Doing Time Inside

Apprenticeship and Training in GWR's Swindon Works

By: Rosa Matheson

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Paperback | 16 September 2025

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160 Pages

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24.8 x 17.2 x 1.1

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The Great Western Railway's Swindon Works was the largest employer in the area, even during the early British Railway years. For well over a hundred years thousands of apprentices and 'trainees' passed through its doors to learn the trades of the railways. Throughout its lifetime the apprenticeship process was hard work with many constraints, particularly in the early periods when even marriage was forbidden. However, alongside the hard work of 'doing time' (a colloquial term for apprenticeship), there were undoubtedly good times as the young boys were absorbed into the 'family' of workers 'Inside' (as Swindon Works was known locally). Doing Time Inside chronicles the changes of the apprenticeship process from its earliest times during the Industrial Revolution; through the varied work of two world war periods; the changes of thinking and policy in the post-war era; the significant developments of the 1960s; and the decline of apprenticeship until the closure of the Works in 1986. Full of fascinating photographs and documents, many previously unpublished, as well as numerous engaging first-hand accounts of the different 'apprenticeships' on offer, the books presents an in-depth study of apprenticeship in the railway world.

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You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction Politics & Government Public Administration Transportation Trains & Railways in General Business & Management Management & Management Techniques Management of Specific Areas Personnel & Human Resources Management History Regional & National History European History

British & Irish History Local & Family History, Nostalgia Local History General & World History

Acknowledgements	p. 4
Introduction	p. 5
Apprenticeship: An Evolution	p. 7
How it all Began	p. 29
Boys	p. 36
What was a Railway Apprenticeship?	p. 56
The Way In	p. 81
Two World Wars and In Between	p. 92
A New Era	p. 115
Doing the Time	p. 140
Appendix	p. 155
Bibliography	p. 157
Index	p. 159
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Doing Time Inside

Apprenticeship and Training in GWR's Swindon Works

At a Glance

Paperback

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