STEAM - Museum of the Great Western Railway
URPoint Details
STEAM is fully accessible – with lifts and ramps giving wheelchair and pushchair access throughout. Disabled toilet facilities are also available. Free loan of wheelchair or motorised scooter (booking required).
STEAM - Museum of the Great Western Railway is housed in a beautifully restored Grade II railway building in the heart of the former Swindon railway works.
The Museum tells the story of the men and women who built, operated and travelled on the Great Western Railway - 'God's Wonderful Railway' - a railway network that, through the pioneering vision and genius of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, was regarded as the most advanced in the world.
STEAM is situated in the heart of what was once one of the largest railway engineering complexes in the world. Swindon Railway Works opened in January 1843 as a repair and maintenance facility for the new Great Western Railway. By 1900 the works had expanded dramatically and employed over 12,000 people. At its peak in the 1930s, the works covered over 300 acres and was capable of producing three locomotives a week.
The railway dominated the fortunes of Swindon until after the Second World War, when new industries moved to the
- Type:
- Museum