Thursday 16 August 2012

Events Diary - Railway Festival News


Swindon Railway Festival, 15th - 16th September 2012

Ian Surtees, Commercial Manager, gives an update on the forthcoming Railway Festival.
 
With only four weeks to go before STEAM’s Swindon Railway Festival, plans are shaping up nicely for the Hornby Magazine sponsored model railway show.

Twenty top notch model rail layouts are heading to the home of the GWR with a couple making their first public appearances. Only the best GWR / BR(W) layouts make it into the festival so visitors are guaranteed the finest railway modelling experience during visit! The Museum is also pleased to welcome back Pete Waterman and the fantastic traction engine display provided by Hatch Steam Heritage.

On top of all these wonderful displays the Museum will also be exhibiting a new and unseen collection of artefacts that have recently been donated.  The Harry Collection is STEAM's largest ever donation and is made up of names plates, numberplates, signalbox nameboards, signs and 100s of other GWR related objects.
                                                                         

Western View Layout - courtesy of Model Rail
The following traders and exhibitors have already confirmed they’ll be at this year’s show:

Hornby Magazine
Cheltenham Model Centre
Box Steam Brewery
Picture Pride Displays
Squires Model & Craft Tools
Just Like The Real Thing
Hornby Hobbies
Bachmann Europe
County Rolling Stock
Aster Hobbies (UK)
Oakwood Press and Visuals
Kernow Model Rail Centre
The Signal Box
Coate Water Miniature Railway
Severn Valley Railway
Avon Valley Railway
Swindon & Cricklade Railway
6024 Preservation Society
6880 Betton Grange Society
West Somerset Railway
Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways
Rodbourne Community History Group
Friends of the Swindon Railway Museum

Enthusiasts admiring a model layout  at the Festival in 2011
Confirmed Layouts

O Gauge
  • Lelant Saltings (Historical Broad Gauge Layout)
  • Bleadon (Col. Stephens Light Railway)
  • Pystyll-Graig-Ddu (Taff Vale)
  • Western View (Great Western Engine Shed and Station)
  • Aber Emyln (Welsh Valleys Railway)
  • Test Track (Bring your models to run on this layout)
  • Graig Wen **NEW LAYOUT** (Great Western Collery Screens)
  • Working 'O' Gauge Cranes
  • Nancleare Harbour (Narrow Gauge)
00 Gauge / EM / Scale 4
  • Hungerford (Scale model of Hungerford Station GWR)
  • Wales Rails Rain and Steam **NEW LAYOUT** (Diesel era)
  • Yardley
  • Bluchel Street (Diesel era)
  • Denroyd (London North Western)
  • Llawryglyn (Cambrian)
  • Corris 1930 (Narrow Gauge)
S Scale
  • Grove Ferry Junction (Col. Stephens Light Railway)
2mm Fine Scale
  • Union Pass (American Modern Railways)
  • Bodmin (Great Western Station)
  • Tucking Mill **NEW LAYOUT** (2mm layout)
Displays
  • Traction Engines (Hatch Steam Heritage)
  • Bill Slaymaker (Display of Rail Motors)
  • Mike Little (M&SWJ, Southern + Others Models)
  • Dennis Feltham (Display of mainline running steam locos)
There will also be lots of demonstrations taking place over the weekend, including demos in soldering, locomotive building, painting and wagon building.

Swindon Railway Festival 2012 Demonstrations
  • Paul Jones - Wagon Kit Building
  • Waverney Group - Scratch Building + DCC Hand Soldering
  • Chris Baston - Transfers and Kit Building
  • Warren Shepherd - Boiler Rolling
  • Andy Duncan - White Metal Soldering
  • Mike Gough - G Scale Demos
  • Chris Dunn - 4mm Loco Construction
  • Dave Walker / Liz Marsden - Large Scale Modelling + Painting & Lining
  • John Coulter - S Scale Modelling
  • Roger Manton - Weathering
  • Bob Brown - 3mm Scale Modelling
  • Richard Brown - Scratch Building 7mm Wagons
  • Derek Mundy - Signalling
  • Dave Baverstock - N Gauge Modelling
  • Fred Lewis - 7mm Modelling
  • John Taylor - Patterns for Panto-graph Milling
  • David and Sylvia White - (Slaters Plastikard) Inside Motion Crank Axles
  • Brian Tole - 7mm Building
This Festival is not to be missed!

Admission: £8.50 for adults; Seniors and Concessions £5.50; Family tickets £20.00 (two adults, one child) £24.00 (two adults, two children) and £27.00 (two adults, three children). Under three go free. Swindon Card discounts available

Friday 3 August 2012

Curatorial Corner - 2nd August 2012

Sporting History comes to STEAM

The gates arrive at STEAM
With the Olympics in full flow this week it was with great pride that STEAM took possession of a pair of gates that came from the old GWR Sports Ground in Swindon.  


The site has not been in use since 2005, and is currently undergoing development by David Wilson Homes.  Staff at the Museum were concerned that the gates would be lost forever, and put the wheels in motion to transfer them to STEAM.  David Wilson Homes couldn't have been more helpful and within a couple of weeks of correspondence the gates were being dismantled and on their way to the Museum.


The gates bear the initials BRWRAA, which stands for British Railways Western Region Athletics Association.  The were made in Swindon Works in the 1950s.


The Sports Ground in 1935
The sports ground that the gates come from dates back to the early 1930s.  It provided for athletics, cricket, tennis, hockey, bowls, putting and rifle shooting.  The opening of a pavilion in 1935 further provided a skittle alley, recreation and games rooms and changing facilities for both men and women.  It was a showcase for GWR sporting excellence.


The Museum is also showing an exhibition called Track and Field which looks at the sporting prowess of Great Western employees.  It displays some fantastic images of GWR sports teams, as well as memorabilia such a trophies and fixture cards.  The exhibition is free with normal entry to STEAM and runs until the end of the year.


The gates will now undergo some restoration before they are displayed on the Museum site.


If you want to find out a little more on the gates, and their unique history, check out the latest Swindon Web TV video at the link below.


Swindon Web TV - arrival of sports ground gates at STEAM