Saturday 17th March 2012 - Part 2 Swindon

Some of Volunteers went AWOL today, taking a trip to the Steam Museum at Swindon. The Museum is great place  if your a Great Western Railway enthusiast, the museum having been set up within the old Swindon Works and oozes nostalgia for the halcyon days when 3 beautifully made locos were turned out each day. Our Group had an introductory talk by Keith who had been employed at the works and had some great stories to tell of the camaraderie and pride  in the workmanship that spanned generations of his family.

I took the opportunity to go up to Swindon by train from Cheltenham with 2 chums (Ron and John B). It's a lovely trip up through the Golden Valley, stopping at Stonehouse, Stroud and Kemble before arriving at Swindon. We were greeted in the main hall by Caerphilly Castle and it reminded me of my time as a  train spotting kid when my Dad used to take me  up to London on the Cheltenham Flyer for a day out, catching it at Gloucester at 8:15  and then back exhausted, having  caught the return Flyer from Platform 1 at Paddington, leaving at 4:55 precisely! Happy Days - my Dad was lovely chap and though long deceased I still feel his gentle hand on my shoulder giving me a steer, here and there.

Our Group spent an enjoyable couple of hours mooching around the exhibits and casting our thoughts back to Broadway. Here Gord, Jo, myself, Terry and Paul (Also Paul C behind the camera!) sit on a mock up of a GWR Station. It will be Broadway soon chaps - hold that thought!

It was the right day for reminiscing , here John B stands by GWR Railcar No.4 which he was pretty sure he made local trips on from Cheltenham.

Some discussions are coming up on the platform Signal Box at Broadway. It will be interesting to see how they turn out. Here at Steam is a modest 14 lever affair, which enjoyed by the kids as a computer puts a budding signalman through their paces. Brilliant!


Any finally Rod and Tina take a look at Lode Star. The ladies in our lives are very patient with us and our hobby and it was great to see Tina and Jo's wife Hilary in  support today.