Swindon’s STEAM museum is marking the centenary of the Great Western Railway Castle Class locomotives with two new exhibitions of photographs.

STEAM, the Museum of the Great Western Railway, will host the exhibitions by photographer Jack Boskett from Saturday 29 April until Monday 10 September this year. The award-winning museum regularly hosts exhibitions, such as last year’s exhibition – ‘Changing Trains – the  Journey from Broad Gauge to Narrow Gauge’.

The first exhibition is titled 100 Years and Still Steaming, and features what the museum calls “an array of stunning scenes” featuring Castle Class locomotives working on heritage railway lines. Between 1923 and 1950, 171 Castle Class locomotives were built at Swindon railway works, including sixteen rebuilds.

The second, From Railways to Royalty, comprises images taken by Tewkesbury-based Jack Boskett during his thirteen years as a professional photographer. As the exhibition’s title suggests, Jack Boskett has snapped celebrities during public engagements as well as railways and other subjects.

Between them, the two exhibitions feature one hundred and fifty photographs taken by Jack Boskett, both mounted in frames and canvas prints. Visitors can see the exhibitions in STEAM’s Caerphilly Castle Hall.

On Saturday,12 August, Jack Boskett will attend the exhibition, where visitors can meet him in person and find out more about his work.

Visitors can find out more and book their tickets online through the STEAM website. Admission to both special exhibitions is included with STEAM admission and free to STEAM Season Ticket holders.

Swindon Museums’ Collections and Exhibitions Manager, John Wood, said: “2023 marks one hundred years since the first of the Castle locomotives, No. 4073 Caerphilly Castle, went into service and we are delighted to be marking the occasion in collaboration with Jack Boskett.

“Castle Class locomotives were remarkable engines from the outset. At the British Empire Exhibition in 1925, the GWR and The London and North Eastern Railway’s (LNER) held trials between the two locomotive types, which the Castle Class locomotive won. Then in 1929, The Cheltenham Spa Express (or Cheltenham Flyer) which ran between Cheltenham Spa and London Paddington became the world’s fastest train, when it achieved an average speed of 66.2 miles per hour. Castles were synonymous with speed and power.”

Jack Boskett said: “When STEAM approached me to exhibit my work at the museum to kick off the summer season, I was very humbled and excited. To have my photographs at this historic location of the former Great Western Railway is such an honour. As a keen railway photographer and engineman on heritage railways, I will feel at home.

“I have spent a lot of time hand picking my photographs for this exhibition which coincides nicely with the celebratory Coronation of King Charles III in May and also the 100th anniversary of the GWR Castle Class locomotives in August. I am really looking forward to see what the reactions are to STEAM visitors and I hope it gives plenty of creative inspiration to budding photographers who are looking at expand their railway photography.”