Celebrating National Apprentice Week

National Apprentice Week, 10 – 16 February

This week is National Apprentice Week and to celebrate this we are highlighting one of the incredible pieces of work produced by apprentices at the BR (British Rail) Pre-Apprentice Training School in Swindon.

This is a dodecahedron consisting of individual pieces of metal soldered together to form a perfectly precision-made shape.  Objects like this were made as part of an apprentice’s studies to show off their technical skills.

STEAM holds a fascinating collection of apprentice pieces, made between 1962 and 1986 when the Pre-Apprentice Training School was in operation.  Visit STEAM to see our exciting new exhibition Doing Time – A Railway Apprentice, where many more “Apprentice Pieces” are on display.

Many images of railway apprentices can be seen on the STEAM Picture Library website, which are available to view and buy copies of.