John Kirkpatrick 2006
In celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The GWR company was created in 1833 with Brunel as its engineer, and construction was completed in 1886.
Your Majesty, I present to you a gift that’s rare and fine
In all the Tower of London no brighter jewel could shine
A string of pearls laid out for you, it’s fitting for a Queen
And threaded along a railway line, and polished in the steam
Chorus:
Oh a Bright String of Pearls laid out across the country
From the capital down to Cornwall, from the city to the shore
The finest towns are newly crowned with even greater glory
For the Great Western Railway joins them up for evermore.
From Paddington down to Bristol it’s as smooth as a bowling green
With bridges and tunnels and viaducts, the sweetest ever seen
Through Slough and Reading and Didcot, rolling on to Swindon Town
That’s where we built our railway works, the jewel in our crown
We’ve branches go up to Oxford and to Gloucester and to Wales
And right across to Fishguard where the Irish ferry sails
Down through Frome and on to Yeovil, and to Weymouth, and to Chard
How all these places prosper now they have a railway yard!
Chippenham next, and onwards, there’s a test for an engineer!
With arches and embankments, riding high for two miles clear
And Box the largest tunnel for trains, it’s nearly two miles long
And to enter Bath in the finest style, we moved the canal along
There’s eleven short miles to run from Bath to Bristol Temple Meads
Two viaducts, seven tunnels, and five bridges is all it needs!
From there we’ll fly to Taunton, down to Exeter and the sea
And along the coast to Dawlish, and in Plymouth then we’ll be
You rattle across the Royal Albert Bridge and Cornwall comes in view
Through Truro down to old Penzance, and so our journey’s through
So there we are, Your Majesty, you darlingest of girls
Laid out across the counties is your bright string of pearls