Great Western Railway Museum

Yesterday I took the kids to the Great Western Railway Museum in Swindon, about an hours away from us. The first triumph was finding it, after only two wrong turns and no minor or major accidents :) We all enjoyed it--they did a great job intermingling facts and information with fun and games, so both kids had a good time even though only one of my kids is train-obsessed.

Here we are getting ready to make a run for the entrance (it was pouring rain and we only had one umbrella...rookie mistake here in the UK!)

 There is the museum off in the distance. It's in the old Great Western Railway Works building complex. Until 1986 they manufactured locomotives, carriages, and lots of other railway things here.


Inside, putting together a model wooden railcar.


Finished product! I was impressed by the high quality of the building materials they had for this.


Walking underneath one of the old steam locomotives to see how it all worked. (I couldn't figure it out, but someone more mechanical than me could have I'm sure!) This is such a cool idea. It was at this point under the train that Justin said, "We definitely should get a season pass." (We did.)


 More building, this time bridges. They gave pieces and a photo and you had to reconstruct two different kinds of train bridges.


Becca's finished bridge:


Justin's finished bridge:


Bad picture, but here Rebecca is pulling the lever to operate the track signals.


No, that's not a real horse, but Rebecca was very excited to see a horse after all those trains, as she's going through quite a horse phase at the moment.


Working together on the shunting tracks to get the cars in the right order. That little black machine in the back gave you a puzzle to figure out and you used the tracks to complete it.


Handsome ticketmaster and lovely passenger.


Inside an old buffet car from the 1930's. This was Justin's favorite part.


Watching the model train go by.


And posing for no particular reason!


We got home with only one wrong turn and again no accidents, so clearly I'm mastering the art of driving in British cities! (But man, those roundabouts...)

Comments

  1. din 'illahi16 March 2018 at 17:42

    Sounds like a neat place, especially if you are into trains.
    Bravo on not making many wrong turns and avoiding accidents!
    Has Justin gotten to ride any trains yet?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rachel17 March 2018 at 09:36

      Weeeelll, I didn't say I'd made NO wrong turns...I did get us there though! Yes, J has ridden trains to Oxford and to London and within London. He has his sights set on quite a few more, so we'll have plenty of train adventures in our future!

      Delete

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