The Swindon & Cricklade Railway celebrated its 40th anniversary with a gala event over the weekend.
 
Three steam locomotives took passengers on a journey into the past as they chugged along historic routes between Hayes Knoll, Blunsdon Station, and Taw Valley Halt.
 
Guests also enjoyed live music and munched on burgers and hot dogs in a restored carriage.
 
Chris Randall is the man in charge of restoring these carriages and has been with the railway since its inception four decades ago.
 
He said, "When we first came onto the site, there was a swamp between the bridge and the railway, then we let people pay to dump their clay in it and that filled it in. In the future, we're hoping to expand the railway towards Cricklade and we've acquired a lot of rails and metal from Didcot Power Station to do that. A lot of people have visited us for our anniversary, it's been a good weekend. One of our carriages has been completed and is out on the tracks, while another has taken 10,500 hours of work to restore and it's still not a long way from being finished. We do this because we enjoy it and it's nice to tell people about the history of Swindon."
 
One woman brought her sons for a ride on the historic locomotives.
 
She said, "The kids are a big fan of trains, especially Thomas the Tank Engine, so we thought we'd have a look at a real steam train in action. We've had a really good time, it's all very exciting. They enjoyed the train ride and getting to find out all about the history of the railways. I'm sure we'll be coming back here in the future."
 
Station Master Dave Pearcey said, "It's not every day that you see three steam locomotives working at once. I remember how this all began, when a lady put a letter in the Advertiser in 1978 saying it would be nice for Swindon to have a working heritage railway. We had a meeting at East Street in Old Town, formed a committee, received a lot of support from the council, and had the railway set up by 1980."
 
Jeff Barrett, vice-chair of the trustees that run the railway, said, "It's taken a lot of work over the years to reinstate the railway platform and get things up and running. It's nice that so many people have come to celebrate with us. If everything goes to plan, we should reach Cricklade or its outskirts by 2020 and have Mouldon Hill station finished, too."
 
The celebrations continue this weekend, with a mixture of diesel and steam locomotives running between the railway's stations from Friday to Sunday, 10:30 to 15:30.
 
Daniel Angelini.