Local historians, members of Friends of Guildford Station, mounted an exhibition of old photographs and other memorabilia of Guildford’s railway history to celebrate both Railway 200 and 180 years of the railway coming to Guildford. The project had very little funding and had to rely on volunteer help and resources. The organisers and many of the visitors had very personal connections to Guildford Station.
With help from Voluntary Action South West Surrey, the local group made a fascinating selection of hundreds of old photographs and items of significance to display in a very small empty shop unit at the front of Guildford Station which was kindly lent by Network Rail. The opening of the exhibition was timed to coincide with the Railway 200 and Guildford 180 Celebration event at the station with the Town Crier, Deputy Mayor and Mike Lamport from Railway 200. The exhibition then remained open for the rest of the bank holiday weekend, with the volunteers on hand to chat about the objects and photographs and demonstrate how a deadmans brake worked! this was kindly lent by Geoff Burch, who used to be a train driver at Guildford Station. As a local historian he played a big part, with David Rose another well known local historian and railway enthusiast, in putting together the exhibition.
The exhibition was a resounding success with over 300 visitors, many of whom had personal links to the station and had very moving stories to tell. The SWR staff at the station were very helpful at all times and also Network Rail with their overall support by lending the unit.
With very little funding a great deal was achieved. Towards the end of the project the group had a donation of funding from Solum, who are working to develop the station and very kindly agreed to help with some of the costs; until then the group were relying on their own funds to mount the exhibition.
I came to the exhibition as my grandfather was a steam train driver at Guildford’s engine shed. The people on hand knew so much about Guildford’s railway history and they were even able to tell me some details about when my grandfather started on the railways and what he did! It was so fascinating seeing photos of the engine shed and the type of locomotives he would have driven