On Tuesday 21st November 2023 nine Snappers (the Photography Group within BRISTOL 1904 ARTS) and one guest visited the birth place of the Great Western Railway.

The Steam Museum in Swindon brings alive the majesty and grandeur of the railways of old.  At the same time it amply showcases the brilliance of Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Daniel Gooch his Superintendent of Locomotive Engineering at the Great Western Railway works.

The museum is housed in one of the sheds that 150 years ago throbbed with extremes of energy as 14,000 highly skilled workers produced two gleaming engines along with an average of 250 pieces of rolling stock every week.  Every component that made up these giants was manufactured on site.  All aspects of this vibrant industry were vividly brought alive for the Snappers as they moved through a series of beautifully arranged tableaux that illustrate the many differing stages of the process.  The carpenter lovingly turning a piece of timber into a rib for a carriage; the lady riveters enduring the heat of the furnace and battering of the hammer on undefended ears; the store man keeping track of a huge stock of parts.

The Snappers could almost feel the heat, steam, soot and sweat as the museum attempted to capture and portray the very essence of the pride of bygone days.

Then our Snappers were in a room with several of the majestic gleaming behemoths that symbolise the industry, commerce and transport that put the Great in Britain.  These exhibits of power and grandeur are kept at their magnificent best by gangs of enthusiastic volunteers who turn up regularly to ensure that the magnificence does not fade.  It was gratifying to see and hear school groups being exposed to these marvels of yesterday thus ensuring that the magic of steam will prevail.  Each Snapper was fervently hoping that his meagre skills would do justice to what had gone before.

The Snapper photographers retired to a nearby eatery for lunch where the discussions were full of memories of snorting, hissing, belching, thundering locomotives wending their way through the Snappers’ own boyhood locations. 

Then it was time to return to Bristol, a city that is no stranger to the genius of Brunel and his fellow railway engineers.  Some of the group did this by boarding a descendant of the recently viewed beauties.  It still travelled on rails laid on the very same railway track beds that Brunel surveyed and laid out all those years ago.

Great men; a great day; a great memory.

Don't forget to checkout our website - you might be interested in one or more of our fun Activity Groups as well as the primary Art and Entertainment features of our  BRISTOL 1904 ARTS  members' club!