Railway heritage

This sculpture of a railway man stands in the centre of the Hampshire town of Eastleigh and is a fitting tribute to the railway town’s heritage.
The town has a chequered industrial history, and most recently it was home to the British factory producing vans exported to many places round the world, but it has also built aircraft and cars, and just outside the town boundaries yachts and boats. But it is its railways works which has had greatest impact and for which the town is remembered.
The works were established in the 1890s and over the years in the days of steam trains some of the most famous railway locomotives were built there, before turning to diesel train power.
Sadly the hey-day of the railway works is over, but the heritage it established lives on, and this bronze statue of a railway in the town centre recalls the proud role it has played in the town’s history.
The statue, created by sculptor Jill Tweed has occupied its commanding position in the town’s shopping thoroughfare for more than 20 years, unveiled by the then mayor back in 1995.
Today, it is as an emotive reminder of the town’s ancestry.