Copper Caps

I was there the day they said the works would close.
Overcast, the day BR Engineering chose;
Throwing down the news of death of Swindon pride;
Dreaming foreign locos. Ten thousand people cried.

Copper caps on chimney tops, engines painted green.
Folk of Swindon's pride and joy forever will be seen.
'Kings' and 'Castles', pannier tanks; through the land will roam.
Steam reminders of the death of Swindon Works, their home.

Silent were the wheel lathes, still the oil bath.
Soon the news had travelled along each workshop path.
Lines of weathed faces gazed towards the floor;
Fumbled was a clock cards soon to see a clock no more.

Micro electronics that the kids are taught,
Are not in the faces of those who now are caught
In the traps of 'age'. 'skill'; though they may retrain.
But for what? The Dole! - as their town goes down the drain.

Copper caps on chimney tops, engines painted green;
Folk of Swindon's pride and joy forever will be seen.
'Kings' and 'Castles', pannier tanks; through the land will roam.
Steam reminders of the death of Swindon Works, their home.

Copper caps.