This photograph was taken on 10 September 1961, the last day of passenger services on the former Midland & South Western Junction Railway line that connected Andoversford (near Cheltenham) to Andover and the south. The station, opened in 1881, was situated off Newport Street near the junction with Devizes Road. The M & SWJR was taken over by the Great Western Railway under the Railways Act of 1923. During both World Wars this vitally important strategic route carried an immense amount of military traffic north and south. After World War II, however, traffic reduced, and the line was closed along with many other country routes. The photograph shows the Railway Correspondence & Travel Society Tour train in the station – one of two special trains that ran that day over the line for the benefit of railway enthusiasts. Today the site of the station is the Central Trading Estate, with light industrial units, and the route of the line between the station and west Swindon is a pleasant cycle and pedestrian path.
I remember walking along those tracks way after the trains had stopped running. I thought it was very sad to be so abandoned and neglected. But, it was in the snow and felt so magical!
11th Aug 2012
Wish my Dad was still around. He would have loved to have seen all these photos of Swindon and the rail. He worked in the brass foundry.
2 comments
I remember walking along those tracks way after the trains had stopped running. I thought it was very sad to be so abandoned and neglected. But, it was in the snow and felt so magical!
11th Aug 2012
Wish my Dad was still around. He would have loved to have seen all these photos of Swindon and the rail. He worked in the brass foundry.
2nd Dec 2012