WHEN young visitors gaze at the gleaming locomotive Caerphilly Castle during a visit to Swindon's Steam Museum, they are looking at the handiwork of Cyril Godwin.

As a coppersmith working inside' and now as a volunteer passing on his wisdom, much of Cyril's long life involves the Great Western Railway.

So it was fitting that old colleagues packed out a meeting room of the Kemble Drive museum on Wednesday to celebrate Cyril's 90th birthday.

The Kingsdown resident turned 90 on August 19, so railway historian David Hyde took the assembled pensioners through a slideshow of the works in their heyday, including a few shots of Cyril's handiwork.

Fred Vellender, 81, from Rodbourne said: "I first joined the works in 1941, but by then Cyril had left to fight in the war.

"When he got back we worked together, and I've known him ever since."

Cyril joined the works during the depression of the 1930s and remembers how prized a job was at the time.

He said: "Looking at these pictures it brings back a lot of memories, not least how tough times were then.

"My father put me on the list to work inside, because at the labour exchange it was a question of how long the queue was and how long you were prepared to wait.

"I was offered an apprenticeship and never really looked back."

Bob Clockwell, 88, was a chief electrical maintenance foreman at the works and has known Cyril for more than 60 years.

The Stratton resident said: "Cyril was always a bright character and I think it's fantastic to arrange a surprise party for him.

"He has volunteered for years here and explained a lot of what he did here."

But it was Cyril's time in the army that led to his 60-year marriage to Mildred, who celebrated her 90th birthday the day after his.

After being evacuated from Brest in northern France during the summer of 1940, it was Cyril's good fortune to find himself in the company of Yorkshiremen.

He said: "I was fixing camouflage to a pillbox when I heard my future mother in-law ask what a moonraker was.

"I was with the Yorkshire company so I was the only one who knew what she was talking about.

"She invited me to Sunday lunch and I met her daughter Mildred. It just went from there."

Because of the restrictions on leave during the war, Cyril and Mildred had to wait until 1946 to tie the knot, which they did in Farncombe, Surrey.

After the war Cyril returned to the works where he won promotion to become a foreman in the late 1950s.

He retired at the age of 64 and since then has given tours of the works to schoolchildren.

He said: "The works have been a big part of my life and so it seemed right to tell people about the work that went on here."