Encyclopedia
Swindon railway works was built by the
Great Western Railway in 1840 in the town of
Swindon in the
English county of
Wiltshire.
History
From 1836,
Brunel had been buying locomotives from various makers for the new railway. Few of them were satisfactory, some suggest, because of Brunel's specifications.
Daniel Gooch was given the job of rectifying the situation and built the works at Swindon in 1842.
Early years
Repairs began in 1843, with the first new locomotive in 1846, the "Great Western", followed by six more, the "
Iron Dukes." By 1866 the works was producing around one a week . A rolling mill was installed for rails in 1861 attracting workers from South
Wales. Although some rolling stock was built at Wolverhampton ,
Worcester and Saltney near
Chester, most of the work was concentrated at Swindon.
Like most early railways, the GWR was built with gentle gradients and the minimum of curves, which meant that they were able to operate fast light-weight 'single-wheelers',2-2-2 and 4-2-2. However, from 1849, Gooch also built
4-4-0 saddle tank locomotives for the hillier routes in
Devon.
In addition to locomotive building, from 1850 standardised goods wagons were produced and in 1867 Swindon was made the central workshop, with extensions and thirteen miles of additional sidings. In 1864, when Joseph Armstrong took over, he took on the resposiblity of improving the passenger stock. In 1878 a separate new carriage and wagon works was built on land north of the station. The first Royal Saloon was built in 1874 and converted to standard gauge in 1899.
Expansion
Churchward's tenure, first as Assistant Chief Superintendent in 1897, then Locomotive Superintendent in 1902 , produced heavier locomotives, firstly the
4-4-0 City class, then the County class. Later in 1906 "North Star", originally 4-4-2, was rebuilt as the first four-cylinder
4-6-0. Later four-cylindered engines were
4-6-0 built and, in1908 the first "Pacific"
4-6-2, the only one of its type in the country for many years. It was later rebuilt as a
4-6-0.
The first GWR through corridor train was built in 1891 with electric lighting introduced in 1900.
From 1914 the works turned to aiding the war effort, producing twelve
howitzers by the end of the year.
Heyday
C. B. Collett, Chief Mechanical Engineer from 1921 to 1941 greatly improved the work's boiler making and its facilities for working heavy gauge sheet metal. In 1927 the most powerful locomotive type of all, the
King class, the largest ever built by the GWR, was introduced to become the "flagship" of the GWR fleet. The
Kings had been developed from the
Castle Class which, along with the
Halls, were the foundation of the GWR's reputation and image.
This was the heyday of Swindon Works, when 14,000 people were employed and the main locomotive fabrication workshop, the
A Shop was, at 11.25 acres, one of the largest covered areas in the world.
During
World War II Swindon was once again involved with military hardware, producing various types of gun mountings. Loco wheel-turning lathes were also ideally suited for making turret rings for tanks. The works also built landing craft and parts for midget submarines.
In 1947 the works were still producing 60 new locomotives in the year, falling to 42 in 1954. Between 1949 and 1960 some 200 of the various
BR Standard locomotives were produced.
British Railway's last steam locomotive
BR standard class 9F 92220 Evening Star was built in 1960 and the first
diesel-hydraulic main line locomotive in 1957.
Decline and closure
In 1962 new building of locomotives finished at Swindon. Locomotive repairs and carriage and wagon work continued, though the original carriage and wagon workshop was sold. The whole works closed in 1986, but one building currently houses a museum dedicated to the
Great Western Railway. The engineers' office is now the headquarters of
English Heritage. Purpose-built storage there now houses the archive of the National Monuments Record
Most of the remaining still used buildings are part of the Designer Outlet Village . The old area where the workers once got paid is now the location of ATMs.
Literature
Alfred Williams' book
Life in a Railway Factory has been described as "the most important literary work ever produced in Swindon, about Swindon".
References
- Simmons, J., The Railway in Town and Country, Newton Abott: David and Charles
- Larkin, E.J., Larkin, J.G., The Railway Workshops of Great Britain 1823-1986,' ' Macmillan Press
- Cattell, John and Falconer, Keith Swindon: the Legacy of a Railway Town, HMSO, London, 181 pp., 1995.
- Williams, Alfred Life in a Railway Factory
See also
- Locomotives of the Great Western Railway
External links
