British Railways was never really able to shake off political interference and when it came to staff relations the Government always seemed to take the view that if railway staff asked for a pay rise it was something just short of an unpatriotic act.

The politicians soon fell out with their railway sweetheart as they began searching for a solution to its demands with the desperation of a fickle spotted youth, trying out acne cures.

It headed for the mid 1950s with a national strike in 1955 and a new government.

Looming was the Suez Crisis, when fuel was rationed and power cuts became the norm.

The railways and their staff responded magnificently to this challenge and built whole new fleets of rolling stock, mainly fuel tankers and coal wagons.

British Railways was in the red and loss making was something that it did, year on year.

Every now and again the Government tried to spend it out of the red by borrowing vast sums to invest in it.

The first cracks appeared in this strategy when it started to cut back on staff.

Swindon Works began to lose staff slowly and re-organisations took their toll.

From its GWR heyday of 14,000 workers at Swindon this mighty workforce began to slowly wither on the vine as the 1950s turned into the swinging 1960s.

In March 1960 the last steam locomotive was built for British Railways and after that the writing was on the wall, not only at Swindon but for branch lines and other services up and down the country.

In September 1961 the old M&SWJR closed to passenger traffic and in 1962 the losses incurred by British Railways and its cash flow were so severe it was rumoured it was having difficulty meeting its interest payments on its loans on time!

To give a boost to British Railways another re-organisation took place. Out went the British Transport Commission and British Railways was now a Corporation by Statute – in layman’s terms a government owned business. It was now on a commercial footing!

Beeching came and Beeching went. Luckily for Swindon Sir Ivan Stedeford did not allow Beeching to much leeway to “reshape” the infrastructure such as works etc, though branch lines and services were slashed and plans put in place to scrap somewhere near 400,000 wagons.

The clouds were gathering above Swindon Works, but they had been there before, the GWR had not died on January 31, 1947.

Though Hawksworth, the GWR Chief Officer at that time, met his demise he was not the GWR. The GWR was a mixture that could not be bottled, labelled and put away in a dark cupboard to be ignored.

It was a spirit with guts and determination that in Swindon cared for itself and each other.

It resembled a fabric that stretched across generations of a unique family, with its own folklore, standards, principles and values.

Unlike other railway towns, Swindon’s reputation was world renowned and that was good for British Railways.

In the mid 1960s the last loco to be produced at Swindon for British Railways was the Class 14 Hydraulic s known as “Teddy Bears.”

British Railways finally caught up with Swindon Works and announced its closure in 1985 in the 150th anniversary year of the formation of the GWR.

I think that it was a cruel blow and one that will retain some bitterness for many of us for years to come.

However, Swindon rode out the storm and, unlike other towns, it is fortunate that some of the works remains intact, still retaining a connection with its proud past with both GWR and BR.