Swindon Works hooter sounds again at STEAM, 40 years after the closure

A replica of the Swindon Works hooter sounded across the STEAM Museum of the Great Western Railway at 4.30pm on Thursday 26 March 2026, marking 40 years since the town's Railway Works closed. Swindon24 reported the event the next day.

Hundreds of people attended, among them former railway workers, their families and other residents. The replica, powered by a traction engine, recreated the moment in 1986 when the original hooter last signalled the end of the working day.

Local historian Royston Cartwright said: "If anything, there's more people here today, and it's even more remembered, which is brilliant."

Who spoke at the event?

Councillor Marina Strinkovsky called it "a commemoration" and said the hooter "gave the signal to the men and women to go home from work every day for the whole lifetime of the works."

The Mayor of Swindon, Councillor Fay Howard, said: "It's been lovely to speak to people who worked in the railway works and family members of those who worked here."

Council leader Councillor Jim Robbins called it "a massive anniversary for the town… one that really lives long in the memory."

Ian Surtees, a former manager of STEAM whose parents both worked at the Works, recalled his father having to look for a new job: "He'd never done an application form before."

How was the hooter recreated?

A volunteer named in the report as Colin said the team had built a smaller replica that could run from a mobile boiler. The report said the replica followed a decade of work and that the idea began during the Swindon 175 celebrations.

Source: Swindon24.

More from Swindo: The Great Western Railway in Swindon.