A Shop Gallery

Tanks under construction in A Erecting Shop, Swindon Works. 1941

One of the earliest tasks contracted to the GWR by the Ministry of Supply was the erection of tanks for supply overseas. Thousands of tank components were being made by all the British railway companies during the initial years of the war, and this image of A Erecting shop at Swindon Works taken in June 1941 shows some of those components being brought together to form the body of 25-27 ton tanks. The tanks under construction are Infantry Tank Mark II, or Matilda II, as they were commonly known. They were difficult and complex tanks to build and required a skilled workforce with specialist machinery to correctly manufacture this model

Extending A Shop, 1914

Workmen excavating the land in preparation for the A Shop extension. Redcliffe Street can be seen to the left

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A Shop, Swindon