Historical
SWINDON--the town on the hill--dates back at
least eight centuries and is mentioned in the
Domesday Book. It was an ancient market town
of some note when the Great Western Railway
came into being.

                  Parliament had sancioned the construction
of the railway between Bristol and London in Augus't,1883 , and,
thanks largely to the energies of its indomitable engineer, Isambard
Kingdom Brunel, construction was commenced three months
later and the first completed section of his famous broad (7-ft.)
gauge railway--Paddington to Maidenhead, Riverside Station
(now Taplow)--was opened in June, x 838.

    By December, 1840, the line had been extended through Swin-
don, and June of the following year saw the whole line between
London and Bristol, including the Box Tunnel, in working.

    Brunel, who had been appointed engineer to the undertaking
when but 27 years of age, selected as his Locomotive Superin-
tendent a young man then scarcely in his majority, one Daniel
Gooch, who had been trained with Messrs. Robert Stephenson
and Company.

    As early as 1836 Brunel had started making inquiries for suitable
locomotives for his railway and we hear of him asking the few
builders of railway engines of that time :--

   "Whether they would undertake, in what period and upon
   what terms, to supply two locomotive engines .....
   The weight of the engine, exclusive of the tender, but
   in other respects supplied with water and fuel for work,
   not to exceed 10 tons, and if above 8 tons, to be carried
   upon 6 wheels ..... The width in the clear between
   the rails will be 7 feet, the height of the chimney as usual.
   ..... All the materials and workmanship to be of the very
   best description and, excepting when modifications may be
   necessary, to comply with the conditions above stated, or, for
   the purpose of improvement, to be similar to the same parts
   of the best engines now used on the Liverpool and
   Manchester Railway."

  The Company ordered twenty locomotives from various makers
and these would appear to have been a mixed lot and the cause
of considerable trouble and anxiety to the youthful Locomotive
Superintendent, who wrote in his diary :--

       "I was much engaged up to the end of May in getting all
   ready for opening the portion of the Great Western Railway
   from London to Maidenhead. On the 3xst May, x838, the
   dire&ors made their first trip over the whole length of this
   portion, and it was opened to the public on the 4th June,
   and then my difficulties with the engines began. The
   ' North Star ' and the six from the Vulcan Foundry Company
   were the only ones I could at all depend upon. For many
   weeks my nights were spent in a carriage in the engine-house
   at Paddington, as repairs had to be done to the engines at night
   to get them to do their work next day. The ' North Star,'
   being the most powerful one and in other respe&s the best
   was my chief reliance, but she was often getting into trouble
   from other causes."

    It is interesting to remember that "North Star" was one of the
two engines supplied by Messrs. R. Stephenson and Co.

    With the rapid growth of the railway arose the necessity for the
provision of a central repair dep0t for the maintenance of the
locomotive stock and Mr. Gooch was asked to investigate and
report on the most desirable location for such a depbt.

    In this connection a further extra note from Mr. Gooch's diary is
helpful :--

       "1840. During this year further portions of the Great
   Western were opened and agreements were made for leasing
   the Bristol and Exeter and the Swindon and Cheltenham
   Railways, and it became necessary to furnish large works for
   the repair, etc., of our stock. I was called upon to report on
   the best situation to build these works, and on full con-
   sideration I reported in favour of Swindon, it being the
   junction with the Cheltenham branch and also a convenient
   division of the Great Western line for the engine working.
   Mr. Brunel and I went to look at the ground, then only
   green fields, and he agreed with me as to its being the best
   place."