Week of Remembrance: Britain's Railways During World War Two

It will soon be Remembrance Day (Nov.11), also known in the U.S. as Veteran’s Day.

When we think of Remembrance Day, we usually remember the men and women who fought, were wounded and who died while serving in the armed forces.

We don't normally think of those who also made a valuable contribution to the war effort in World War II—those who worked for railways.

During this year's Week of Remembrance, the CP Rail M & M blog is highlighting the men and women who kept the trains running in England during that war.

Keeping a railway running is hard enough in normal times; it is extremely difficult when the enemy is bombing rail lines, trains, stations and shops.

As is pointed out in the BBC TV program British Railways in World War Two (see links below), one of the Luftwaffe’s “main objectives was to cripple Britain’s railways, and so paralyze the movement of troops, raw materials and munitions. Suddenly, every railway worker in Britain found themselves on the firing line.”

It was a costly war for the railways, in terms of men and material. During the war, 395 railway staff were killed and 2,444 injured by enemy action. About 450 locomotives were destroyed or damaged, along with many pieces of rolling stock and other infrastructure.

Says author Michael Williams in the book Steaming to Victory: How Britain's  Railways Won The War of the men and women who worked for Britain’s railways: "Their courage and sheer hard work in getting trains  moving again after the bombs had fallen was legendary."

Williams praises all who kept the trains running, noting that "the bravery of people who kept the rains running during the Blitz was all the more impressive since railway operating staff in one respect worked under worse conditions than the armed forces."

Men fighting in battle, he notes, would only be at the front line a number of days before beling relieved. "This was never the case with the railways, whose staff kept passengers, troops and strategic supplies moving day after day, regardless or weather, air raids or anything else that could go wrong."

Many railway staff, he says, "worked and died under combat conditions."

As if this were not enough, they could return home after a long, perilous shift to find their house had been bombed and their family killed or injured.

Meantime, the shops had to keep locomotives and rolling stock in running condition, despite being under attack.

When the war was ending, then Prime Minister Winston Churchill paid tribute to the men and women of the railways: 

"Results such as the railways have achieved are only won by blood and sweat. I express gratitude to every railwayman who has participated in this great transport effort contributing so largely to final victory."

Other Links

1. BBC TV British Railways In World War Two. ( A four part series on YouTube.)
2. From Rail News: Seventy Years Ago: Railways At War.
3. British National Railway Museum: Rail Story of Victory in Europe.
4. A Bristolian Train Driver Recalls World War Two.

Other Week of Remembrance posts in this series

2013: The Canadian Pacific Railway's "Angel of Victory" Memorials.
2013 II: A War Memorial on a Model Railroad Layout.
2012: Canadian Railway Troops in World War One. 

November 7: National Railway Day in Canada

It’s National Railway Day in Canada, not that many people know. I didn’t, until I saw it on the OK the PK blog.

National Railway Day marks this date, in 1885, when the last spike was driven in the CPR transcontinental mainline at Craigellachie, B.C.

I wrote about the ceremony in 2012, when I posted an article about The Boy in thePicture. That boy was Edward Mallandaine, also known as the “Craigellachie Kid.” 

That’s Edward in the photo above, peering around the shoulder of Donald Smith, a director of the CPR who is driving that famous last spike.

And whatever happened to that last spike? It has been shrouded in mystery. There were actually two of them. Smith bent the first one with his first blow. It was removed and later cut into pieces as a souvenir.

Is this the last spike?

The second one was also removed after the ceremony. It disappeared. It's location was a mystery until 2012, when it was reported to be in a safety deposit box in a bank in Winnipeg.

Somewhere along the way, the spike was fashioned into the handle of a carving knife and silver plated to enhance its ceremonial appearance. Read more about the history of the last spike in the Globe and Mail.

As for me, the CP Rail M & M Sub. never had a last spike ceremony. Since I kept putting down and tearing up track, I was never sure where the last spike might be. So I held a “last ballast” ceremony when I laid the last ballast on the mainline. 

Not as dramatic as a last spike ceremony, but it worked for me.

Shortage of Locomotives Hampers North American Railways

No shortage of locomotives this
day on the M & M Sub.!

Ever wish you had more locomotives on your layout? Right now, the prototype railways do, too.

According to an article in the Globe and Mail, a shutdown at Electromotive (EMD) for two years is hampering the efforts by railways to move the growing amount of grain, oil and other goods on their tracks.

The reason for the shutdown at EMD is its need to meet stricter U.S. emissions regulations that come into effect in 2015.  This leaves General Electric as the sole manufacturer of locomotives.

The result? GE has seen locomotive demand rise by 134 per cent in the latest quarter. It has received orders for 1,000 of the lower-emission engines, which will start being shipped on Jan. 1, next year.

“There is not a single piece of power you can acquire,” Oscar Munoz, chief operating officer of CSX, is quoted in the article.

CN feels like it is in a good place, with enough units to get it through until EMD is back in production.

The CPR, on the other hand, has no new units on order. A number of units on lease to other railways will soon be returned to that railway.

Getting Ready for Snow

It might always be summer on the CP Rail M & M Sub., but winter will come--and is coming, in the real world outside the layout room. So it won't be long before this plow, which sits in storage in the Fort Frances yard, will be needed again.

To get you in the winter mood, check out my post from January of the amount of snow that fell in Roger's Pass last winter--it's as high as a locomotive roof!

Disguising a Turnback Curve

Can you see the train?

Like many other model railroads, the CP Rail Manitoba & Minnesota Sub. features a turnback curve.

Turnback curves are a necessary evil when a layout utilizes a peninsula. In order for the tracks to get from one side of the peninsula to the other, an unprototypical 180 degree curve is required-.

This is something almost never seen in real life, unless you are modelling the Horseshoe Curve, a modern coal mine or some selected bits of mountain railroading. (Or an industrial scene, like this incredibly tight radius in Portland, Oregon.)

There it is!

People have tried a variety of ways to disguise turnback curves. One of the most radical is the Bellina Drop, named after the late Jerry Bellina.

The Bellina Drop deals with the challenge by hiding the curve altogether--the backdrop is on the outside of the curve, not the inside. In a Bellina Drop, the train disappears from view while making the trip from one side of the peninsula to the other. See a photo of a Bellina Drop in Model Railroad Hobbyist.

A view from the other side.

My way of disguising the turnback curve on the M & M Sub. is to use trees--lots of trees. It's not perfect, but it seems to do the job. The trees also make a view block between the two sides of the peninsula, where the tracks are just a few inches apart.

There's a train on the other side.