Memories from a time when British engineering led the world. Les's enthusiasm and pride is wonderful.

Coming from Swindon the railways was a big part of Swindon my late father come out of the army after WW2 and worked there for 49 years until his retirement , and I still have his clock for long service in there.

30+ years later it would be interesting to try and find some of those younger ones who were made redundant and see how their working lives worked out for them.

@xr6lad

Жыл бұрын

BBC is more interested in new arrivals. They don’t want to discuss Britains past. It embarrasses the millennials in charge now.

@Guitar6ty

Жыл бұрын

In comparison totally negative.

@matthewsmatters

Жыл бұрын

In contrast with the negative comment, I think this would be a wonderful idea. With so-called GBR about to come into existence, looking at past, present and future of the railways, working lives and public lives that they can shape, would be a super project.

@tomtative

3 ай бұрын

​@@xr6ladWhat a petty comment

So sad to lose that level of professionalism and skills. They were the foundation of the society. We did the same thing in the United States and have paid for it every since. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. So sad.

@brandywell44

Жыл бұрын

Do you ever ask was it planned this way?

@deeremeyer1749

Жыл бұрын

You think that "level of professionalism and skills" is gone in the U.S. Clearly even though you may have had many jobs or even "careers" you have never worked for a living in the U.S. "industrial center". And it's been "generations" since the "skills" of having a strong enough back and a weak enough mind to spend a "lifetime" in the "profession" of "working steel" by hand. With "sledge hammers", no safety glasses or any other PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) and a whole "crew" to "craft" single-digit parts per "shift". British "engineering" and the United States have so little in common "historically" it's not even funny. To the point that even "post-war" the "British" Farmall tractors "built" at Doncaster Works were "knockdown" units shipped from the U.S. as "component parts" in crates and then "assembled" - involving installing maybe as many as a few dozen "nuts and bolts" - in "Great Britain" and MOST of those ended up being "reimported" back into "North America" because they were just too "technologically-advanced" for the British "agriculture industry" and the handful of able-bodied men willing to earn money instead of just make money and contribute toward "feeding the world" with the other "great powers" after WWII. You don't know shit about the "foundation of society" and probably don't have the "skills" to put together a "British" Airfix "model aircraft" that makes a modern Lego "model" look like "advanced engineering".

@oldvet7547

Жыл бұрын

@@deeremeyer1749 I agree with much of what you say, although I have worked in the industrial sector. Much of the loss is not a result of failures of the individual worker. Rather a result of deliberate management direction. Workers can only be as effective as they are allowed to be. A badly designed product can not be fixed by the worker. American cars are a prime example. The American auto worker is a capable as any in the world. But badly designed cars are inferior no matter how hard the effort by assembly workers. The can only produce as good as management allows them to.

@markp6982

Жыл бұрын

@@brandywell44 Yes. Planned due signing of UNIDROIT Treaty in uk in 1948, and US in 1964 after JFK refused to sign.

Most people have never experienced working in a big factory. There is allot of skill but also tremendous capability. People simply built stuff. There is no try. When Ford Australia bought the land in Geelong to build a car factory the government of the day had estimated that it would take Ford 5 years to build the essential railway line. They did it in under 3 months...

I like archived stuff like this. This is probably the cleanest tape transfer to KZread, i have seen

@84asrd84boxy

9 жыл бұрын

Thanks for looking, glad you enjoyed watching, when I recorded this programme all those years ago, I thought that the BBC did an excellent job in relating some of the history behind Swindon Works and the men that worked there, a very enjoyable series, cheers...Bill

Sent this doc to several of our grandchildren, hopefully they will glean some knowledge of how progress in industry occurs and what groups are really responsible for its achievements.

Unfortunately this was filmed at the demise of Heavy Engineering in Britain RIP

What a great video thanks for uploading. So sad to see this, I feel for the guys in the workshops, old guys who looked near or past retirement age still grafting as they loved their work, younger chaps with family's to support and then the apprentices who so clearly have so much skill and want to work with their hands (rare to see today) and they looked like they were just thrown on the scrap heap and probably had to join the dole queue and ruined any self respect for themselves when they had to do so. It seems crazy the foreign trains going past the building where we used to make them. Makes me feel so sad for this country that I used to feel proud to be in. Luckily I work with my hands (motor mechanic in an old rural garage) and repair anything from a 3 year old car to farm equipment and classic motorbikes. Makes you feel alive. I couldn't imagine how soul destroying working behind a computer would be. Service industry? Sell out more like

@84asrd84boxy

7 жыл бұрын

It was a sad day when it was announced that Swindon Works was to close, so many skilled men with a great variety of skills lost forever thrown on the scrapheap, a very sad time indeed. Now we no longer have the capability or capacity to build our own loco's. Thanks for looking/commenting, much appreciated. Cheers...Bill

@knuckles1206

4 жыл бұрын

well theres always at least 3d printing

@deeremeyer1749

Жыл бұрын

@@84asrd84boxy If they were "thrown on the scrapheap" they sure as shit weren't working there by choice in the first place. A lack of other "career choices" does not make for a "destroyed soul" once a "lifetime" job is "lost". See many smiles in those old "images"? Know anyone that can or ever has spent a "lifetime" doing back-breaking unskilled ("ironworking" is not a "skill" or "trade" because you cannot "write your own ticket" doing it and are forever stuck in/on a "crew" doing "shift work" and ANYBODY with a strong back and weak mind with "mouths to feed" can learn the necessary tasks to be "good enough for government work" in a single "shift" and BETTER if he wants to "make money") labor like "assembling" big chunks of steel and iron and "bend to fit and paint to match" so-called "craftsmanship" with hammers, spuds and rivets on a "factory floor" without having that "lifetime" be shorter than "average"? Never mind. I seriously doubt you've ever "socialized" with anyone that has ever gotten his or her hands truly dirty for a living.

Pleasure to work there in 1974 /75 as a first year apprenticeship. Just designer shops now so so sad

@84asrd84boxy

5 жыл бұрын

James, I would imagine Swindon Works was a fascinating place to work especially in it's heyday. Railwaymen are a breed apart as I found out during my footplate days during the early 60s. Thanks for looking/commenting much appreciated. Regards...Bill

@132rower

4 жыл бұрын

Worked there as an apprentice Boilermaker from 1973-85.Nice to see some faces I knew and worked with

Wonderful evocation of an industry that epitomised the results of Thatcherism, which destroyed so much of our industries. I'd find it hard to imagine that such a programme would be made by today's BBC.

@markp6982

2 ай бұрын

Thatcher & Co took a wrecking ball to our industries and society. Her ,gov was a corporation with no authority. Same today.

My great grandfather, grandfather, dad, and brother's worked there when Swindon was a great town

Very grateful for the upload. Comes as almost a shock to watch it. How many industries in Britain today exude the pride that these men once had? Almost as if it were a family firm.

@84asrd84boxy

5 жыл бұрын

Cheers Philip, I agree entirely with your comment such a waste of skills upon the closure of Swindon Loco Works. Thanks for taking the time to view and comment.Regards...Bill

If any of you get the chance, check out my Dad's book he just released. It's called 'The End Of The Line - The Last Ten Years At Swindon Works' by Ron Bateman. He started as an apprentice in 1977.

I remember Swindon - it was a few miles from Malmesbury my destination in 1959

Great video. Thanks for uploading.

Real working men, working real physical jobs...all gone now, and look at Swindon today - shopping malls and roundabouts. Just heartbreaking.

@84asrd84boxy

7 жыл бұрын

I totally agree with your comment, thanks for looking/commenting. Regards...Bill

@jazzman1626

5 жыл бұрын

And all of the changes are deliberate, right down to the increasing crime rates, foreseen, and intended to be that way, by the people who made the changes.

@ojciecchrzestny4659

4 жыл бұрын

And muslims

@annescholey6546

4 жыл бұрын

A Daily Mail Sun trashpit

@paularowe7651

Жыл бұрын

That's typical of this country, the deliberate dismantling of our manufacturing and relying on overseas. Such a shame!

As my relatives on mum's side of the family were all working on 'the inside', this video has personal interest to me. 'Uncle Jim Ellison was foreman at the (GWR) gasworks, and i remember as very young kid i went to visit him and his family - by that time the gas holders had been removed, and the vacant holes left had become fish ponds ! Also, remember being put up onto the footplate of a 'dead' pannier loco that was parked in gas works yard ( it seemed miles off the ground to me at that time ! )

Upsetting to see this all gone, and the building has been turned into a shopping centre :(

The actual title is "A job for life?" It turns out the question mark was a good call

The pattern repeats itself every time we have a majority tory government.... its scary that as a nation we walk into this wall time and time again and each time it happens the working class worker losses out and as a nation we loose more of our industries :-(

Great Documentary this Bill,Really enjoyed it....Trevor.''

@84asrd84boxy

10 жыл бұрын

Cheers Trevor, I enjoyed watching this series of programmes when they were on TV all those years ago. They give an insight as to what Swindon Works was all about, and the skills of the men employed there, unfortunately all this has now gone. To think we were world leaders in locomotive production many years ago, we gave the rest of the world railways, now we have to buy loco's from other countries, it's a sad state of affairs, thanks for looking...Bill

Good documentary and useful background as I have lived in Swindon since 1996 and regularly shop at the Outlet Village (The former railway works).

Those HSTs are now redundant and decommissioned too ¦3

Heavy industries gave Britain a working balance , it gave people skills and security and we were leaders in design and manufacturing of these great locomotives they were built by men with pride and values Unfortunately poor judgement and short sighted judgement by various bureaucrats and politicians 😢 ended it all .I thought the idea of politicians was to be elected to represent their constituents and their well being?. No wonder we are where we are.😢

The time when Britain was an industrial powerhouse of the world.

Yes swindon died with the closure of the GWR. i remember visiting the works as a Young boy, happy memories

@84asrd84boxy

8 жыл бұрын

+john wheeler Cheers John, I also paid a visit to Swindon Works in the late 50s, a great day out to see Swindon's finest such a variety of loco's on offer Kings, Castles, etc all Swindon built. What a great place to visit, unfortunately long since gone, but the memories remain forever. Many thanks for looking/commenting and glad that this bought back some fond memories for you. Best Regards...Bill

@joelangley7974

Жыл бұрын

@@84asrd84boxy they do still have the Steam museum which is well worth a visit

Great video

Thank you such an interesting video after almost 40 years I would of been left school around 2 years on 85 they sure we're strange times looking back at it now. so many industries were closing down Inc the coal miners the strikes times they was certainly changing 👍

Losing a industry like this and your losing a part of your History and Community.......

@84asrd84boxy

5 жыл бұрын

Mike, many thanks for taking the time to view and comment much appreciated. Unfortunately Swindon Works just like many other heavy industries have now been lost forever. To think we once gave the Railways to the rest of the world and now we no longer have the capacity or capability of building our own loco's it's a crying shame. Sorry for the late reply. Regards...Bill

This is a sad reflection of globalisation. All those skills lost forever What’s happened here happened all round the western world. Today practically no one has a full time job let alone one for life. Blame politicians from all both sides.

I visited Swindon works in the 1960s with Home Counties Railfans and with an Ian Allen Trains Illystrated trip. In the 1990s I visited some buildings that were part of Swindon Works which was now an arts and youth centre.

So sad to see this but also a very interesting film. The skill level of these people is out of this world. Back when you could be proud to be British. Very upsetting to see it all go. Our country today is a mess it's ruined

@sekhmet7774

Жыл бұрын

The country has changed, not been ruined, in my opinion. I don't think there's a need to be so pessimistic about the future, people were probably saying the same thing when our textiles industry went, but we bounced back as we always do.

@tomtative

3 ай бұрын

Out of interest, in what ways has the country been ruined in your eyes?

The British Railways Board + Dr. Beeching + Thatcher = Disaster, plain and simple. Thatcher hated the ordinary working man. Same story with the steel an automobile industries. Great video. Thank you.

@snowflakemelter1172

5 жыл бұрын

Nope, Thatcher hated the working man producing stuff that couldn't compete in the market place.

@snowflakemelter1172

Жыл бұрын

@Wallace Carney I didn't say it was the working man's fault.

@markp6982

Жыл бұрын

Her corporate .gov did what they were ordered somewhere else.

After 1985 Swindon gets knocked down and gets up again repeatedly. Good people and a redoubtable town.

@brianjones2899

Жыл бұрын

@Wallace Carney Yes Honda really did the dirty shutting like that.

@tonyedgecombe6631

Жыл бұрын

@@brianjones2899 The joys of Brexit, pretty soon we will have no car industry in the UK.

@brianjones2899

Жыл бұрын

@@tonyedgecombe6631 The net zero loons will see to that. Brexit can make as many opportunities as problems.

@tonyedgecombe6631

Жыл бұрын

@@brianjones2899 I haven't seen many opportunities come out of Brexit, just a massive increase in our trade deficit and a general collapse in investment.

7:19 the machine behind him looks (maybe is) identical to one at the Severn valley now, a lot of machines came from Swindon in the late 80's.

To let that level of industrial expertise just close down is such a shame. As they said, they could have turned their hand to anything with the skills they had in house.

I served my apprenticeship on the GWR, Reading/Didcot, OOC and several courses at Swindon including a year at the apprentice training school was a great time, but no doubt Swindon has the worse beer ever produced !!

Every word the great folk of Swindon said as come to pass with bells on!! shame on tory betrayers

@chillylizerd

3 жыл бұрын

Globalization takes no prisoners.

@petermorris3665

Жыл бұрын

Nothing to do with the Conservatives, or Liebour for that matter although their union paymasters certainly helped speed up the demise of some of our manufacturing industries. It's really down to globalisation and the fact that Koreans and Chinese etc will work for longer and for less and don't stage a 'walkout' at every attempt to modernise.

5000 miles of track ripped up... seems to me a retrograde step almost roads are now far too congested. Surely we would have been better to keep the branch lines to distribute all of our goods including people who have to travel to work the cost of replacement would be astonishing rebuilding the track beds and bridges our successive governments have destroyed all of the industry and farming in the uk over the last 50 years god help our children

Should Never have been allowed to close.!

@84asrd84boxy

7 жыл бұрын

Cheers Si, I totally agree with you regarding the closure of the Works. To think we gave railways to the rest of the world and now we have virtually nothing of our own. Thanks for looking/commenting. Regards...Bill

I was, for a time in the 1960's, a train spotter, but no avid, however - just to explain to those that are, you love this because the entrails and innards are on the outside. Give that a thought. Mark. Second Side Up Radio.

This gives a view of how & why Britain is not the same country it was. Not much is made here now - far east does it all cheaper and better. Income has to be made from services, and finance. No value in individual's skills anymore - not unless you count turning us all into cash cows counts as a skill, that is...

@markp6982

Жыл бұрын

Yes we are cash cows and service industries dominate a deindustrialised Nation as per the UNIDROIT Treaty signed in 1948.

I bet the reason there was no other work in Swindon, besides the Railway, was the same as the Dockyard in Portsmouth. The Navy told the local government not to allow heavy industry in so as to guarantee a workforce for the Dockyard.. A lower rate of pay, compared to other cities like Southampton with heavy industry, was forced onto the workforce as well.

Plenty of poor unskilled men in Swindon now.

Why do l love steam train's?

I expected Fred Dibnah turning up

Fine men.

@84asrd84boxy

8 жыл бұрын

+grandslam1998 I took a tour around Swindon Works in October 1985 and saw some of the men featured in this documentary, fine men indeed and many skills lost upon closure of the Works, thanks for looking/commenting, much appreciated, cheers...Bill

@grandslam1998

8 жыл бұрын

+84asrd84boxy I worked in the wheel bay in the A shop in the 1970/80s. The railway craftsmanship was world class. It was a great brotherhood working "inside". We looked after each other and our trade unions underpinned this. Thanks for this really good vid.

GWR gods wonderful railway

@84asrd84boxy

6 жыл бұрын

Indeed Andrew, but sadly long since gone. Thanks for looking/commenting. Regards...Bill

I remember the hooter!!!!!

@84asrd84boxy

7 жыл бұрын

On a visit to the Steam Museum sometime ago I am sure I filmed a board showing the times that the works hooter would be blown at various times of the day. Thanks for looking/commenting, cheers...Bill

Today, 2022 what is the condition of the rail works?

i love my call centre job. thanks Thatcher.............................................

Now outsourced, like everything else, Energy, Water, Airports, Ferries, Railways in this finished country to Europe or even further afield.

The yellow safety barriers say it all. . between govt /union complicance and master servant culture mentality..days were numbered

That "£170" is 20k in today's cash-money.

Lack of investment killed BR end of argument. More money for M25 than the whole APT programme. You forget we invented The Tilting Train. Now we buy them from ITALY. PRETENDALINO CRAP

Maggie Thatcher did the same thing at Ashford,kent. My Dad was a top rate welder in the Ashford railway works building wagons. 1200 men were layed off when the works closed. Maggie Thatcher was the worst thing that happened to England.

@TheCitroenman1

5 жыл бұрын

every government is the same

@rosewood1

Жыл бұрын

She was a terrible self centred individual who was ultimately a very dangerous fool. Quite literally 1000s suffered because of her evangelist stupidity.

@barrysmith1651

Жыл бұрын

Same in Australia hand the public's property to the rich

@Guitar6ty

Жыл бұрын

Totally agree 3000 bus workers in Liverpool dumped on the dole followed by the Toxteth riots its been down hill ever since.

A pity it closed.

I work there now

heavy engineering apprenticeship, 40 years and still learning, brains not computers, to think i was a alive when they were building these steam monsters, amazing skills, all those scrapped engines should have be placed in storage sheds and not scrap yards

Get over it England (UK) We're now owned by all those from abroad and by the way, they live here and are your next door neighbour, and soon, theirs will be the same. Britain is what it was designed to become by the people you put in power = a Ghetto based on what makes the wealthy rich, land, property and spent industry. The British Empire was sold to give a temporary state of affairs that the world could buy, and its already occurred. If you don't approved then emigrate - England died decades ago, it is no longer a country. Very sad.

I been to the UK once. Seen things Never asks questions I left Never going back I don't wanna know I don't know And I'll never know

All but lost now, except in museums

Vale Swindon.

A steam train is a happening event. A diesel electric is just a thing.

Now the Electric Cheesemaid wants to do it all over again. No chance. Its all gone. Beware of Truss..

@ChangesOneTim

7 ай бұрын

Her term of office went well didn't it?🤣

@tomtative

3 ай бұрын

And now she's parading around spewing far right buzzwords on the mogg/farage glaze train...

What's there now?

@ojciecchrzestny4659

4 жыл бұрын

Shops and muslims

@tomtative

3 ай бұрын

​@@ojciecchrzestny4659Still stand behind a ridiculous comment like that after 4 years of growth?

Amazing that no one seems to have worked out that membership of the EU was always going to mean the end of Engineering and Farming in the UK. German engineered and French agricultural interests are what the whole thing was set up for.

@annother3350

5 жыл бұрын

Yes, we're just intended to he the financial zone of the eu. Maybe Brexit is the start of us waking up

@bobcornford3637

5 жыл бұрын

@@annother3350 Too late, we now have no way of earning our keep, industry has gone!

@SuperNevile

5 жыл бұрын

There is still a lot of engineering and farming in the UK, but I understand what you're saying. We were pitched, as mentioned above (because of our global position between America and Europe) as the Financial Centre of Europe, and see how that's skewed everything to London :-(( ...……. oh and you forgot the Fishing industry...….

@jackkruese4258

Жыл бұрын

Nope brexit is the true end of engineering in the UK what’s left of it.

@tomtative

3 ай бұрын

​@annother3350 4 years on... still a brexit man?

What happened to the steam loco that they showed on here? Was she scrapped?

Look at what our Establishment have done to this country.

Some of those scene's are straight out of Thomas The Tank Engine

Now the place is haunted.

disgusting should have never have been allowed to close should have continued building steam locomotives modern types that is rebuilds if you like .

@84asrd84boxy

5 жыл бұрын

I totally agree with you. Thanks for looking/commenting. Regards... Bill

@snowflakemelter1172

5 жыл бұрын

Who going to pay for them to build or rebuild steam engines no one wants ?

2.39 the chap in the white pullover used to be a bouncer in the Brunel rooms...I am sure. A soft skinned teenager is nothing to a coiled spring.

Pride in the job died with ' a job for life'.

it was vandalism, those poor men all that skill gone. what is there on that site now?

@MontyCantsin5

Жыл бұрын

@mjw: A shopping centre.

@136miles

Жыл бұрын

@@MontyCantsin5 how sad 😔😔

There getting what they wanted with democracy without fighting for it and were giving them.

Thatcher sold it off ... skills and all .. some yanks are begining to understandwhat they gave away .. the rise of the east .. europe was our last hope .. looking back to the future .. he , ho , hum ..

@thomaslewis3071

4 жыл бұрын

The Commonwealth is our future. Already CANZUK is beginning to actualise, it is the UK dragging its heels over CANZUK at this point.

The Romans would have embraced railways: think about it.

I question the resulting socio/ economic eficiency of "modern high speed" that relies on imported oil and componets..this is completly indigenous The iron ore, coal, ...everything...

''Typical British government p^^^^^g away skills and resources for nothing''. More like rendering this country biddable to the EU by those who thought they might be able to sit at the top table at the EU council. Wrong on both counts.

friggin bosses in the higherachy want shooting for letting swindon close disgracefull long live steam steam is alive it lives it breaths how can they let them go steam is king.

@tomtative

3 ай бұрын

I didn't think 40 year old propaganda would keep its potency

,

A victim of boneheaded BR in the 80s under Thatchers vegetables.

The trouble was that the people working in the sadly, I knew a man who worked building trains on the nigh5 shift. He told me, bragged, that he only worked from 10pm to midnight. After that he made himself new gates for his house. Regular activity he said, and laughed. So before we blame the government, blame the working practices employed there.

@Guitar6ty

Жыл бұрын

B.S.

@ChangesOneTim

7 ай бұрын

Each man minded to do that sort of thing might have spent two or three nights at it, not his entire career. What nonsense. General poor productivity says as much if not more about the management than it does about the managed.

In the 1980s same thing happened to all the bus workers who used to rebuild buses all closed down so some gimp could get a big pay off by doing a dirty deal with Volvo and Scania. This was followed by riots in most big UK cities. Along with the low paid jobs everyone now has.

Ooh that horrible Maggie Thatcher, the women who stood up to the unions that caused the winter of discontent and the same women that everybody suddenly wishes we had back right now !

No job is for life once a greedy politician or entrepreneur gets their hands on it.

Do I spy wheel slip at 18:20 ? Tut, tut.

@84asrd84boxy

8 жыл бұрын

Yes indeed Szymon, during a shunting move at Old Oak Common shed. A rare thing a Western loco slipping, well spotted, thanks for looking/commenting, cheers...Bill

@captainmorgan757

5 жыл бұрын

I concur. A wheel slip is the tattletale sign of a careless and unskilled locomotive engineer.

@mikestevens8012

5 жыл бұрын

Or three were leaves on the track

@QuadMochaMatti

5 жыл бұрын

@@mikestevens8012 caterpillar guts.

The Tories will be turfed out again one day bigger than in 1997. Much bigger.

@ianheaver3217

4 жыл бұрын

To be replace by who though? The Labour Party are well and truly finished (and I'm an ex labour voter)

Truly, the country never did recover from Thatcherism. Absolutely disgusting.

But didn’t Opium profits fund all this?

The british government is like the Americans only interested in filling their own pockets at the expense of british industry thats why their car industry is made in China their computer in Japan and practically every other aspect of industry out shopped to other countries who are getting rich while the politians ride off the working mans sweat time for a revolution

@snowflakemelter1172

5 жыл бұрын

Revolutions rarely if ever work out well for the " workers".

@michaelnaisbitt1590

5 жыл бұрын

@@snowflakemelter1172 yeah Iknow but it must be better than the governments we have had to suffer over the last 30-49 years Just look at the Brexit mess

Times change, get over it.

Interesting to see the shops, but that British stuff is so goofy looking

@lizlawrence4553

3 ай бұрын

I'd keep you're stupidness to yourself, you're obviously a spastic retard.