THERE'S THE GREAT WESTERN WAY. The last steam locomotive to leave the Swindon Works was a cartoon tank engine. I'm not sure if it qualifies as A Really Useful Engine.

Ivor was a popular cartoon during the 1960s and 1970s and has now been brought to life by a team of 20 contract engineers in a £10,000 project over six months. The locomotive was taken this month by truck to Embsay and the Bolton Abbey Steam Railway. The steam engine itself will now be moved around the country, and after Bolton Abbey; it will be transferred to the East Anglia Railway.

The concept of adaptive reuse of railway works has not expanded, in England, to include casinos, such as the one that replaced the Merrill Park roundhouse in Milwaukee.

The Swindon Works will soon be redeveloped. Plans are in place to covert the engineering works into shops and storage facilities.

What does it say about life in prosperous places that storage facilities (mini-storage units Stateside) are such a popular business opportunity? Could the drafting room in engineering be adapted for software developers or other creative types?