GWR Manure

Roy Nash is a gentleman who supplies me with a few greetings cards.  Roy is in his mid 80s and is a very talented photographer.  He lives in Swindon and has day trips to the Cotswolds when he will take lots of photographs.  Roy has accepted the digital age and manufactures all his cards from home; they come with an envelope and are individually wrapped in cellophane.  They're great sellers and are especially popular amongst the Japanese visitors. 

I very much enjoy chatting with Roy as he spent his entire working life with Great Western Railway [GWR] over in Swindon.  Apparently all employees of GWR were provided with subsidised coal which was delivered to their homes by horse and cart.  The horses were stabled underneath the railway arches and their manure was collected on a daily basis.  The manure was then mixed with sand and used in the casting process of the iron locomotive cylinders. 

The massive GWR works at Swindon is now a retail outlet centre and there is an excellent museum there called Steam, which is dedicated to the history of the GWR http://www.steam-museum.org.uk/.  For some smashing old photos of the works go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/swindonlocal/3830008987/

A chap came in yesterday whose ambition it was to travel on all the remaining steam and narrow gauge railways in the UK.  He said there are approximately 130 in total and so far he had ticked off 58.  I'm going to have a crack at it on my retirement.