Westbury train passengers journey back in time with station film

Passengers at Westbury Railway Station can watch a short film exploring a post-war school day in the town, as part of a project bringing local histories to life at railway stations across the region. 

Each film explores local life as it used to be at 24 stations across the region, allowing customers to travel into the past via a QR code link on posters displayed at stations, which can be scanned with phones while waiting for the train.  

The film at Westbury Station details the rise in students at Westbury County Secondary Modern School, formerly Westbury British Boys’ School, from 1945 to 1960, alongside pictures taken at the time. 

The archive film project by Windrose Rural Media Trust is available on seven routes across Somerset, Wiltshire, and Dorset. 

The project has been inspired by Great Western Approaches, a renowned film made in 1936 that took viewers on a journey to the sun. 

Windrose director Trevor Bailey said, “Long ago, the Great Western Railway saw the film’s potential to promote its trains and the places they served. It has an extraordinary heritage and the modern GWR is proud to link past glories with today’s progress. 

“By scanning a QR code, viewers can select the route and station of their choice and find themselves in the past life of that community. It may be a livestock market in the 1930s, daily street scenes in the 1910s, a long-closed railway line, seaside holidays in the 1950s and much, much more. 

“These moving images are the nearest thing to living history that exists.” 

To see all the films, visit  

https://windroseruralmedia.org/great-western-approaches-revisited-westbury-to-swindon/