Visit the Heritage Centre in Crewe today for FREE Operation Summer activities to help keep the kids entertained!

While you are at the Heritage Centre, visit the Crewe Works exhibition at the same time! Discover how Locomotives were a catalyst for change in the town - 180 years ago, the Grand Junction Railway Engineering Works moved to Crewe and had a huge impact on the town and the people who lived and worked here. Our exciting community-developed exhibition "Forging History: 180 years of Crewe Works" will tell the story of how the Works shaped the development of Crewe, one of Britain's key industrial engineering towns.

Did you know?

• Crewe Works produced over 8,000 locomotives
• By the 1930s it was the largest railway engineering works in the world!
• At its height, the buildings that made up Crewe Works covered over two miles.
• Crewe's engineering innovation continues today!

Crewe Works:

• Experience the sights and sounds of arriving for a shift at Crewe Works
• Understand why Crewe Works was built and what was made there
• Sit in the Drawing Office and design your own loco or learn what tools were used in the Erecting Shop
• Meet the workers and learn about their lives
• Drive a train

How did Crewe Works affect people's lives?

• Find out how the technologies and innovations from Crewe Works influenced railway development across the world
• Discover Crewe's record holders and award-winning locomotives
• Explore how the Works contributed to the war effort in 1914 and 1939

How did Crewe Works affect the development of Crewe?

• Learn how the Works shaped the town of Crewe
• Have dinner in a railway cottage
• Go to school in Victorian Crewe
• Discover how railway accidents at the Works informed developments in health

Looking to the future:

• Find out what is still made at Crewe Works today
• Add to a community exhibition about what we are proud of in Crewe

Where will the activities take place?

At Crewe Heritage Centre, Vernon Way, Crewe, CW1 2DB.

Will there be a charge to attend?

Operation Summer Wednesdays will be free for visitors to enter the site, take part in the activities and view the exhibition.