Swindon railway works

Swindon Works
GWR King Class locomotives under construction, 1928
General information
Status	Redeveloped
Town or city	Swindon, Wiltshire
Country	England
Coordinates	51°33′43″N 1°47′42″W / 51.562°N 1.795°W / 51.562; -1.795
Construction started	1841
Completed	1843
Demolished	1986
Client	Great Western Railway
Design and construction
Other designers	Daniel Gooch/Isambard Kingdom Brunel

Swindon railway works were built by the Great Western Railway in 1841 in Swindon, Wiltshire, United Kingdom.

In 1835 Parliament approved the construction of a railway between London and Bristol. 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 Cheltenham branch and also a "convenient division of the Great Western line for engine working". With Brunel's support, Gooch made his proposal to the GWR directors, who, on 25 February 1841, authorised the establishment of the works at Swindon. Construction started immediately and they became operational on 2 January 1843.

There are several stories relating to how the railway came to pass through Swindon. A well-circulated myth that Brunel and Daniel Gooch were surveying a vale north of Swindon Hill and Brunel either threw a stone or dropped a sandwich and declared that spot to be the centre of the works. However Swindon's midway point between GWR terminals and the topography of land near the town were more likely factors.

The GWR mainline was originally planned to cut through Savernake Forest near Marlborough, but the Marquess of Ailesbury, who owned the land, objected. The Marquess had previously objected to part of the Kennet and Avon Canal running through his estate (see Bruce Tunnel). With the railway needing to run near to a canal at this point, and as it was cheaper to transport coal for trains along canals at this time, Swindon was the next logical choice for the works, 20 miles (32 km) north of the original route.