I recently mentioned the MSWJR monogram, as you can see it is clearly embossed on to this button.

If anyone has a button like this in their possession then you may be surprised to know that the last one sold at action went for £600.

So, if anyone has a jacket full, let me know – I would like to meet you and photograph such a valuable artefact.

Swindon Town station staff appear in the photograph and it was taken somewhere around 1919.

Possibly it was after the railway strike of that year when the railways were brought to a standstill, in some cases for up to a week.

The outcome of the strike action was that railway workers won an agreement with management which ensured all adult staff would be paid a wage of not less than 51 shillings a week (about £2.60).

First left in the front row of the photograph is Harry Baker, who was the stationmaster from 1905 to 1929.

Though Swindon was seen as a principal station, the station which took more money – that is, sold more tickets and carried more goods and parcel traffic than all the others put together – was Tidworth.

The military garrison, with all its service personnel and families, was obviously the reason for this level of revenue.

Regular troop transports were also a feature of Tidworth station and usually occurred when new battalions and families were transported in or out of the garrison.

All this came to an end in May 1962 when the 51st Gurkha Regiment became the last one to be brought in by rail.

As some 85 years have passed since the Midland and South Western Junction Railway was absorbed into the GWR, it has passed into history.

It is almost outside of living memory, therefore many myths and legends have formed during the years and it has become bathed in a quaintness associated with a rural lifestyle long since disappeared.

Fortunately, people like Neil Lover are committed to keeping the memory alive and others like the Swindon and Cricklade Railway at Blunsdon are determined to ensure that they keep our local history living by recreating an experience which can be heard, seen, touched and tasted.

For 30 years this band of people have persevered to bring a living railway and part of our Swindon heritage to life, and they are determined to carry on pushing south and north with a spirit and energy akin to the determination that brought the railway here in the first place.

In my next article I intend to write about the railway locomotives and rolling stock of the MSWJR. Can anyone help me?

I would be grateful for any actual photos or information that anyone has in their possession about the MSWJR and if you have send it to the Swindon Advertiser.