Swindon Steam Railway Museum
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Swindon Steam Railway Museum
STEAM – Museum of the Great Western Railway, also known as Swindon Steam Railway Museum, is housed in part of the former railway works in Swindon, England – Wiltshire's 'railway town'. The museum opened in 2000. The site The museum is housed in a former engineering workshop, built c.1842 using squared rubble from the Box Tunnel, and forming part of the Swindon Works of the Great Western Railway. The works was one of the largest in the world and operated from 1843 to 1986. In its heyday, it covered more than , and could turn out three locomotives per week. Most of the former works buildings are now a McArthurGlen Designer Outlet. Also on the site are the headquarters of the National Trust (in the Heelis building) and offices of English Heritage. The museum Apart from many exhibits of interest to railway engine and rolling stock enthusiasts, it tells the social story of the railway community in Swindon, with recorded personal experiences and film archives. Lifelike exhi ...
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Swindon Railway Station
Swindon railway station is on the Great Western Main Line in South West England, serving the town of Swindon, Wiltshire. It is down the line from the zero point at and is situated between and on the main line. It is managed by Great Western Railway, which also operates all the trains. Being roughly halfway between the English and Welsh capitals of London and Cardiff, it is an important junction, where the former Great Western Railway line to and , the main line to , and the South Wales Main Line via diverge. It is approximately from the central bus station and the town centre. It is served by GWR services from Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads, Cheltenham Spa via Gloucester, , and the rest of South Wales, and to . History The main line of the Great Western Railway (GWR) was built and opened in stages. Construction began in late 1835, and by the end of August 1840 the line was open between and (later known as Challow), also between Bristol and Bath. The se ...
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Rolling Stock
The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, freight and passenger cars (or coaches), and non-revenue cars. Passenger vehicles can be un-powered, or self-propelled, single or multiple units. A connected series of railway vehicles is a train (this term applied to a locomotive is a common misnomer). In North America, Australia and other countries, the term consist ( ) is used to refer to the rolling stock in a train. In the United States, the term ''rolling stock'' has been expanded from the older broadly defined "trains" to include wheeled vehicles used by businesses on roadways. The word ''stock'' in the term is used in a sense of inventory. Rolling stock is considered to be a liquid asset, or close to it, since the value of the vehicle can be readily estimated and then shipped to the buyer without much cost or delay. The term contrasts with fixed stock (infrastru ...
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GWR 3700 Class
The Great Western Railway 3700 Class, or City Class, locomotives were a series of twenty 4-4-0 steam locomotives, designed for hauling express passenger trains. Construction In September 1902 a member of the Atbara Class, no. 3405 ''Mauritius'', was reboilered with a tapered domeless boiler and Belpaire firebox. The locomotive was the first GWR 4-4-0 to be fitted with a tapered boiler; the boiler became the prototype for Churchward's Standard No. 4 boiler. In March 1903 the first of the City Class, no. 3433 ''City of Bath'', was completed. It was fitted with the final form of the Standard No.4 boiler, with slightly curved sides and a tapered top to the firebox. Another nine locomotives were completed in May 1903. Between February 1907 and December 1908, nine Atbaras were rebuilt with this boiler and incorporated into the City Class. All members of the class were withdrawn between October 1927 and May 1931. Details Modifications Superheating of the boiler was first appl ...
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GWR 2800 Class
The Great Western Railway (GWR) 2800 Class is a class of Churchward-designed 2-8-0 steam locomotive. History The class was designed by George Jackson Churchward for heavy freight work. They were the first 2-8-0 locomotive class in Great Britain. The prototype, originally numbered 97 but later renumbered 2800, appeared in 1903. Construction of the production series commenced in 1905 and continued until 1919. The 2884 Class which appeared in 1938–1942 was developed from the 2800 class and is sometimes classified with it. Prototype No. 97 was originally outshopped in lined black livery and undertook two years of trials before the type went into production. Initial results suggested that only the front end needed further development and where the boiler of No. 97 was parallel for the first four segments, the production series had the familiar taper boiler. Initially the boiler pressure of the 2-8-0 was set at with diameter cylinders. Tractive effort started out at but ...
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GWR 2301 Class
The Great Western Railway (GWR) 2301 Class or Dean Goods Class is a class of British 0-6-0 steam locomotives. Swindon railway works built 260 of these goods locomotives between 1883 and 1899 to a design of William Dean (engineer), William Dean. The 2301 class broke with previous GWR tradition in having inside frames only and changes were made in the firetube boiler, boiler design during the period that they were being built. The first twenty engines were originally domeless though all were provided with domed boilers in due course. They were numbered 2301–2360 and 2381–2580 (2361–2380 were of the GWR 2361 Class, 2361 class, which were similar visually but had outside frames). Construction Rebuild as 3901 class In 1907, twenty Dean Goods (numbers 2491-2510) were rebuilt as 2-6-2T 'Prairie' tank locos, forming the new GWR 3901 Class, 3901 class numbers 3901-3920. War Service In 1917, 62 engines were taken over by the Railway Operating Division and sent to France. 46 of t ...
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National Collection
The UK National Collection is a collection of around 280 historic rolling stock, rail vehicles (predominantly of British origin). The majority of the collection is kept at four national museums: * National Railway Museum, York * National Railway Museum Shildon, Locomotion, Shildon * Science Museum, London, Science Museum, Kensington, London * Science and Industry Museum, Manchester Other items are on short or long-term loans to museums and heritage railways such as the Museum of the Great Western Railway at Swindon and the Head of Steam museum at Darlington. __TOC__ Steam locomotives Standard gauge designs up to 1869 These locomotives are all gauge unless noted otherwise. Standard gauge designs 1870 to 1899 These locomotives are all gauge. Standard gauge designs 1900 to 1922 These locomotives are all gauge unless noted otherwise. Standard gauge designs 1923 to 1947 These locomotives are all gauge unless noted otherwise. Standard gauge designs from 1948 onwards The ...
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Broad Gauge
A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union (CIS states, Baltic states, Georgia and Ukraine), Mongolia and Finland. Broad gauge of , commonly known as Irish Gauge, is the dominant track gauge in Ireland, and the Australian states of Victoria and Adelaide. Broad gauge of , commonly known as Iberian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in Spain and Portugal. Broad gauge of , commonly known as Indian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Argentina, Chile, and on BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) in the San Francisco Bay Area. This is the widest gauge in common use anywhere in the world. It is possible for trains on both Iberian gauge and Indian gauge to travel on each other's tracks with no modifications in the vast majority of cases. History In Gr ...
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GWR Star Class
The Great Western Railway (GWR) Star Class of 2-2-2 broad gauge steam locomotives were used for passenger train work. Designed by Robert Stephenson, the class was introduced into service between November 1838 and November 1841, and withdrawn between April 1864 and September 1871. A total of twelve Star Class locomotives were manufactured. Notably, they were given the romantic or colloquial (rather than scientific) names of astronomical bodies. By the time the last had been delivered, GWR engineer Daniel Gooch had designed and taken delivery of several of his larger Firefly Class. ''North Star'' and ''Morning Star'' * ''North Star'' (1837–1871) :''North Star'' arrived at Maidenhead Bridge station by barge on 28 November 1837; on 31 May 1838 it worked the inaugural train for the company's directors. In 1854 it was rebuilt with cylinders and the wheelbase lengthened by . It was withdrawn in 1871 but kept at Swindon, along with ''Lord of the Isles'', until 1906. It was then d ...
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North Star Photograph
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is related to the Old High German ''nord'', both descending from the Proto-Indo-European unit *''ner-'', meaning "left; below" as north is to left when facing the rising sun. Similarly, the other cardinal directions are also related to the sun's position. The Latin word ''borealis'' comes from the Greek '' boreas'' "north wind, north", which, according to Ovid, was personified as the wind-god Boreas, the father of Calais and Zetes. ''Septentrionalis'' is from ''septentriones'', "the seven plow oxen", a name of ''Ursa Major''. The Greek ἀρκτικός (''arktikós'') is named for the same constellation, and is the source of the English word ''Arctic''. Other languages have other derivations. For example, in Lezgian, ''kefer'' can mean b ...
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Daniel Gooch
Sir Daniel Gooch, 1st Baronet (24 August 1816 – 15 October 1889) was an English railway locomotive and transatlantic cable engineer. He was the first Superintendent of Locomotive Engines on the Great Western Railway from 1837 to 1864 and its chairman from 1865 until his death in 1889. Between 1865 and 1885 Gooch was Conservative MP for Cricklade. Early life Gooch was born in Bedlington, Northumberland, the son of John Gooch, an iron founder, and his wife Anna Longridge. In 1831 his family moved to Tredegar Ironworks, Monmouthshire, South Wales, where his father had accepted a managerial post, and it was there that Daniel would begin training under Thomas Ellis senior, who together with Ironmaster Samuel Homfray and Richard Trevithick pioneered steam railway locomotion. Gooch wrote in his diaries "Large works of this kind are by far the best school for a young engineer to get a general knowledge of what he needs in after life." and "...I look back upon the time spent at ...
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George Jackson Churchward
George Jackson Churchward (31 January 1857 – 19 December 1933) was an English railway engineer, and was chief mechanical engineer of the Great Western Railway (GWR) in the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1922. Early life Churchward was born at Rowes Farm, Stoke Gabriel, Devon, where his ancestors (the senior line residing at Hill House; his paternal grandfather, Matthew, was the younger son of the head of the family) had been squires since 1457. He was the first son in a family of three sons and two daughters, brothers John (b.1858) and James (b.1860) and sisters Mary (b.1863) and Adelina (b.1870). His father, George Churchward, a farmer, married his cousin, Adelina Mary, daughter of Thomas Churchward, of Paignton, Devon, a corn and cider merchant. He was educated at the Totnes Grammar School, King Edward VI Grammar School, contained within the Mansion House on Fore Street, Totnes, Devon. His father's cousin, Frederick Churchward, head of the family, arranged private tuition at H ...
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Grade II Listed
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency in Northern Ireland. The term has also been used in the Republic of Ireland, where buildings are protected under the Planning and Development Act 2000. The statutory term in Ireland is " protected structure". A listed building may not be demolished, extended, or altered without special permission from the local planning authority, which typically consults the relevant central government agency, particularly for significant alterations to the more notable listed buildings. In England and Wales, a national amenity society must be notified of any work to a listed building which involves any element of demolition. Exemption from secular listed building control is provided for some buildings in current use for worship, ...
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