Swindon Works

The Swindon railway works were in 1841, the central workshop and subsequent locomotive works of the Great Western Railway ( GWR ) in Swindon, Wiltshire in England.

History

Occasion and initiative

For the Great Western Railway whose chief engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel procured first 1836 single from the different manufacturers locomotives, but often did not meet his demands. So put Brunel in 1837 the young mechanic Daniel Gooch a, with a mission to rectify the situation. The first result was obvious that the GWR needed a central repair shop.

When searching for a suitable location Gooch pulled the branch lines London - Bristol and London - Cheltenham into consideration, close to which was Swindon. In addition, the Wilts and Berks Canal situated there allowed a direct connection with the Somerset coalfield. He also drew into consideration that in Swindon had to be replaced with zugstärkere for the steeper route to Bristol the lighter locomotives of the London - section Swindon. Thus were at this point in both a special need and opportunity to supply the machines.

A widely circulating legend, Brunel and Gooch had made an exit in the valley north of Swindon Hill and Brunel either threw a stone or a sandwich in the air and determines the Aufschlagsort to the construction site.

Gooch said in retrospect, "I was asked to find the best possible location for the workshops and deliberately chose Swindon at the branch of the Cheltenham line, which enables a favorable split up the establishment of the Great Western Line. Mr. Brunel and I visited the area in which there were only green meadows and he agreed with me that this was the most appropriate place "

With support Brunel Gooch submitted the proposal to establish the workshop the GWR Directors, which approved them on 25 February 1841. Construction began immediately and on January 2, 1843, the start of operations.

Early years

The first locomotive repair shed, was completed by contractors in 1841 and the machinery equipment provided up to 1842. With a staff of 200 men started in 1843 first Reconditioning.

First time in 1846 a locomotive was built in-house. With a construction period of less than two weeks, the new " Premier " class was created with the wheel arrangement "C". Other series followed, including the " Iron Duke class " whose " Lord of the Isles ", which at the time was the fastest wide-track Lomkomotive.

As a result, the railway workshops Swindon from a small market town formed the bustling railroad town, led to a significant increase in population and provided also for the provision of medical and educational facilities that were previously missing much.

1851 employed the workshops more than 2000 workers and produced weekly a new locomotive, including from 1855 also standard gauge locomotives. A rolling device for rail moved more workers at from the south of Wales.

In addition to standardized locomotives freight cars were produced in 1850 and 1867 Swindon was the central workshop for the construction of the car park. The first royal saloon carriage was built in 1874. 1878 own separate car plant north of the station was built. Even if more vehicles were produced in plants in Wolverhampton, Worcester and Saltney near Chester, most production was concentrated in Swindon. 1875 manufacturing facilities were created for boiler and tender, in which occasionally marine engines for the fleet of GWR were produced.

When in 1892 the GWR decided to abandon the broad gauge in favor of standard gauge, all Umspurungen were made in Swindon, where not umspurbare vehicles were scrapped.

In 1939, the population of Swindon had grown to 61,000 people and took place during the Second World War still to a remarkable extent. At this time, more than half of the male population worked in the GWR workshops. Swindon was almost entirely dependent on the Swindon railway works in his survival and development.

Decline and closure

1947 for 60 new locomotives were in Swindon produced per year until 1954, this rate is reduced, however, to 42 units per year, a total of 200 locomotives were built 1949-1960.

1962 ended the locomotive in Swindon, only a repair operation was continued. The operation was finally closed in 1986, only one building still houses now the Swindon Steam Railway Museum

Superintendent and chief engineers

  • Sir Daniel Gooch, Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon Superintendent 1837-1864
  • Joseph Armstrong, Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon Superintendent 1864-1877
  • William Dean, Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon Superintendent 1877-1902
  • George Jackson Churchward, Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon Superintendent 1902 - 1916, Chief Mechanical Engineer 1916-1921
  • Charles Benjamin Collett, Chief Mechanical Engineer 1921-1941
  • FW Hawksworth, Chief Mechanical Engineer 1941-1949
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