Swindon has a strong railway heritage and there are many bits of former railway buildings and facilities around to see, most notably the Steam museum and the outlet shopping centre which is built inside the former railway works. A sidetracked is, of course, a much needed part of this!
The cache
The cache is a small, railway themed, container.
Please ensure the log is placed back in the plastic bag, the bag is sealed, and the container is closed again.
Please replace as found, and ensure it's not too visible.
Free parking for 20 minutes is available in the station short stay, accessible by going up the ramp next to this cache, although you will have to get a ticket from the machine.
Station history
The railway first came to Swindon in 1841, and initially whilst there was a halt there wasn't much in the way of facilities. Back then if you wanted a ticket, you had to pop into the Goddard Arms on the high Street, which was the booking office!
However this rather strange state of affairs didn't last long, for in 1842 a dedicated three storey station was opened. The ground floor having booking offices and a cafe, and the upper floors being given over to a hotel:
Modernisation arrived in 1972, where the above building was demolished and modern building you can see today was built.
Initially the station only had 3 platforms - the current 1, 2, and 3, plus a parcels platform where platform 4 is today, meaning trains from London had to cross over to the North side to use the platforms, before crossing back again after calling here. This was rectified with the conversion of the former parcels platform into the current platform 4, which opened in July 2003.
Further development happened in 2016 with the installation and energisation of the new overhead electrification.
About SideTracked Caches
This cache belongs to the SideTracked series. It is not designed to take you to a magical place with a breath taking view. It's a distraction for the weary traveller, but anyone else can go and find it too. More Information can be found at the SideTracked Website