Page 38 - link magazine

Swindon Wide
38
38
the bigger picture

The owners of the Swindon Designer Outlet have
announced a £35 million refurbishment and expan-
sion into another part of the Great Western Railway
works. Built in 1874 the Grade II listed K shop which
became 9 Shop in the diesel era, and now referred to
as the Long Shop, will provide another 50,000 square
feet of retail space, creating 350 jobs.
In its heyday, the Long Shop was used as an iron
foundry for forging brass and metals used in the as-
sembly of locomotives in adjacent buildings on the
site. The pictures here are by Roy Nash, the unofficial
railway works photographer in the years before it
shut in 1986. Right, the building being used to repair
and refurbish diesel engines shortly before closure.
Below right, after the works shut, the Long Shop
was rented by GWR Heritage Trust for some years to
refurbish rolling stock. Below, an artist’s impression
of what the Long Shop will look like in its new guise
when it will provide 30 new retail outlets.

50th anniversary reunion
for British Rail trainees
Former apprentices of the British Railways training
school in Dean Street Swindon will be gathering on
22 September at Steam museum to talk over old
times and celebrate the town’s great railway history.
Organiser Andy Binks said: “If
you attended the school, or know
someone who did, please help us
to make it a day to remember. Even
if you were not an apprentice but
have any photographs of Swindon
and the works that we could copy
or scan, please get in touch.”
For details contact Andy Binks:
[email protected] or Colin
Finch on 01793 610465.
www.facebook.com/groups/swin-
donapprentice/ Add style to your home
Railway trainees at Dean Street, 1970. Photo: British Railways Board
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