Swindon Steam Museum
I attended a Craft and Flea Craft fair in the Swindon Steam museum in March 2025. I drew an illustration to make into a print to sell there. The museum is at the centre with additional historical details and a map of Wiltshire.
This is the pen and ink drawing.
I scanned the pen and ink drawing and used Photoshop to add colour. I experimented with different colours until I achieved the desired effect of a graphic but still realistic look.
I made some monotone versions, the favourite of which was the teal version.
The cheese moon is in reference to the name 'Moonrakers' for the people of Wiltshire. It comes from around the 1700s in the days when smuggling was rife. Locals hid contraband barrels of French brandy from customs officers in a village pond. While trying to retrieve it at night, they were caught by the revenue men, but explained themselves by pointing to the moon's reflection and saying they were trying to rake in a round cheese
The Great Western Railway sited their locomotive works in Swindon.
`In 1960 The Evening Star was the last Steam train manufactured here in the UK.
The nearby Uffington White Horse was featured on an album by the Swindon band XTC.
In the Domesday book of 1086 AD, Swindon was named 'Suindune' which meant 'pig hill'.
Isambard Kingdom Brunel founded the GWR and chose Swindon as the centre of operations.