Midland and South Western Junction Railway

During the final quarter of the last century a small railway company had the temerity to set up its headquarters at Swindon, right in the GWR heartland, and to drive a standard gauge line north–south through Brunel’s broad gauge empire. The interloper started life as the Swindon, Marlborough & Andover Railway and the first section of line opened in 1881, through running from Swindon to Andover commencing in early 1883. An associated company was formed to carry the line northwards towards Cheltenham, and the section to Cirencester, where a railway works was later established, began operations at the end of 1883. In the following years, in an attempt to attract investment, the two companies amalgamated to form the Midland & South Western Junction Railway and the link through to Cheltenham was completed in 1891. The ten years leading up to the outbreak of the First World War were the line’s finest. In those days, recalled in the pages of this fascinating collection, locomotives in dark red livery hauling carriages from the north of England could be seen passing goods trains bringing milk from Vale of the White Horse farms, vegetables from the Channel Isles, stone from the Foss Cross quarries, or racehorses from the Marlborough Downs. Although vestiges of the line remain, memories of the steam trains which used it are fading. These photographs, which include scenes from along the entire length of the railway, recall the M&SWJR in its heyday, and illuminate an extraordinary period in transport history.