The Swindon and Cricklade Railway is a

heritage railway A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...

in Wiltshire, England, that operates on a short section of the old

Midland and South Western Junction Railway The Midland and South Western Junction Railway (M&SWJR) was an independent railway built to form a north–south link between the Midland Railway and the London and South Western Railway in England, allowing the Midland and other companies' tr ...

line between

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 ...

and

Cricklade Cricklade is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in north Wiltshire, England, midway between Swindon and Cirencester. It is the first downstream town on the Thames. The parish population at the 2011 census was 4,227. History Cricklade ...

. Swindon and Cricklade Railway is a

registered charity A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definition of a ch ...

Preservation history

The Swindon and Cricklade Railway Preservation Society was formed by a group of enthusiasts in November 1978 to reconstruct and preserve a section of the Midland & South Western Junction Railway that ran from

Andover, Hampshire Andover ( ) is a town in the English county of Hampshire. The town is on the River Anton, a major tributary of the Test, and is situated alongside the major A303 trunk road at the eastern end of Salisbury Plain, west of the town of Basi ...

, to

Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...

, Gloucestershire. The volunteer-operated railway has reopened three stations: , and , the headquarters of the line. Hayes Knoll features a restored signalbox that is operational during special events and a running/restoration shed. The length of the restored line is a little under . The line extends north to South Meadow Lane (a few hundred yards from the site of a proposed Farfield Lane halt) near Cricklade, and south to Taw Valley Halt on the outskirts of Swindon, near

Mouldon Hill Country Park Mouldon Hill Country Park is a country park to the north west of the town centre of Swindon, within the parish of Haydon Wick and close to Thamesdown Drive. It is owned and managed by Swindon Borough Council. The park is named after the small h ...

. A southern terminus, , is proposed within the park.

Locomotives

Steam locomotives

Diesel locomotives

* BR Class 03 – 03 022. Returned to service in October 2019 after rebuild. *BR Class 03 – D2152 – cut-down cab variant. In regular service. *BR Class 97/6 – PWM651. Arrived from Strathspey Railway in August 2015. Operational. *BR Class 08 – D3261. Restored to service in October 2010. *BR Class 09 – 09 004. Undergoing overhaul. Intermittent service. *BR Class 73

Bo-Bo B-B and Bo-Bo are the Association of American Railroads (AAR) and British classifications of wheel arrangement for railway locomotives with four axles in two individual bogies. They are equivalent to the B′B′ and Bo′Bo′ classifications i ...

electro-diesel An electro-diesel locomotive (also referred to as a dual-mode or bi-mode locomotive) is a type of locomotive that can be powered either from an electricity supply (like an electric locomotive) or by using the onboard diesel engine (like a diese ...

'' Sir Herbert Walker'' No E6003. In service. * Fowler ''Woodbine'' No 21442. In service. *Fowler No 7342. In regular use on works trains. *Fowler No 422003. In service.

Diesel multiple units

*BR Class 119 unit 119 021 (formed of 51074+51104). Operational. *BR Class 207 unit 207 203 (formed of 60127+60901). In service until destroyed in a fire on 20 May 2016. *BR

British Railways 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 ...

AC railbus no. W79978 undergoing restoration

Specialist vehicles

*TASC 45 No. 98504, built by

Plasser & Theurer Plasser & Theurer is an Austrian manufacturer of rail track maintenance and track laying machines. It accounts for 6% of Austrian exports of the machinery and iron and steel construction industry. History The company was established in 1953 by ...

for

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 ra ...

. A four-wheel vehicle with side-tipping dropside rear body, crew cab with mess facilities and a HIAB crane on the rear. Used regularly on works trains and on galas. * Wickham Railcar No 9031 (Type 27 Mk III, Works No. 8089), a small four-wheeled vehicle for departmental use. Crew cab seating five. Smaller than normal railway vehicles to standard loading gauge, as it is roughly tall. Has no external couplings/drawbar or buffers. Undergoing overhaul, engine being replaced with that of a Peugeot 106.

Vintage railway coaches

Wagons

Stations of the S&CR line

References

External links

* {{Heritage railways in England Heritage railways in Wiltshire Transport in Swindon Cricklade