God's Wonderful Railwaymen 2022 - Swindon Railway Works

'God's Wonderful Railwaymen 2022 - Swindon Railway Works' was made in 1984 by Swindon Cable, charting the fortunes of the world famous Swindon railway works and the constant threat of closure for the Swindon workforce.
The works closed in 1986, 2 years after this programme was made. The programme was re-edited in 2016 as part of the Swindon 175 celebrations.

[@neilfitz7186]

Thank you Swindon Cable and the makers of this wonderful documentary. Inspiring for what was achieved and built there for so long; but now sad in equal measure. Thank you for posting this

[@paullangcaster7909]

Glad you enjoyed it. It is sad we have lost such an important engineering asset.

[@user-dg3we5qn6e]

Having served in the Army I can imagine the pride and camaraderie and humour was much the same . These people produced some of the best quality heavy engineering seen in Britain . They and Swindon works deserve all the accolades they get . The Great Western Railway was unique in many ways and all Western Countrymen are proud they served the this wonderful company

[@TheRubberDuck]

I did moved to Swindon for a better comutte to work a few years ago and remember I was excited to check out what is left of Swindon Works, but it's a real shame, watching this documentary, seeing how it once was now reduced to essentially the main shed and side shed where the museam is standing, very little of the herritate was kept it seemed despite without the works Swindon would of been one of many small towns that would get ignored. It's a real shame they didn't preserve move of what Swindon's history.

[@HampshireVideo]

Remembering hopping the fence when Swindon was breaking peaks. Such a shame that British Engineering has gone, locos from the UK were once shipped worldwide. Now we have boring Class 66s imported and our industry has gone.

[@markp6982]

It was a deliberate policy due the signing of UNIDROIT Treaty in 1948. Took a while to wreck things here.

[@rockabilly375]

I was a kid when the works closed . Swindon was THE place to go if you liked railways. Our school had a trip planned for the GWR 100 years celebrations. But they closed the works down and cancelled everything. So many jobs lost.

[@daystatesniper01]

As sad as this is/was the same happened all over the country , Donny, Crewe, Derby etc' etc'

[@markp6982]

All deliberate policy to deindustrialise us in favour of EU and Far East.

[@PeaveyPV20]

Good watch. I was born shildon which also lost its major employer, British rail wagon works, town never recovered.

[@Guitar6ty]

It was also the year Thatcher got rid of all the bus works in every major city along with the miners and the rest of our industry.

[@markp6982]

Yes. She destroyed so much including mines. All part of the UNIDROIT Treaty signed in 1948. I believe.

[@leonblittle226]

The mighty workshops like Swindon and Crewe are now just a memory, the great western is run by Hitachi junk with ironing boards for seats and half the people who live on the site of the works have no idea it even existed while scrolling along their chinese slave built iphones. What a world it became, so utterly depressing and vapid.

[@4376ED]

For your info Hitachi build bullet trains in Japan. The trains they build in the UK are built to UK specs. One thing that Thatcher did was to destroy british manufacturing, of course she was helped by the unions.

[@markp6982]

Yup. Peeps mainly don't give a toss it seems.

[@vishal_electrodharwad7678]

Thanks .Fantastic coverage,

[@petepnut]

Nikki Mideo - cameraman - passed on the Kegworth air crash Jan 1989. RIP mate.

[@paullangcaster7909]

Hi Peter, Did you know Nikki? Cheers, Paul

[@petepnut]

@@paullangcaster7909 Yes Paul. I was an EMI Systems Engineer on the commissioning team for Swindon Viewpoint, and was subsequently posted as Viewpoint's Engineer for three years. I left Viewpoint in '76, but visited Victoria Road at least once a month, and so was friendly with all the staff, volunteers and users of the facilities there. It was ironic that I travelled up the M1 on 8th Jan 1989, and passed East Midlands airport at 20:15 - five minutes before the aircraft crash there. I learnt that Nikki was onboard the follwing weekend. Your name rings a bell with me - probably through Swindon Cable in the 80's ? Regards, Peter

[@paullangcaster7909]

@@petepnut Peter, I thought I knew your name. I was a volunteer at Viewpoint from about 1978. I later worked for Swindon Cable from about 83, all the way until It closed in 2000. Fond memories of all those pioneering days and Nikki!

[@MrPete1x]

Excellent video. Thank you for showing this

[@paullangcaster7909]

Many thanks, glad you enjoyed it.

[@BRELElectra]

Soon Newton Aycliffe will go down the same path as Swindon Works. It’s just tragic for such a new site like Newton Aycliffe…

[@piranhafish]

I got a apprenticeship there then found out it was the year thatcher was stopping apprenticeships!! I ended on a year yop there instead which was not worth anything and on over half the pay reduced then it shut!!!

[@rogerbond7811]

Thought the union reps came across very well. Well worth watching. Thanks.

[@matt7775]

Now it's 2022 and the working man/woman has even less rights and probably less pay.

[@regcrozier9677]

true

[@woden20]

Old people trust their government, that's where the problem started.

[@xr6lad]

And many didn’t know when there’s a time to strike and when there was a time not to. And thought the government would always pay. And the general public got sick of it. Which is why you got Thatcher.

[@NQY-flyer]

I’ve seen a similar documentary about Swindon works Sad to see it all gone The art of “coiling a wire” lost 😡

[@villageoldman]

Now a shopping centre selling cheap imported tat.

[@angrygromit93]

Have you even been to the outlest village? I think not.

[@jimbobobable]

@@angrygromit93 I have, It's shite.

[@angrygromit93]

@@jimbobobable Perhaps, but over 3M people a year disagree and visit. What would you rather had been done wiht the site? A massive poundland perhaps?

[@TheRubberDuck]

It's mostly London branded shops, far from "Cheap" these days...

[@angrygromit93]

@@TheRubberDuck clue is in the name: 'Designer Outlet''

[@conorgraafpietermaritzburg3720]

Good on you old Geysers, go for it.

[@graemeforssberg3986]

Geezers

[@user-vv9bq4ed3q]

Unbelievable loss

[@markp6982]

So IT made railway engineering obsolete? Of course not. Its done in France and other places as ever. Thatcher & Co had no authority to shut down Swindon or the mines for that matter. We are the authority. Not them. In law. They did not own what they destroyed. The people did.