fs, WDs, & S-160s)
  • Moveable Elbows on the GWR, Part 2
  • Hatton South Signals
  • S-160 Locos on the GWR 1942 – 1945
  • Improvements in Locomotive Maintenance Equipment (1933 Article on improvements to Wolverhampton repair shops)
  • GWR Chief Civil Engineers (Biographies of all 11 CCEs)
  • Tyseley Relaying Requisition 1937 (For relaying at the Loco Sidings, 1937)
  • Plymouth to Exeter Stopper (1930s photo of Bulldog-headed train raises questions)
  • And Another Thing … (Comments on and extensions to previous articles)
  • Tail Lamp (Follow up to photo of a City 4-4-0 in Pannier 50)

Autumn 2024 – Permanent Way Special – 44 Pages

  • The Permanent Way of Railways (Article from 1908 GWR Magazine)
  • Marlborough Cutting Chalk Removal (Engineering Bulletin of June 1956)
  • Taylor’s Patent Cladding (Potential replacement for corrugated iron sheeting)
  • Moor Street Station (Article from 1916 GWR Magazine) – see Pannier 50 – Additional Information
  • Moveable Elbows on the GWR, Part 1
  • Ballast and Ballasting (Article from 1928 PW Institution Journal)
  • Plymouth District PW Inspectors’ Map (Post-1947) – see Pannier 50 – Additional Information
  • Drainage of Bridges (Article from 1927 PW Institution Journal)
  • GWR Motor Economic System of PW Maintenance (Description of system introduced from 1901)
  • Odds & Ends (2 Photos of 2-plank wagons in Departmental use)
  • GWR 0-4-0ST No.96 (Follow-up to Pannier 48 article describing No. 95)
  • The PW Gang’s Equipment (Transcription of official list for Gang No.91, Taunton District)
  • Stained Glass (The GWR’s representation in the stained glass of 2 churches)

Winter 2023-2024 – 40 Pages

  • GWR Census 1923 (A summary based on an official post-grouping Report)
  • Modern Marshalling Yards (From the Railway Gazette, December 1933)
  • The Great Western Trust – an Introduction
  • Pagoda (The distinctive structures described)
  • The Southall Autotrain (Two 1905 photographs analysed)
  • Caerphilly Castle (A celebration of the first of the class)
  • More on No.95 (A follow-up to the article in Pannier 48)
  • Safe Working of Railways (Text for a 1905 lecture & sections from the 1904 GWR Handbook)
  • Examination for Look-Out Men (A 1913 document for testing to Rule 273)
  • Goods in Small Consignments (An introduction based on official GWR documents)
  • Where is it? (A mid-1950s photo of Castle 5050)
Pannier 48 Cover. 2011 photo of Paddington Station Praed Street entrance.

Summer 2023 – 40 Pages

  • What is an ELR? (Engineers Line Reference)
  • The work of a large passenger station (WR Deb. Soc. Lecture 1950)
  • Profile of a Station Master (W T Geden, SM Paddington)
  • Reconstruction at Paddington (GWR Mag Article from May 1923)
  • Who was William Albert Hart? (A fascinating genealogical trail)
  • Broad Gauge Kingswear Branch Trains
  • GWR Branding (Photos of crockery from GWT’s collection)
  • I have a theory (Some coach conundrums)
  • The Four Castles (Photos of the recent gathering at Didcot)
  • GWR No.95 – An engine we know little about
  • Odds & Ends (1931 excursion handbills)