Railway Village Museum

In 1841 Swindon was chosen by the Great Western Railway as the site for its locomotive repair facility. Old Swindon did not have enough accommodation to cope with the large influx of skilled industrial workers from Scotland, Wales, London, Bristol, and the north of England who came to the town for employment at the GWR Works. As a result, the GWR built the ‘Railway Village’ - an estate of 300 houses – for its workforce in the lowland area of New Swindon, near the canals.

The cottage that became the Railway Village Museum was lived in by families from around 1846/7 to the late 1970s. In 1966 Swindon Borough Council began renovating many of the properties in the Village, having bought them from British Railways. Given the importance of the railway industry in Swindon’s development, it was decided to turn one of the cottages into a ‘Living Museum’ and in March 1980 34 Faringdon Road welcomed its first visitors. In 2000 the Railway Museum closed, but following renovation, it reopened in 2017, now managed by the Mechanics’ Institution Trust. Hundreds of children came together on the Village Green to celebrate a day that was designed all around them!

Location: 586 Wiscasset Rd, Boothbay, ME 04537, USA

Website: https://railwayvillage.org/

Distance from Delaware: 300 miles

Travel time: 5 hours

Tel: 1 207-633-4727

Fee: $8 to $12 per person

Hour: 10:00 AM - 17:00 PM

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