The GWR Works was a dangerous place in which to work and until the construction of the main entrance tunnel it was even a dangerous place to get inside.
The original Workmen’s East Gate Works entrance was a route that involved crossing the mainline track and was the scene of numerous fatal accidents. There were 3 deaths in a single month in 1869, the year before the tunnel opened.
Joseph Armstrong, the first Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon Superintendent ushered in a period of rapid expansion during the 1870s which included the construction of the Carriage Works and a new, safer route into the railway factory. The main entrance into the Works was built on Bristol Street, opposite the Mechanics’ Institution and consisted of a tunnel measuring approximately 100 yards [91.4m] that ran northwards beneath the mainline track.
Contemporary photographs record the hundreds of men streaming out of the tunnel at the end of the working day, however, even after the tunnel opened on February 5, 1870 accidents continued to occur as men still cut across the railway line to work.
In 1905 William Dicks was struck down and killed going back to work on Saturday January 14. The report of the inquest published in the Wiltshire Times makes for gruesome reading.
Fatal Accident
Man Killed at the Works
A shocking fatality occurred on the Great Western Railway at Swindon on Saturday. William Dicks, an employe in the locomotive works had just returned from breakfast and crossed the rails in order to reach the check office. He failed to notice the approach of an engine which was out on its trial trip, and though his workmates tried to warn him of his danger, it was without avail, and he was knocked down by the locomotive and injured so terribly that he died on his removal to the hospital. Both his legs were severed, and his head was frightfully battered. Deceased, who was 52 years of age, was well known as a clarionist. [clarinetist].
At the inquest on Monday it was stated that deceased had no business to cross the line, a tunnel being provided for the men. – Dr Swinhoe said the man was practically cut in half.
The Coroner said he thought they could only return a verdict of “Accidental death” but they might add a rider to the effect that notice boards should be fixed in prominent places to warn the men not to cross the line. The Company certainly took every precaution in protecting employes, and the men should use the tunnels which had been provided for their express use.
The jury concurred, and returned a verdict accordingly.
The Wiltshire Times, Saturday January 21, 1905.
William Dicks was buried on January 18, 1905 in grave plot C1445, a public grave, which he shares with his wife Jane who died in 1909, and one other person
Today the Grade II listed former Carriage Works is the subject of a Heritage Action Zone project. Work has included improvements to the Sheppard Street underpass, London Street and the Bristol Street tunnel has also received a makeover. New interpretation boards at the entrance tell the story of the railway factory and the railway families who made New Swindon.
Image dated c1905 published courtesy of Kevin Leakey
Image dated c1950 published courtesy of Local Studies, Swindon Central Library.
Ghostly railway workers superimposed on a photo of the tunnel – see new interpretation boards at the tunnel entrance
Radnor Street Cemetery 