AN official programme from the opening of Steam in 2000 was preserved for posterity by the Swindon Advertiser.

It’s a reminder of the excitement and civic pride which surrounded the museum as it prepared to admit its first visitor.

The programme was handed out to VIPs – and an Adver reporter – on the day.

Its introduction was written by the Mayor of Swindon, Arthur Archer, who spent 42 years of his career at the Railway Works.

He said: “In 1998, with the announcement of a £7.96m Heritage Lottery Fund grant and substantial contributions from Swindon Borough Council and our partners, over 700 people, including many former GWR workers, attended a Ground Breaking ceremony one cold, wet, November afternoon next door in 20 Shop.

“Steam – Museum of the Great Western Railway has now become the cornerstone of the Borough’s Millennium celebrations and honours the role of our railway past in shaping the present.

“Thank you for coming here today to pay tribute to Swindon’s rich heritage and to the industry which dominated our town for over 140 years.”

Council leader Sue Bates wrote: “Steam focuses on the human aspect of a hard industry, telling the story of the men and women who built and repaired the locomotives and carriages of God’s Wonderful Railway for seven generations.

“Like many companies based in Swindon today, the Swindon Works manufactured products which were at the cutting edge of technology, competing successfully on world markets.”

The programme featured a poem by nine-year-old Bishopstone School pupil Edmund Baker, who submitted it for a commemorative competition.

Called Old Lady, it was about a locomotive making its last journey.

There was also an announcement from nearby St Marks Church, whose bells had been rung half-muffled to mark the closure of the Railway Works in 1986.

It said: “Today a peal of GWR Steam Surprise Major – a new system of ringing the bells, which has never been rung before and takes three hours to complete – celebrates the opening of Steam – Museum of the Great Western Railway by HRH The Prince of Wales.”

A leaflet tucked into the programme, also dating from 2000, promises visitors opportunities to look, experience, hear, watch and explore the town’s railway history.

As some readers may remember, the earliest years of Steam saw the museum’s future threatened because visitor numbers had been overestimated during the planning process.

Fortunately, the storm was weathered, and the museum is a major tourist attraction.