The railway factory dominated life in Swindon for close on 150 years. When the Works closed in 1986 a raft of skills were lost, consigned to history, and a way of life ended. But are we guilty today of preserving a nostalgic and sentimental view of life in the railway factory, especially as it existed back in the good old days? Last month I attended a talk by Graham Carter about Alfred Williams who worked in the railway factory as a steam-hammer man for 23 and a half years. In 1912 he wrote a warts and all book called Life in a Railway Factory. It wasn’t published until 1915, three years after Alfred had left the factory, his own health compromised by years of back breaking labour. His book didn’t sell well in Swindon. You could say that with the vast majority of men employed in the Works they didn’t need or want to read about life ‘inside’ but was it more to do with fear of sanction by the GWR foremen? A less than favourable review appeared in the February 1916 edition o...