Railway engineering works — Blog 1

Part 2 - A Place to Work

January’s Swindon story was interrupted by a trip to Swansea, the discovery of another purpose-built workers’ village and Terroir succumbing to the cliché of celebrating 100 blogs.

But now, as promised, we return to Wiltshire, and Brunel’s Great Western Railway, to take a look at where the inhabitants of Swindon’s ‘new town’ actually worked.

I K Brunel and Daniel Gooch (Brunel’s Superintendent of Locomotive Engines) were responsible for a mixed bag of broad gauge (7 ft ¼ inch) steam locomotives. Many of these early locos do not appear to have been particularly reliable, and a very necessary repair and maintenance depot, which Brunel sited at his perceived ‘mid-point’ between London and Bristol, opened in 1843 - vital to keep the project on the rails.

The works swiftly moved on, with GWR’s first purpose-built locomotive completed in 1846 and first standard gauge (4 ft 8 ½ inch) engine in 1855. Production of rails followed in 1861 and a carriage and wagon works was opened in 1867. 1892 saw the final conversion from broad to standard gauge and a massive engineering frenzy of line laying and rolling-stock conversion (or sidings full of wagons waiting for destruction). By 1900, the Swindon works employed 20,000 people and, at its peak in the 1930s, covered 120 ha (300 acres).

Following WWII and nationalisation, the works declined and finally closed in 1986. The site was purchased by a developer and redeveloped for commercial and residential uses. The extraordinary land use changes which have occurred since are illustrated by the two maps below.

Above: the Swindon railway works at their height.

Below: the site today.

Terroir’s straw poll on ‘three words associated with Swindon’ gave interesting results on the ‘Swindon today’ topic. The railway museum (outlined in red on the plan) did get quite a few mentions but only two responses saw fit to note the presence of the National Trust HQ and archive. Nobody mentioned English Heritage/Historic England’s appearance in the mix and – unsurprisingly - nobody highlighted the car parks and 20th /21st century residential housing development. But to our amazement only one person came up with the Designer Outlet which, with the railway museum, now dominates the southern part of the works area.

The actual popularity of the ‘outlet’ is reflected by its enormous car park and the need to arrive early if you don’t want to spend hours queueing to get in. The alternative popularity of the ‘outlet’, for a perhaps small minority, is based on the fact that the shopping element is encased in a number of the other sort of ‘shops’ (ie work-shops) which once made up the engineering heart of the Swindon Railway works.

We walked round twice and did do some shopping on the second cicuit. But, the first time, we thought we were going for a quick stroll, probably just looking at the ceiling, to search out any remnants of the industrial heritage. We discovered that the conversion to retail heaven has, in fact, left a surprising number of features which are of great interest to those who have a penchant for heritage, engineering, railways and architecture. Yes, you definitely need to look up, but there is also plenty at ground level too, which was a great relief to our aching necks.

There is also some interesting interpretation and information, if you care to look for it. We hope that the following photographic tour can give you a flavour of how retail and heavy engineering have been blended to create an unusual shopping venue with a - very sanitised - hint at what went on here in earlier years.

Staring at the ceiling did reveal a lot, particularly of the technology required to support - and lift - heavy engineering. Or support Christmas wreaths.

There was also lifting gear at ground level. The walking crane, now fenced in like some inoffensive animal in a zoo, it’s dignity further diminished by an ill-placed litter bin, was a novelty to non-engineering types such as Terroir.

Staring at the ceiling also made us realise that staring at the walls was a worthwhile exercise as well. The variety of brick types and detail created constant variety in the shopping environment. The arch was the basic element, with the exception of the huge rectangular openings (bottom right) which enabled locomotives and rolling stock to be brought right into the works.

A variety of individual artefacts, although now bereft of their original environment, do add variety and a serendipty element to the shopping experience. And they probably keep the kids going for just that little bit longer.

The most sobering element of the Outlet experience is the number of WWI war memorials, dedicated to the workers in individual shops, who left to fight the Great War but did not return. These - extremely varied - plaques are also witness to the enormous workforce which was required to make this giant engineering facility function.

Of course two key elements of the engineering environment, which were an integral part of working here, are impossibe to recreate (although the adjacent museum works hard to hint at these). The first is the noise, the heat, the dirt and the danger of employment here. The second is the human elements of a large workforce: the camaraderie, the petty rivalries, the pride in skilled work, the need for unions and for welfare, and the benefits and irritations of being part of a huge community. The images below are very alien to the work force of the 21st century.

Swindon railway works. From this:

To this:

Brunel’s Mid Point

Part 2 - A Place to Work