Trains In WartimeTrains in wartime played a massive part in the war effort in the UK.Twenty thousand British railways steam trains were the mainstay in moving huge amounts of traffic in wartime.
From the outbreak of the second world war in September 1939, until 1943, 160,000 special trains had been run to carry troops and equipment. This was in addition to the hundreds of thousands of others that operated to carry passengers, food items, coal and fuel and a huge variety of supplies that desperately needed transporting from stations throughout Britain.
 Amazing factsThe carriages were usually very crowded and in fact children sometimes had to be passed over the heads of the troops along the corridor so that they could reach the toilet. There was a woman at the door to organise the passing back and it wasn't unheard of for people to squeeze into the luggage racks for what must have been a very uncomfortable journey. The "SCHOOL CLASS" engines of the South Coast railway were hauling 16 / 17 bogie carriages, six more than in peacetime. During air attacks, warnings and instructions were transmitted to key points along the line and incidents were reported minute by minute. If a diversion was needed, it could quickly be arranged and specialist ambulance and evacuation trains could also be provided. Due to their vast amount of practical knowledge and wealth of experience, rails staff were able to make the optimum use of rolling stock, line availability and workers. Throughout the war, British Rail maintained a very close liaison with all of the Government departments particularly those of the fire fighting and emergency services. There were also 900 railway liaison officers whose duties were to regulate traffic movements. They worked closely with all the ministries such as the Admiralty, Air Ministry, and the ministries of food, fuel, health etc. In 1943, they were achieving 3,000,000 loaded wagons a month; and during the first four years of the war, it was estimated that an unbelievable 140,000,000 wagon loads of traffic had been despatched, and in fact an even greater figure was achieved later in the war.
A Central Wagon Control was established and was responsible for the distribution of 1,250,000 freight vehicles, 408,000 wagon sheets, 219,000 lashing ropes and 17,318 containers.
Steam in Wartime Britain Troops laid a heavy burden on transport and many locomotives had to be run at very short notice. Each train that ran over and above those shown in the timetable, was given a reporting number that was carried on the front of the engine.
Huge items such as naval guns, tanks, rifles, aircraft, petrol, bombs and ammunition also had to be transported by rail, and heavy consignments were continually being sent to the shipyards. Amazingly, each locomotive would have to run 10,000 miles between general service repairs.
British Railways also had a fleet of 130
steamships
many of which were chartered to the government for war service. Some were lost to enemy action and others were refitted and camouflaged to play their part in the war.
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