Artwork and documents Gallery

GWR Salvage Corps leaflet, 1940

During the war the GWR were committed to salvaging paper and other material. In August 1940 General Manager, James Milne, invited employees to join the GWR Salvage Corp. This leaflet was issued to encourage staff to salvage a whole host of items, including metals, timber, glass, rubber, bones and foodstuffs. A quote from the inside reads Salvage feeds the guns that fight the Huns, a reference to the German enemy

© STEAM Museum of the GWR

Bristol Temple Meads Station, c.1843

Lithograph by John Cooke Bourne of Brunel's train shed at Bristol Temple Meads Station in c.1843, a few years after the station opened in 1840. Railway workers are dealing with the locomotives and wagons with some onlooking passengers watching from the platforms. The perspective of the print shows the massive scale of the 200ft (60m) long structure and its magnificent roof

© STEAM Museum of the GWR

Swindon Works and Railway Village by Edward Snell. 1849

An early watercolour painting of New Swindon by Edward Snell. Snell was head draughtsman at Swindon Works, later becoming assistant to Works Manager, Archibold Sturrock in 1846.
The image is a view to the east of New Swindon and clearly shows the rows of cottages in the Railway Village. The Works buildings can be see opposite the Village and the Station at the top of the image