The Swindon and Cricklade Railway is a heritage railway in Wiltshire, England, that operates on a short section of the old Midland and South Western Junction Railway line between Swindon and Cricklade.

Swindon and Cricklade Railway is a registered charity.

Preservation history The Swindon and Cricklade Railway Preservation Society was formed by a group of enthusiasts in November 1978 to reconstruct and preserve a section of the Midland & South Western Junction Railway that ran from Andover, Hampshire, to Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

The volunteer-operated railway has reopened three stations: , and , the headquarters of the line. Hayes Knoll features a restored signalbox that is operational during special events and a running/restoration shed. The length of the restored line is a little under .

The line extends north to South Meadow Lane (a few hundred yards from the site of a proposed Farfield Lane halt) near Cricklade, and south to Taw Valley Halt on the outskirts of Swindon, near Mouldon Hill Country Park. A southern terminus, , is proposed within the park.

Locomotives

Steam locomotives Number & Name Class Notes Photograph No. 2354 Richard Trevithick Andrew Barclay Built in 1954. Undergoing a ten-yearly overhaul. No. 1464 MSC No. 70 Hudswell Clarke Built in 1921. Undergoing overhaul. No. 3135 Spartan Fablok TKh49 Class Built in 1953. Under Overhaul No. 5637 GWR 5600 Class No. 5637 was built in 1925. It entered traffic at Cardiff Cathays shed in late September 1925, but was transferred six weeks later to Barry shed and was used on local services in the Newport and Cardiff districts. No. 5637 spent all its life in South Wales, being withdrawn from traffic in June 1964 and later sold to Woodham Brothers, arriving at Barry scrapyard in September 1964.

In August 1974, No. 5637 became the 61st locomotive to escape from Barry, when it was sold to the Birmingham Railway Museum at Tyseley. In 1981 it was resold, without any restoration having been carried out, to Thamesdown Borough Council for leasing to the Swindon and Cricklade Railway. Some time after, it was purchased by a group of volunteers at the Swindon & Cricklade Railway.

In 1998, after almost 18 years of restoration, No. 5637 was steamed for the first time since 1964. The locomotive was subsequently transferred by road to the East Somerset Railway for running in, and stayed there ever since. It has become the primary engine at the ESR, running most of the services.

No.5637 has moved back to the Swindon and Cricklade railway in March. Undergoing overhaul after current boiler ticket expired in April 2020.

Diesel locomotives Number & Name Class Notes Photograph 03 022 (D2022) BR Class 03 Built in 1958. Operational, returned to service in October 2019 after a general overhaul. D2152 BR Class 03 Built in 1960. Cut-down cab variant. Operational, Painted BR Black with wasp stripes. PWM651 BR Class 97/6 Built in 1959. Arrived from Strathspey Railway in August 2015. Operational. D3261 BR Class 08 Built in 1956. Operational, Returned to service in October 2010. E6003 Sir Herbert Walker BR Class 73 Bo-Bo electro-diesel Built in 1962, Operational. No. 21442 "Woodbine" Fowler Built in 1941. Operational. BF7342 Fowler Built in 1958. Operational No. 4220031 Fowler Built in 1964. Operational. Re-engined with Rolls Royce C6, mainly used as a shed/yard shunter. No. 4240015 Fowler Built in 1962. Being overhauled

Diesel multiple units Number & Name Class Notes Photograph Class 119 unit 119 021 (formed of 51074+51104) Built in 1958/1959. Undergoing repairs. W79978 BR British Railways AC railbus Built in 1958. Undergoing restoration.

Specialist vehicles TASC 45 No. 98504, built by Plasser & Theurer for British Rail. A four-wheel vehicle with side-tipping dropside rear body, crew cab with mess facilities and a HIAB crane on the rear. Used regularly on works trains and on galas. Wickham trolley No 9031 (Type 27 Mk III, Works No. 8089), a small four-wheeled vehicle for departmental use. Crew cab seating eight. Smaller than normal railway vehicles to standard loading gauge, as it is roughly tall. Has no external couplings/drawbar or buffers. Operational and fitted with Kohler diesel engine.

Vintage railway coaches Origin Number Type Notes PhotographGWRNo. 7545GWR Toplight Brake corridor Tri-composite built 1907 – extensive restoration in progressGWRNo. 3898GWR Toplight corridor thirdbuilt 1920 – awaiting restoration. Later turned into a camping coach. GWR No. 7362 GWR Collett BCK Sunshine Stored awaiting restoration.TVRNo. 73 Taff Vale Railway Composite coach. built 1890 – restoration completed using ex Fruit D chassis.CRNo. 104 Cambrian Railways Full Brake Recovered from derelict property in North Devon in August 2018. Will run with No. 110 when complete. Now under restoration.CRNo. 110Cambrian Railways 1st/2nd compositebuilt 1894 – coach body being restored.NLRNo. 111 North London Railway 1st class Underframe suitable for 111 in stock. Work on rebuilding original frame has begun.GWRNo. 422Luggage Brake New-build brake carriage being converted from a goods brake for use on the vintage trains with Taff Vale 73. This is due to the possibility of obtaining a vintage brake carriage being very slim. Possibility of entering service in 2019.

Express Railway coaches Number & Name Class Notes Photograph No. W13233 BR British Railways MK1 FKOperational, Painted in BR Maroon. No. 645 Norwegian Saloon Static Display at Blunsdon. No. 1569 BR British Railways MK1 RKB Built in 1960. Operational, painted in Moonraker livery. No. 4766 BR British Railways MK1 TSO Built in 1957. Operational, painted in Moonraker livery. No. 1805 BR British Railways MK1 RMB Built in 1957. Stored No. 4598 BR British Railways MK1 TSO Rebuilt as a QXX Cinema Coach, Operational

Wagons Origin Number Type Notes PhotographLMSPBA27 4-wheel ventilated van Unknown build date. Later used by the Port of Bristol Authority and numbered 27. Recently restored to operational condition and painted blue with a 'Jewson' logo. GWR 27907, later 17980 4-wheel goods brake van Likely an early date GWR Toad due to the spoked wheels. Heavily modified for passenger use. Previously at Swindon Steam Museum Operational.Swindon and Cricklade Rly 3 4-wheel weedkilling wagon Converted from a four-wheel wagon underframe. Used for killing of weeds.GWR 92953, later PBA61047Four-wheel China Clay WagonBuilt in 1913 at Swindon. Previously used by Port of Bristol Authority.BR200241 Four-wheel non-ventilated van Built in 1969 at Ashford.

Stations of the S&CR line +StationNotesSouth Meadow LaneHalfway point between Hayes Knoll and Farfield Lane; used as a return point to Hayes Knoll when running north from Blunsdon. No run-round loop, no platform facilities.Hayes KnollDepot and workshop; no road accessBlunsdonHeadquarters of the lineOpened in 2014. Used as a return point to Blunsdon when running south from Hayes Knoll, and is the current terminus of the line (until funding, planning and issues with the existing utilities can be overcome to allow access to Mouldon Hill station to be built)

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