[1] The original backers of the GWR had adopted Isambard Kingdom Brunel's plan to speed trans-Atlantic Ocean passage for both passengers and freight by providing a direct route from London westwards to the connecting ports located in the West Country and Wales.

[1] Post-World War I and with the United States now economically booming, new developments in Ocean Liner design and construction brought about new, faster ships with more luxury capacity.

This allowed the company to develop a larger bespoke carriage to its own dimensions, which would be wider than the Pullman saloons then in operation on both the Great Western and Southern Railways.

[1][4] Once the exterior was completed, each of the carriages was fitted-out with fine French-polished light-coloured walnut, with book-matched burr veneer panels on the interior sliding doors and fold-down tables, outlined with gold-leaf hairlines.

[1][4] The complete run of eight carriages, all named after members of the British Royal Family were as opulent as the Pullmans they replaced, and had an unladen weight of 35 long tons (36 t).

[1][4][7] With the Super Saloons now fully available for traffic, the lease on the seven Pullman cars was terminated at the end of 1931, and these were transferred to the Southern Railway, joining the SR's Western Section carriage pool at Clapham Junction.

[3] The legacy of the Super Saloons included Collett's 1935 development of the new "Centenary" carriages built for the Cornish Riviera Express, which again made full use of the wider loading gauge on that route.

[1][4] Although a relative financial success initially, the launch of the Ocean Super Saloons and their dedicated trains coincided with the start of the Great Depression.

[1][4] Post-World War II, British Railways continued this usage pattern, and once the carriages were painted in the new crimson and cream livery in the early 1950s, they all lost their royal names.