Museum of Steam, Swindon 24 May 2017
Looks like the casualty in the fettling shop was not using eye protection; at any rate he seems to have got a right eyeful!
From 1836, IK Brunel had been purchasing railway locomotives from various sources. Given the varying quality of these, it was decided a central repair workshops was needed. He put Daniel Gooch in charge of workshops established at Swindon. An apocryphal story suggests that whilst in a train with Gooch, he tossed a sandwich out of the window and said that where it landed they would build the works; geography and logistics is the more likely explanation. The first shed was finished in 1841.
In tandem with the works, a "railway village" was built to house the massive influx of workers. This was laid out as a complete community with houses, health service, school. lending library and a church, similar to other developments such as Bourneville in Birmingham. Health care was provided from subscriptions from wages, and this GWR system was one of the blueprints on which Aneurin Bevan based the National Health Service in 1948.
In the 1960s, Swindon Council applied to demolish much of "New Swindon" but following a campaign led by John Betjeman, it was saved and is today a conservation area with many listed buildings. Following a decline in the post 1960s, the workshops finally closed down in 1986. Today, the complex houses various offices, a designer outlet and the excellent Swindon Steam Museum dedicated to the Great Western Railway; some workshops have been converted into flats, others are in the process of conversion.
Museum of Steam, Swindon 24 May 2017
Looks like the casualty in the fettling shop was not using eye protection; at any rate he seems to have got a right eyeful!
From 1836, IK Brunel had been purchasing railway locomotives from various sources. Given the varying quality of these, it was decided a central repair workshops was needed. He put Daniel Gooch in charge of workshops established at Swindon. An apocryphal story suggests that whilst in a train with Gooch, he tossed a sandwich out of the window and said that where it landed they would build the works; geography and logistics is the more likely explanation. The first shed was finished in 1841.
In tandem with the works, a "railway village" was built to house the massive influx of workers. This was laid out as a complete community with houses, health service, school. lending library and a church, similar to other developments such as Bourneville in Birmingham. Health care was provided from subscriptions from wages, and this GWR system was one of the blueprints on which Aneurin Bevan based the National Health Service in 1948.
In the 1960s, Swindon Council applied to demolish much of "New Swindon" but following a campaign led by John Betjeman, it was saved and is today a conservation area with many listed buildings. Following a decline in the post 1960s, the workshops finally closed down in 1986. Today, the complex houses various offices, a designer outlet and the excellent Swindon Steam Museum dedicated to the Great Western Railway; some workshops have been converted into flats, others are in the process of conversion.