Swindon station on the Great Western Railway, 1845. Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-1859) favoured broad gauge 7ft 1/4inch (2.2m) and designed the Great Western Railway accordingly. However, in the Gauge Act of 1846 declared that all future railway track should be of the standard 4ft 8 1/2inch (1.44m) gauge introduced by George Stephenson (1781-1848) on the Liverpool & Manchester Railway. It was not until 1892 that the last broad gauge track was lifted. From The Illustrated London News. (London, 18 October 1845).