Audio
A free exhibition looking back at 175 years of the GWR
GWR railway voices
Between 1999 and 2002, the Friends of the National Railway Museum recorded over 1000 hours of recollections of people who worked on Britain's railways during the 20th century.
Here you can listen to extracts from interviews with workers from the Great Western Railway.
Bill Squibb
Bill Squibb is from a large family of railwaymen who all worked on the GWR. He left school at 14, and found how easy it was to get a job - if you had contacts. He retired after 45 years of service.
Extract 1: Bill remembers his aspirations to become a signalman. 1:53. Read transcript
Extract 2: Bill details the gruelling interview process that led to his promotion to a busier signalbox in Wiltshire. 1:49. Read transcript
Extract 3: Bill recalls his encounter with Winston Churchill. 2:06. Read transcript
Extract 4: A return to Weymouth, and an encounter with the Queen. 1:08. Read transcript
Violet Priscilla Lee
Violet Priscilla Lee was born into a railway family in Cirencester, Gloucestershire. She left school at 14 and, after a short spell working in a printers, she got a job as a passenger train guard.
Extract 1: Violet got a job as a train passenger guard – a position usually only available to men who'd spent 30 years working up through the grades. 1:31. Read transcript
Extract 2: Violet remembers her time spent in the Cotswolds and Wye Valley. 1:54. Read transcript
Extract 3: Violet recalls her experience of the war, and her time working on the railway and the GWR as a whole. 1:58. Read transcript