Swindon Works
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Swindon Works | |
---|---|
General information | |
Status | Redeveloped |
Town or city | Swindon, Wiltshire |
Country | England |
Coordinates | 51°33′43″N 1°47′42″W / 51.562°N 1.795°W |
Construction started | 1841 |
Completed | 1843 |
Demolished | 1986 |
Client | Great Western Railway |
Design and construction | |
Other designers | Daniel Gooch Isambard Kingdom Brunel |
Swindon Works was opened by the Great Western Railway in 1843 in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. It served as the principal west England maintenance centre until closed in 1986.
History
In 1835, Parliament approved the construction of the
From 1836, Brunel had been buying locomotives from various makers for the new railway. Brunel's general specifications gave the locomotive makers a free hand in design, although subject to certain constraints such as piston speed and axle load, resulting in a diverse range of locomotives of mixed quality. In 1837, Brunel recruited Daniel Gooch and gave him the job of rectifying the heavy repair burden of the GWR's mixed bag of purchased locomotives.[1]
It became clear that the GWR needed a central repair works, so in 1840 Gooch identified a site at Swindon because it was at the junction with the Golden Valley line and also a "convenient division of the Great Western line for engine working". With Brunel's support, Gooch made his proposal to the GWR directors, who, on 25 February 1841, authorised the establishment of the works at Swindon. Construction started immediately and they became operational on 2 January 1843.
Location
There are several stories relating to how the railway came to pass through Swindon. A well-circulated myth states that Brunel and Gooch were surveying a
The GWR mainline was originally planned to cut through Savernake Forest near Marlborough, but the Marquess of Ailesbury, who owned the land, objected. The Marquess had previously objected to part of the Kennet and Avon Canal running through his estate (see Bruce Tunnel). With the railway needing to run near to a canal at this point, and as it was cheaper to transport coal for trains along canals at this time, Swindon was the next logical choice for the works, 20 miles (32 km) north of the original route.
The line was laid in 1840, but the location of the works was still undecided. Tracks were laid at
Gooch noted that the nearby Wilts & Berks Canal gave Swindon a direct connection with the Somerset Coalfield. He also realised that engines needed to be changed at Swindon or close by, as the gradients from Swindon to Bristol were much more arduous than the relatively easy route between London and Swindon. Drawing water for the engines from the canals was also considered, and an agreement to this effect was completed in 1843. Gooch recorded at the time:[6]
I was called to report upon the best situation to build these works and, on full consideration, I reported in favour of Swindon, it being the junction with the Cheltenham branch and also a convenient division of the Great Western Line for the engine working. Mr. Brunel and I went to look at the ground, then only green fields, and he agreed with me as to its being the best place.
Once the plan was set for the railway to come to Swindon, it was at first intended to bring it closely along the foot of Swindon Hill, so as to be as close as possible to the town without entailing the excessive engineering works of building on the hill. However, the Goddard family (lords of the manor of Swindon) objected to having it near their property, so it was laid a couple of miles further north.
Early years
With many of the early structures built and adorned by stone extracted from the construction of
Like most early railways, the GWR was built with gentle gradients and the minimum of curves, which meant that it was able to operate fast, lightweight 'single-wheelers', 2-2-2 and 4-2-2. However, from 1849 Gooch also built 4-4-0 saddle tanks for the hillier routes in Devon.
Railway village
The Works transformed Swindon from a small 2,500-population
The terraced two-storey cottages were built on two blocks of four parallel streets, not dissimilar in appearance to passing trains. Each road was named after the destinations of trains that passed nearby: Bristol, Bath, Taunton, London, Oxford and Reading among them. Built in the nearby open area, named Emlyn Square after GWR director
In the 1960s, Swindon Borough Council applied to demolish much of the village, but poet and railway enthusiast John Betjeman led a successful campaign to preserve it. Today much of the village is a conservation area, and many structures within it are listed buildings.[7] One of the last houses to be built, 34 Faringdon Road, originally 1 Faringdon Street, has been restored to the condition it was in around 1900 as a living museum.[9]
Expansion
Gooch followed a policy of taking in-house any railway engineering discipline that could be enabled to scale. Hence in addition to locomotive building, from 1850 standardised goods wagons were produced, and in 1867 Swindon was made the central workshop for the construction of carriages and wagons.
In 1864, when Joseph Armstrong took over, he took on the responsibility of improving the passenger stock, resulting in 1878 of a separate carriage and wagon works being built on land north of the station. The first Royal Saloon was built in 1874 and converted to standard gauge in 1899. 1875 saw the opening of the boiler and tender making shops, eventually used to also produce parts for locomotives, and marine engines for the GWR's fleet of ships and barges. The first GWR through corridor train was built in 1891, with electric lighting introduced in 1900.
In 1892, the GWR completed the process of converting their lines to standard gauge. 13 miles (21 km) of new broad gauge sidings were laid to accommodate the influx of rolling stock, so that by 21/22 May 1892 195 locomotives, 748 carriages and 3,400 wagons and vans were stored for conversion to the new gauge. Those that could not be converted were scrapped on site. By the turn of the century, the works were employing an estimated three-quarters of Swindon's entire workforce.
George 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. More four-cylindered 4-6-0 engines were built, and in 1908 the first 4-6-2 "Pacific" entered service, the only tender engine of that type in Britain until 1922. It was later rebuilt as a 4-6-0. From 1914 the works turned to aiding the war effort, producing twelve howitzers by the end of the year.
Heyday
Charles Collett, Chief Mechanical Engineer from 1921 to 1941, greatly improved the works' boiler making and its facilities for working heavy gauge sheet metal. In 1927 the GWR's most powerful and largest locomotive, the King class, 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 (45,500 m2), one of the largest covered areas in the world.
During World War II, Swindon was 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.
Nationalisation
At the nationalisation of British Railways (BR) in 1948, the works were still producing 60 new locomotives in the year, falling to 42 in 1954. From 1948 to 1956, the works made 452 steam engines to GWR designs, partly in parallel with producing 200 BR standard classes from 1951 until 1960.
The decision in 1960 to move BR's main motive power from steam to diesel brought the works both new lines of employment and an end to an old one. The works became the southern UK's regional hub for the storage and scrapping of steam locomotives and rolling stock, a role which later expanded to all scrap railwayana in light of the
Much of the original design and specification for the first
Decline and closure
The future of the works had been defined by the GWR's post-WW2 choice to develop its new diesel-powered experimental locomotives using diesel-hydraulic transmission systems rather than diesel-electric. As a result, from 1957 the works produced 38 "Warship" class D800s and 30 Western class D1000s. However, early diesel production followed previous steam locomotive construction strategy, resulting in numerous classes with short production runs and a resultant high maintenance cost in traffic. With the Beeching Axe strategy of reshaping BR towards inter-city traffic, the need for many of these diesel-powered classes was removed. A decision was also made to specify all new classes of locomotive with diesel-electric transmission, making the works' specialist diesel-hydraulic knowledge redundant.
As a result, with scrapping rolling stock keeping employment levels at the works high, a decision was made to cease building new locomotives at Swindon, and to reassign the works to become a heavy repair facility. Building of locomotives finished in 1965 with construction of the Class 14 diesel-hydraulic locomotives. Locomotive repairs and carriage and wagon work continued, though the original carriage and wagon workshop was sold.
After the works became part of BR's integrated
Between 2000 and 2006, the rolling chassis of GWR No. 7200 was restored in the former iron foundry (J Shop), making it the final Great Western steam locomotive to receive attention at the works.
Present
The redevelopment of the works took account of the
Superintendents and Chief Engineers
- Sir Daniel Gooch, Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon Superintendent 1837–1864
- Joseph Armstrong, Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon Superintendent 1864–1877
- Major William Dean, Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon Superintendent 1877–1902
- G. J. Churchward, Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon Superintendent 1902–1916, and Chief Mechanical Engineer 1916–1921
- C. B. Collett, Chief Mechanical Engineer 1921–1941
- F. W. Hawksworth, Chief Mechanical Engineer 1941–1949
Organisation
A great many different activities were carried out within the works and most of the components used to make locomotives, carriages and wagons were made on site. The works were organised into a number of shops:-
Shop | Description |
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A | Erectors, Boilermakers, Painters, Machine and Wheel Shop |
B | Erectors, Boilermakers, Painters and Tender Shop |
BSE | Engine Reception and Preparation |
C | Concentration Yard (recovery of scrap metal) |
D | Carpenters and Masons |
E | Electrical Shop |
F | Smiths, Springsmiths and Chainmakers |
G | Millwrights |
H | Pattern makers |
J | Iron Foundry |
J2 | Chair Foundry |
K | Coppersmiths and Sheet Metal Workers |
L2 | Tank Shop |
M | Electric Sub-Station |
N | Bolt Shop |
O | Tool Room |
P1 | Steaming and Boiler Mounting |
PL | Platelayers; Loco. Works, Rails, Roads and Water Mains Maintenance |
Q | Angle Iron Smiths |
R | Fitters, Turners and Machinemen |
SP | Springsmiths |
T | Brass finishers |
TH | Testing House |
U | Brass Foundry |
V | Boilermakers |
W | Turners and Machinemen |
X | Points and Crossings, Fittings for Permanent Way |
Z | Transport |
Shop | Description |
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1 | Sawmill (West End) |
2 | Sawmill |
3 | Fitting and Machines |
4 | Carriage Body Building |
5 | Electric Train Lighting |
7 | Carriage Finishing and Polishers |
8 | Carriage Painting |
9 | Carriage Trimming |
9a | Lining Sewers (female) |
10 | Laundry (female) |
11 | General Labourers |
12 | Carpenters |
13 | Wagon Frame Building |
13a | Carriage Frame Repairs |
14 | Smiths |
15 | Fitting, Machining, Plumbers, Gas and Steam Fitters, Sheet Metal Workers and Coppersmiths |
16 | Wheel |
17 | Road Vehicle Building and Repairing |
18 | Stamping |
19a | Carriage Trimmers Repairs |
19b | Carriage Finishers Repairs |
19c | Carriage Lifters |
19d | Vacuum Brake and Carriage Bogie Repairs |
20 | Horse Box and Carriage Truck Repairs |
21 | Wagon Building and Repairs |
22 | Oil and Grease Works |
23 | Platelayers’ Yard, Maintenance and Breaking-up Yard |
24 | Carriage Repairs |
See also
- Locomotives of the Great Western Railway
- St Mark's Church, Swindon, built for the works' employees
References
- ^ Jackson, pp. 90–91.
- ^ Jackson, p. 90.
- ISBN 0-9691272-2-7.
- ISBN 1-85983-322-5.
- ^ Swindon Works, and its Place in British Railway History. London: Railway Executive (Western Region). 1950.
- ^ "The World's Finest Railway Works". SwindonWeb. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
- ^ a b c "Life in a Railway Village". Swindon Web. 7 August 2006. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
- ^ "Swindon Mechanics' Institute". Victorian Society. Archived from the original on 26 September 2013. Retrieved 30 August 2013.
- ^ Swindon Railway Village Museum. Swindon: Borough of Thamesdown. 1980. p. 4.
- ^ "Heelis - Visitor information". National Trust. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
- Jackson, G. Gibbard. The Railways of Great Britain. London: Whitefriars Press.
Further reading
- Mark Child (2002). Swindon : An Illustrated History. United Kingdom: Breedon Books Publishing. ISBN 1-85983-322-5.
- Swindon Works, and its Place in British Railway History. London: Railway Executive (Western Region). 1950.
- Simmons, J (1986). The Railway in Town and Country. Newton Abbott: David and Charles.
- Larkin, E.J.; Larkin, J.G. (1988). The Railway Workshops of Great Britain 1823–1986. Macmillan Press.
- Cattell, John; Falconer, Keith (1995). Swindon: the Legacy of a Railway Town. London: HMSO. p. 181.
- Williams, Alfred (1915). Life in a Railway Factory. London: Duckworth. ISBN 978-0-905778-31-0.
- Kelly, Peter (June 1982). "This is Swindon". OCLC 49957965.
External links
- List of preserved steam locomotives built by Swindon Works
- Swindon's Railway Heritage
- Picture set of the works at closure
- Jobs on the Line – BBC TV documentary about Swindon Works and the redundancy threats in 1982
- Requiem for a Railway – Three-part BBC TV documentary from the mid-80s about Swindon Works and the closure