The definitive history of the British railways during the Second World
War.
In the seven decades since the darkest moments of the Second World War
it seems every tenebrous corner of the conflict has been laid bare,
prodded and examined from every perspective of military and social
history.
But there is a story that has hitherto been largely overlooked. It is a
tale of quiet heroism, a story of ordinary people who fought, with
enormous self-sacrifice, not with tanks and guns, but with elbow grease
and determination. It is the story of the British railways and, above
all, the extraordinary men and women who kept them running from 1939 to
1945. Churchill himself certainly did not underestimate their importance
to the wartime story when, in 1943, he praised 'the unwavering courage
and constant resourcefulness of railwaymen of all ranks in contributing
so largely towards the final victory.' And what a story it is.
The railway system during the Second World War was the lifeline of the
nation, replacing vulnerable road transport and merchant shipping. The
railways mobilised troops, transported munitions, evacuated children
from cities and kept vital food supplies moving where other forms of
transport failed. Railwaymen and women performed outstanding acts of
heroism. Nearly 400 workers were killed at their posts and another 2,400
injured in the line of duty. Another 3,500 railwaymen and women died in
action. The trains themselves played just as vital a role. The famous
Flying Scotsman train delivered its passengers to safety after being
pounded by German bombers and strafed with gunfire from the air. There
were astonishing feats of engineering restoring tracks within hours and
bridges and viaducts within days. Trains transported millions to and
from work each day and sheltered them on underground platforms at night,
a refuge from the bombs above. Without the railways, there would have
been no Dunkirk evacuation and no D-Day.
Michael Williams, author of the celebrated book "On the Slow Train," has
written an important and timely book using original research and over a
hundred new personal interviews.
