The first railway line built by the Great Western Railway opened in 1838. It started in London and ended in Maidenhead which was west. By 1841, the area of service had been made much longer and so their trains went farther west to the towns of Reading, Swindon, Bath and Bristol. By 1852, the railway line had become long and went to Penzance. Penzance railway station is both the farthest south and farthest west in Great Britain. 