Westinghouse has been at the heart of Chippenham for more than 100 years, with many people in the town either working at the engineering company or knowing someone who did.

A new book, Westinghouse Brake & Signal in Chippenham, tells the story of the company which, despite its American name inherited from a partner company, was always British.

Its activities have led to the creation of a number of the region’s most successful modern companies and, socially, its influence was tremendous.

In 1974 the company had a camera club, dance association, model railway club, recreation club bar and even its own orchestra.

Author Mark Glover chronicles the history of the company from 1894 to 1981, when the Westinghouse Break and Signal Co Ltd companies began to diverge.

For the first time over 170 photographs are brought together, with subjects ranging from the earliest activities of Evans O’Donnell in the 1890s to the technological advances of the late 20th century.

Mr Glover has rescued the archives of the company from various sources, including skips, garages and redundant buildings.

The result is a remarkable new photographic record which illustrates the efforts, innovation and working conditions of the thousands of staff who spent their careers on the Chippenham site.

The company, which later became WB&S, can trace its history back to John Saxby who in 1856 patented the first practical means of interlocking signals and points.

In the early 1860s he teamed up with John Farmer to start a business in London which eventually led to the creation of the SB&S company in 1920 and which was based in Chippenham.

The book is arranged chronologically and, while there is plenty of technical information, the captions point out changing social conditions and, with a slight sense of humour, changing attitudes to health and safety.

In the 1920s and 30s a notice on the wall declares “Safety, Fire; Life is short, don’t make it shorter”. But another 1920 photograph of the highly dangerous practice of pouring signal base moulds shows a complete lack of safety equipment.

Accidents were commonplace, in 1948 a medical report identified 7,640 workplace incidents.

Some accidents were, inevitably, fatal. In 1945 Sister Hazel Gane died after her clothes were set alight at the factory. Her name is remembered today in the newly opened occupational health centre at Invensys Rail.

Sartorial changes do not go unnoticed. One picture shows the incongruous combination of a boiler suit and tie worn by one man in the 1920s.

The growing numbers of female workers is clearly displayed. By the 1940s many pictures show workplaces dominated by young women with, as the caption points out “a few terrified-looking young men” in the middle.

Executive signals engineer Chris Napper, who started at the company as an apprentice in 1960, said: “The only service that serves the same purpose as it did when I started is the canteen.”

Money from book sales will go to Chippenham Museum & Heritage Centre to protect the Westinghouse collections and to support publications such as the Chippenham Studies series.

Copies, £7.95, from the museum, Swindon & Wiltshire History Centre and from www.polunnio.co.uk