Swindon Railway Museum has launched a fundraising campaign in order to commemorate the life of pioneering Great Western Railway Chief Mechanical Engineer, Charles Benjamin Collett OBE.

The funds will see a headstone put in place on the pioneering engineer’s unmarked grave in order to offer a fitting memorial for the father of the King and Castle classes.

Charles Benjamin Collett OBE was Chief Mechanical Engineer for Great Western Railway from 1922 to 1941, overseeing the design of some of the most iconic steam locomotives which we are thankfully still able to enjoy to this day.

A Swindon Friends member was undertaking extensive research, visiting the resting places of all of Great Western Railway Chief Mechanical Engineers, including:

• Isambard Kingdom Brunel
• Daniel Gooch
• Joseph Armstrong
• William Dean
• George Jackson Churchward
• Charles Collett
• Frederick Hawksworth

The research discovered a shocking truth: all the Chief Mechanical Engineers had received resting places worthy of their achievements except for Charles Collett, who had been laid to rest in an anonymous plot in Wimbledon.

Charles passed away in 1952 and was buried at the Gap Road Cemetery in Wimbledon, with two other people in the unmarked grave.

August this year marks the 100th anniversary of Collett’s renowned and well-loved Castle Class Locomotive which will be celebrated fittingly by The Friends of Swindon Railway Museum.

The museum is therefore asking all fans of the Great Western Railway to get behind their campaign in order to see an appropriate headstone put in place to celebrate the incredible work of Charles Collett.

The campaign has set a target of £2,500, which will cover the associate cemetery, design, engraving and installation, which will see a tribute to Collett which will last into the future. A Wimbledon-based stonemason has already supported the campaign by donating the base headstone.

The headstone will feature:

• An inscription of GWR’s Castle Class locomotive
• A reference to Collett as the creator of the class
• Chronological details from birth to death

The campaign has also received support from Bob Meanley, who was the former Head of Tyseley Locomotive Works, who is very well versed with the Castle Class and also believes that a memorial to Collett is long overdue.

Anybody who wishes to support the campaign can do so by using the gofundme page by clicking here.