One of the highlights of places to visit in Swindon town has to be the Swindon Steam Museum. If you are interested in the history of Swindon, steam engines and trains in the UK and the development and evolution of transport, this should be on your to visit list for Swindon and Wiltshire.
The museum is surprisingly big and features several old trains that you can view, sometimes step inside of, and lots of other great displays. I always like museums that don’t just show you objects with dull boards of text to read, and instead have things that bring the stories to life. There are a decent amount of mannequins that show what people working on the trains or in the offices would have been like and give you a sense of the people and settings of the time.
There is one room you go into and it’s like you’ve stepped back in time as a man is stood in front of a desk being given a lecture by his boss. This comes complete with audio voice over so feels like you’re stood in the middle of the story.
The trains are impressive and there’s one where you can walk underneath it through a passage to see below the train. It’s completely safe of course, but there’s something scary about having the many tons of the train just overhead.
There’s also a huge wall of all the names of people that have worked on the trains in the area over the years. For local residents it’s a cool game of spot your relative.
The museum does have some things which aren’t just trains including old amusement arcade machines, although these will take your money and not all function…so be warned. In the entrance to the museum there is an old car which I believe may have been some kind of primitive fire engine…but is just an old timey car.
There’s some interactive parts including one where you get to pull levels and feel train like movement and also pull a cord to mean the steam engine toot like the Doc said he always wanted to do in Back to the Future Part 3. I always wanted to do that too! There are also block puzzles and fun displays to build miniature bridges which kids and big kids will enjoy messing with.
The museum was super quiet during our visit which meant we had the run of the place but for a few others there, but I can imagine it could be quite busy at times during holidays or if there were school visits there.
It’s definitely a place worth visiting and even if you’re not really into trains the place is presented well so that it is a fun journey back through time.
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