Four officers of the Great Western Railway were primarily responsible for the introduction and survival of the broad gauge.
Brunel was born in 1806 and was the son of the Thames Tunnel (London) engineer. By 1833 he had established a reputation in Bristol as the chosen designer for the Clifton suspension bridge and as engineer to the Bristol Dock Company. The Bristol businessmen promoting a railway to London selected Brunel as Engineer in 1833 and so began Brunel's association with what became the Great Western Railway (GWR). It was Brunel's recommendation that resulted in the broad gauge being adopted by the GWR.
He was far more visionary than many of his contemporary engineers which meant his many engineering successes are sometimes forgotten against some of his notorious failures (such as the poor design of the first GWR locomotives and adoption of the Atmospheric System on the South Devon Railway). In addition to working for the GWR he was involved with the engineering of many other railways. In the latter part of his career he designed the steamship "Great Eastern" which achieved fame as the ship that lay the first trans-Atlantic Cable.
Overworked and having been in poor health for several years, Brunel died on 15 September 1859, age 53.
Gooch joined the Great Western Railway as Locomotive Superintendent on 18 August 1837, a few days before his 21st birthday. His first few years were spent trying to keep the early locomotives ordered by Brunel in working order. A marked improvement in locomotive performance was seen as soon as the locomotives built to Gooch's own design were in service. Gooch retained the basic design for most of the locomotives built by the GWR throughout his reign as Locomotive Superintendent. In 1845 Gooch's Fire Fly class locomotive "Ixion" represented the broad gauge in the Gauge Trials and far out-performed the two standard gauge rivals, securing a future for the broad gauge.
In September 1864 Gooch resigned as Locomotive Superintendent to take up work laying the first Atlantic Cable (completed in 1866, earning him a knighthood). He was invited to return to the GWR as Chairman of the Board, to which he was elected on 2 November 1865. One of his early tasks was to recommend the end of the broad gauge in south Wales and the Midlands. Gooch remained chairman of the GWR until his death on 15 October 1889.
Saunders was born in December 1796 and joined the railway's London Committee as Secretary in 1833. He worked tirelessly to gather support for the proposed railway. In 1835 he was appointed Secretary of the Great Western Railway and additionally, in November 1840, General Superintendent of the Line, a role which he seems to have undertaken from the outset.
In his role as Superintendent he was involved in much of the early operation of the GWR. History does not record how many of Saunders' decisions were his own and how many where decisions made by the Directors through Saunders. Saunders opposed some of the costly early expansion schemes, but was overruled by the Directors. He was generally liked by staff and customers alike and respected as an honest opponent by rival railway companies. He retired in 1863 due to ill health and died on 19 September 1864. In recognition of his outstanding dedication and work for the company, he was awarded a pension (virtually unheard of in the 1860s) on his retirement.
Russell was born in Reading in 1786. He served as an officer in the Bengal Army for some years before entering Parliament as MP for Reading between 1830 - 1837 and 1841 - 1847. His first involvement with what became the Great Western Railway was as Chairman of one of the Committees working on the Great Western Bill in 1835. He was appointed chairman of the GWR in late 1839 following the death of William Sims.
During his 16 years as chairman, Russell oversaw a rapid expansion of the GWR from a line between London and Bristol to an empire extending into South Wales, the Midlands and the South of England. The rapid expansion resulted in some hard economic times for which Russell and Saunders both received some unfair blame from shareholders. Like Saunders, Russell was respected by staff at all levels. He retired on 2 August 1855 due to ill health and died less than a year later on 15 May 1856. A succession of chairmen followed Russell until Gooch's appointment in 1865.