A rare wheel guard from the Great Western Railway's Swindon locomotive has been bought by the STEAM museum.
 
The splasher, decorated with the Swindon coat of arms, is one of a pair of wheel guards from the GWR Castle Class locomotive number 7037 "Swindon".
 
Spotted at a recent auction by museum staff, it was bought for £3,300 using donations from visitors.
 
Curator Felicity Jones said she was "particularly excited" as she was "not aware that it even still existed".
 
Built in August 1950, number 7037 "Swindon" was the last in the line of GWR's famous Castle Class express passenger locomotives.
 
Named by the Queen, Princess Elizabeth as she was then, at Swindon Works, the locomotive is the only engine to have had wheel guards decorated with the Swindon coat of arms.
 
This distinction, according to a museum spokeswoman, made the splasher a "must have acquisition, particularly as the museum already holds both of the Swindon locomotive name plates".
 
"We are thrilled to be uniting the splasher with one of the Swindon name plates, after all these years apart," said Ms Jones.
 
"Given its royal connections, it is especially significant to bring the splasher back to its Swindon home during the Queen's Diamond Jubilee year."
 
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