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Monday 11 Aug 2014

Vital role of Britain’s railway in World War One showcased in new exhibition

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The story of the vital role Britain’s rail network and its staff played in World War One is told in a roving exhibition launched this weekend at London Waterloo station.

Produced by the Rail Delivery Group, which brings together Network Rail and the owners of Britain’s passenger train and freight operators, the exhibition uses original photographs, documents and historical facts to bring to life the achievements of the railway in helping mobilise hundreds of thousands of troops and thousands of tonnes of equipment. It also tells the story of the women who kept the network running while men were fighting on the front line, sowing the seeds of social change in the process.

 

After war was declared at 11pm on 4 August 1914, rail helped move troops to from across Britain to London. Sunday,10 August 2014 marks 100 years to the day since the first soldiers arrived in the capital's railway stations before travelling to the south coast for onward travel to France. Over the next 21 days, one troop train would reach the docks at Southampton every 12 minutes over the course of a 14-hour day.

By August 31 1914, trains to Southampton transported:

• more than 118,000 army personnel
• 37,000 horses
• 314 guns
• 5,200 vehicles
• 1,800 bicycles, and
• more than 4,500 tons of baggage

 

Robin Gisby, managing director of operations for Network Rail, said: "When Britain declared war against Germany in 1914, it was the railway that enabled the rapid mobilisation of British forces and their equipment to France. From that point on, rail played a crucial role in the war effort, not just through transportation; stations were places to advertise vital information and feed and welcome home troops on leave or those brought back injured.

"As Britain commemorates the centenary of the start of the war, there are so many stories but we wanted to make sure that those railway workers who fought abroad and worked at home were remembered and their story told to a new generation of rail staff and passengers alike."

Michael Roberts, director general of the Rail Delivery Group, said: "As the country looks back 100 years to commemorate the start of World War One, the rail industry is marking the important contribution made by the railway, and its workers, during the conflict. The pictures and words in the exhibition touring some of our biggest stations tell the story of rail’s crucial role in quickly mobilising our armed forces, and how women kept the railway running when men left for war and labour shortages threatened the transport of vital supplies to the Front Line.”

To launch the exhibition, a regiment of living historians, the Khaki Chums re-enacted the journey of World War One soldiers arriving at the station on Saturday evening, sleeping on railway land overnight before departing on a train bound for Southampton on Sunday morning. They performed a march through the station to pay their respects to those who stood in their shoes a century ago.

The exhibition will remain in Waterloo until 9 September before touring five of the biggest stations across the country over the next year. It will then be redesigned each summer with a new theme relating to the railway's war effort from 100 years before.