Images Dated 2014

Swindon Works Map, c.1940s

Swindon Works Map, c.1940s, showing the growth of the GWR Works in Swindon between 1846 and the 1940s. The sheer volume of workshops and sidings can be seen in fascinating detail

© STEAM Museum of the GWR

1800s, 1840s, 1846, 1900s, 1940s, Factory, Map, Plan, Railway, Sidings, Swindon Works, Vintage, Wiltshire, Workshops

SS St Julien at the Banana Dock in Dieppe c.1939

SS St Julien is pictured here at the Banana Dock in Dieppe during her service as a hospital ship. St Julien was built in 1925 as a vessel to serve the GWR's Weymouth route, which she did until requisitioned by the government on the 9th September 1939 to work as a troop ship. During the following month the steamer was sent to Southampton to be converted into Hospital Ship No. 29 and she began work ferrying casualties from France back to Britain, from where they would be taken by train to hospitals around the country. St Julien took part in the evacuation of Dunkirk, crossing the channel 6 times in an attempt to reach troops, where, despite being clearly identified as a hospital ship, she came under enemy fire. She survived Dunkirk and subsequent service as a hospital ship in the Mediterranean, and at the end of the war SS St Julien returned to operation on the Weymouth Service

© STEAM Museum of the GWR

Macaw B railway wagon No. 84350 loaded with gun carriages at Swindon Works, c.1915

Macaw B railway wagon No. 84350 has been photographed here loaded with 2 gun carriages awaiting dispatch from Swindon Works. The Macaw B was the GWR's standard bogie bolster wagon which, in normal service, was generally used to transport timber. During the war many of these wagons were requisitioned for military use, as shown by the writing along the side of the wagon specifying ?for military purposes only'; and where necessary, modifications and truss strengthening took place in order to accommodate abnormally heavy loads

© STEAM Museum of the GWR