ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Great Western Railway telegraphic codes

Okay kiddo, so let's start with the Great Western Railway (GWR) which is a company that used to operate trains in a place called England. Back in the day, before people had phones, computers and other fancy ways to communicate, they used to send messages using something called telegraph.

Now, for the GWR, it was important to send messages quickly and accurately because they had many trains running on different tracks and they needed to know where to send them. But they also wanted to keep their messages secret from other companies that might be spying on them.

So, they came up with something called telegraphic codes which were like a secret language that only the GWR people could understand. These codes used words and numbers to represent different things, like the names of stations, the types of trains or even the weather.

For example, if they wanted to say that a train was delayed, they could use the code "D12" which meant "Train delayed for 12 hours". Or if they wanted to say that the station was closed, they could use the code "S99" which meant "Station closed for the day".

These codes made it easier and faster for the GWR to send messages and also kept their information safe from others. It was like having a secret codebook that only they could understand.

Today, we have many other ways to communicate, like phones and the internet, so we don't need telegraphic codes anymore. But they were very important back in the day and helped the GWR to run their trains smoothly and efficiently.