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Station Approach, Newport Street, SWINDON, SN1 3DU

The subject is the building in the background. It was built in the late 19th century as the head office of the Midland and Southwestern Junction Railway. Fortunately it escaped demolition and had a variety of occupiers after the line closed in 1961. It appears to have been comprehensively restored and is now home to a firm of accountants.

The building was erected by the Midland and South Western Junction Railway in the 19th century and stood by the station approach road which sloped down to Swindon Town Station, also known as Old Town Station. The M&SW wasn't exactly popular with the Great Western when it opened a line [very slowly] from Cheltenham via Swindon towards Southampton with the intention of moving goods from Midland factories to the port on the south coast. Eventually the GW acquired this line, which never saw much traffic, either goods or passengers. The site of the station is now a small industrial park.

Pub in Old Town, Swindon

Looking up to the junction with Devizes Road.

Public house in Old Town, Swindon

The Royal Oak public house is early 19th century with the glazed tiles added circa 1900. Listed, grade II, with details at: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1023508 Old Town, on its hill above the 'new' railway town, is the cultural heart of Swindon. The old and the new combined into a single town in 1900.

The former Swindon Town Station on the Midland and South Western Junction railway that ran from Cheltenham to Andover. The gentleman standing on the platform will be waiting a long time for a passenger train as these were withdrawn in the early 1960's. By 1968 the only remaining traffic was to the oil depot just beyond the station, from the link with the main line at Rushey Platt, and even this was discontinued a few months after this photo was taken. The station itself is already in a sorry state in this picture with the buildings on the far platform in an advanced state of dereliction.

Opened in 1881 by the Swindon Marlborough and Andover Railway, later part of the Midland & South Western Junction Railway, this station closed to passengers in 1961. View south east towards Chiseldon and Marlborough. The site has been redeveloped with Signal Way following the course of the tracks at this point.

Three pubs at the junction of Newport Street and Devizes Road. On the far left is The Wheatsheaf Alehouse, opened in 1820. In the centre is The Royal Oak, also early 19th Century. Grade II listed - see https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1023508?section=official-list-entry. The building to the left of it is its associated restaurant, the Choptank, acquired in 2019. On the far right is The Plough, said to be the oldest pub in Swindon. According to the pub's website, the earliest deeds for the building date from 1836 when it was a cottage, but an offer for sale in 1866 described it as a parlour and taproom. For close up see Image

The viewpoint is the road bridge over the railway line that closed in 1961. The Midland and Southwestern Junction Railway had a difficult existence in its life, partly because the much larger Great Western Railway viewed it as an interloper into its territory. In 1923 the GWR took it over anyway. I remember it as a delightfully slow way to get to Southampton in the 1950s. The site is now an industrial estate. For a comprehensive history of the line with many, many photos see this (has sound at first) http://www.swindonsotherrailway.co.uk/