Chris Green wrote:Not a railway company, but a town that owes much of its 19th and 20th century prosperity to the Great Western Railway, is Swindon.
The blazon is: Quarterly per fesse nebuly Azure and Gules a Pile Argent thereon three Crescents of the second in the first quarter three Castles one and two of the third in the second a Mitre Or in the third and a winged Wheel of the last in the fourth a Chief also of the third thereon a Locomotive Engine proper.Crest : On a Wreath of the Colours a dexter Arm embowed proper grasping two Hammers in saltire Or. Motto : 'Salubritas et Industria' - 'Health and Industry'.
As you may imagine the inclusion of a "Locomotive Engine" in a grant of arms dating from 1901 must have been a tough decision for the College of Arms, and an even tougher one for the heraldic artist who illustrated the grant and every heraldic artist ever since. Allegedly the "correct" depiction is of an engine named "Lord of the Isles", built in 1891/92.
Are you sure the College didn't intend for Thomas to be depicted?