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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 section ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swindon
Swindon () is a town and unitary authority with borough status in Wiltshire, England. As of the 2021 Census, the population of Swindon was 201,669, making it the largest town in the county. The Swindon unitary authority area had a population of 233,410 as of 2021. Located in South West England, the town lies between Bristol, 35 miles (56 kilometres) to its west, and Reading, equidistant to its east. Recorded in the 1086 Domesday Book as ''Suindune'', it was a small market town until the mid-19th century, when it was selected as the principal site for the Great Western Railway's repair and maintenance works, leading to a marked increase in its population. The new town constructed for the railway workers produced forward-looking amenities such as the UK’s first lending library and a ‘cradle-to-grave' health care centre that was later used as a blueprint for the NHS. After the Second World War, the town expanded dramatically again, as industry and people moved out from L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel (; 9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859) was a British civil engineer who is considered "one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history," "one of the 19th-century engineering giants," and "one of the greatest figures of the Industrial Revolution, hochanged the face of the English landscape with his groundbreaking designs and ingenious constructions." Brunel built dockyards, the Great Western Railway (GWR), a series of steamships including the first propeller-driven transatlantic steamship, and numerous important bridges and tunnels. His designs revolutionised public transport and modern engineering. Though Brunel's projects were not always successful, they often contained innovative solutions to long-standing engineering problems. During his career, Brunel achieved many engineering firsts, including assisting in the building of the first tunnel under a navigable river (the River Thames) and the development of the , the f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Rail
British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four (British railway companies), Big Four British railway companies, and was privatisation of British Rail, privatised in stages between 1994 and 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commission, it became an independent statutory corporation in January 1963, when it was formally renamed the British Railways Board. The period of nationalisation saw sweeping changes in the railway. A process of dieselisation and Railway electrification in Great Britain, electrification took place, and by 1968 steam locomotives had been entirely replaced by diesel and electric traction, except for the Vale of Rheidol Railway (a narrow-gauge railway, narrow-gauge tourist line). Passenger train, Passengers replaced freight train, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
APTIS
APTIS was the Accountancy and Passenger Ticket Issuing System used on the British Rail/National Rail network until 2007. It was originally called "Advanced Passenger Ticket Issuing System" as it was being developed at the time of the Advanced Passenger Train. It was widely known as the All-Purpose Ticket-Issuing System, a description which was used during the development of the prototype devices. Ford, Roger (1984). "Technology Update: Ticket issuing and revenue control". In: ''Modern Railways'', Volume 41, May 1984, Pages 256-257.Glover, John (1985). "Mechanisation of ticket issuing". In: ''Modern Railways'', Volume 42, April 1985, Pages 192-195. It led to the introduction, on the national railway, of a new standardised machine-printable ticket, the APTIS ticket, which replaced the Edmondson railway ticket first introduced in the 1840s. Overview APTIS issued impact printed tickets on credit-card sized card ticket stock, with a magnetic stripe on the centre of the reverse wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swindon Town Railway Station
Swindon Town railway station was on the Midland and South Western Junction Railway at Swindon in Wiltshire. The station was sited in the Old Town area about one-and-a-half miles from the Great Western Railway's Swindon Junction. History Swindon Town was originally planned under an Act of 1873 for a different site to the east of the eventual station, with a tunnel to be built under the hill on which the Old Town sits. But money ran out and the line was realigned to run south of the hill. The Swindon, Marlborough and Andover Railway opened between Swindon Town and Marlborough on 27 July 1881; in early 1882, the line was extended northwards from Swindon Town to a junction with the Great Western main line at Rushey Platt, and services were started between the two Swindon stations. Rushey Platt became a junction the following year with the opening of the Swindon and Cheltenham Extension Railway as far as Cirencester Watermoor. The SM&AR and the S&CER combined to form the M&SW ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Storey
A storey (British English) or story (American English) is any level part of a building with a floor that could be used by people (for living, work, storage, recreation, etc.). Plurals for the word are ''storeys'' (UK) and ''stories'' (US). The terms ''floor'', ''level'', or ''deck'' are used in similar ways, except that it is usual to speak of a "16-''storey'' building", but "the 16th ''floor''". The floor at ground or street level is called the "ground floor" (i.e. it needs no number; the floor below it is called "basement", and the floor above it is called "first") in many regions. However, in some regions, like the U.S., ''ground floor'' is synonymous with ''first floor'', leading to differing numberings of floors, depending on region – even between different national varieties of English. The words ''storey'' and ''floor'' normally exclude levels of the building that are not covered by a roof, such as the terrace on the rooftops of many buildings. Nevertheless, a flat r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swindonian
Swindon is a large town in Wiltshire, England; its residents are called Swindonians and many have achieved notability throughout its history. * Heidi Alexander – former Labour Party MP for Lewisham East * Sam Allen – football manager at Swindon Town * Joseph Armstrong – engineer and the second locomotive superintendent of the Great Western Railway lived, worked and is buried in Swindon * Dean Ashton – Premiership footballer, played for West Ham United, born in Swindon * Colin Bailey – drummer * Ralph Bates – writer * Carl Benjamin – YouTuber, political commentator better known as Sargon of Akkad * Billy Bodin – footballer, born in Swindon * Mark A. Brennan – Canadian landscape painter, born in Swindon, 1968 * Jazz Carlin – swimmer, World Champion in 400m and 800m freestyle * Lucy Cohu – actress, born in Swindon, 1968 * Julian Clary – comedian, formerly a resident of Rodbourne, but not born in Swindon. His family still lives in the area. * Jamie C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swindon Works
Swindon railway 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 Great Western Main Line between London and Bristol by the Great Western Railway (GWR). Its Chief Engineer was Isambard Kingdom Brunel. 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. 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 of the Golden Valley ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carriage
A carriage is a private four-wheeled vehicle for people and is most commonly horse-drawn. Second-hand private carriages were common public transport, the equivalent of modern cars used as taxis. Carriage suspensions are by leather strapping and, on those made in recent centuries, steel springs. Two-wheeled carriages are informal and usually owner-driven. Coaches are a special category within carriages. They are carriages with four corner posts and a fixed roof. Two-wheeled war chariots and transport vehicles such as four-wheeled wagons and two-wheeled carts were forerunners of carriages. In the twenty-first century, horse-drawn carriages are occasionally used for public parades by royalty and for traditional formal ceremonies. Simplified modern versions are made for tourist transport in warm countries and for those cities where tourists expect open horse-drawn carriages to be provided. Simple metal sporting versions are still made for the sport known as competitive driv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Old Penny
The British pre-decimal penny was a denomination of sterling coinage worth of one pound or of one shilling. Its symbol was ''d'', from the Roman denarius. It was a continuation of the earlier English penny, and in Scotland it had the same monetary value as one pre-1707 Scottish shilling. The penny was originally minted in silver, but from the late 18th century it was minted in copper, and then after 1860 in bronze. The plural of "penny" is "pence" when referring to an amount of money, and "pennies" when referring to a number of coins. Thus 8''d'' is eight pence, but "eight pennies" means specifically eight individual penny coins. Before Decimal Day in 1971, sterling used the Carolingian monetary system (£sd), under which the largest unit was a pound (£) divisible into 20 shillings (s), each of 12 pence (d). The penny was withdrawn in 1971 due to decimalisation, and replaced (in effect) by the decimal half new penny, with p being worth 1.2''d''. History The kingdoms ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cirencester Town Railway Station
Cirencester Town railway station was one of three railway stations which formerly served the town of Cirencester, Gloucestershire, England; the others were and . History The Cheltenham and Great Western Union Railway was promoted to link the towns of Cheltenham and Gloucester to the Great Western Railway at ; there was to be a branch from to Cirencester. The line was authorised on 21 June 1836, but took several years to build. The first section to open was that between Swindon and Kemble (where there was no station at first) together with the Cirencester branch; it opened on 31 May 1841. On 12 September 1874 as the first train from Kemble Junction was entering the station the engine ran off the rails. No passengers were injured. On 1 July 1924 the station was renamed ''Cirencester Town''. A fire broke out on 7 April 1948 in the packing office when a stove pipe overheated and ignited the ceiling joists. The damage was confined to ceiling timbers. In 1956 some additions to th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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