£75.00
Bob Meanley
Publication Date: 2025
Format & Edition: Hardback, First Edition
Pagination: 400 Pages, Illustrated
Genre: Great Western Railway
Status: In Stock, Limited Edition
Wiltshire Wisdom: The Genius of Swindon in the Steam Age by Bob Meanley.
The Swindon story is one of engineering genius covering a period of well over a century. No other British railway company could claim such a feat. This book has been years in the making and is written by Bob Meanley, a mechanical engineer by profession who for many years was in charge at Tyseley responsible for the restoration, maintenance and operation of the former GWR engines now based there. As such he is uniquely qualified to write on the subject, not just of the products of Swindon but also of the men, draughtsmen, inspectors and managers who made the genius of Churchwood possible.
Be assured this is no ordinary history. Instead it is a history of how the locomotive works at Swindon developed, were expanded and enlarged to become one of the largest covered workshops in Europe and so able to produce the finest engines to emerge from a British railway workshop.
Genesis
The Road to Churchward
The Churchward Revolution
The Collett Contribution
The Collett Years 1922-1941
Steam’s Final Years 1941-1965
Appendices