0:00:02 > 0:00:05World War I was a railway war.
0:00:06 > 0:00:08I'm going to find out
0:00:08 > 0:00:13how the railways helped to precipitate a mechanised war...
0:00:13 > 0:00:16..defined how it was fought...
0:00:16 > 0:00:19..conveyed millions to the trenches...
0:00:19 > 0:00:23..and bore witness to its end.
0:00:23 > 0:00:25I've taken to historic tracks
0:00:25 > 0:00:27to rediscover the locomotives and wagons
0:00:27 > 0:00:30of the war that was supposed to end all war.
0:00:32 > 0:00:35And to hear the stories of the gallant men and women
0:00:35 > 0:00:38who used them in life and in death.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03The Germans had planned a swift, mobile war,
0:01:03 > 0:01:05making use of the railways
0:01:05 > 0:01:09but by autumn 1914, both sides were bogged down in the trenches
0:01:09 > 0:01:12and the stalemate began to take its relentless toll.
0:01:15 > 0:01:18In this programme, I'm in the Northeast of England
0:01:18 > 0:01:20to find out about the brave railwaymen
0:01:20 > 0:01:22who made the ultimate sacrifice...
0:01:22 > 0:01:25One of them in particular is a Private F Bayes
0:01:25 > 0:01:27who had joined the 17th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers
0:01:27 > 0:01:29and was killed in action on July 1st,
0:01:29 > 0:01:32the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
0:01:32 > 0:01:33In Oxfordshire,
0:01:33 > 0:01:38where railways helped turn a munitions crisis into victory...
0:01:38 > 0:01:42In 1918 on the 29th of September,
0:01:42 > 0:01:47we fire just shy of one million shells in 24 hours
0:01:47 > 0:01:49in the assault on the Hindenburg Line.
0:01:49 > 0:01:50Terrifying.
0:01:50 > 0:01:53And I'll encounter the railway guns
0:01:53 > 0:01:56that helped to turn the tide of war.
0:01:56 > 0:01:59My goodness, one shell, 400 casualties.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07Today, I'll be travelling the length of England, from Gateshead
0:02:07 > 0:02:12to the railway museum at York, south to a munitions factory in Banbury
0:02:12 > 0:02:15and on to the big guns on the south coast
0:02:15 > 0:02:18to find out how the railways rose to the challenge
0:02:18 > 0:02:20of the logistics of total war.
0:02:28 > 0:02:32Britain began the war with a tiny professional army,
0:02:32 > 0:02:35most of which went to the continent where it suffered terrible losses.
0:02:35 > 0:02:38The secretary of state for war, General Lord Kitchener,
0:02:38 > 0:02:42launched an enormous recruitment drive to encourage men to believe
0:02:42 > 0:02:45that it was their patriotic duty to enlist.
0:02:45 > 0:02:48He sought that bands of friends and colleagues
0:02:48 > 0:02:52should sign up together to form "Pals battalions"
0:02:52 > 0:02:56and the call was answered with gusto by north-east Railwaymen.
0:03:00 > 0:03:02Compared to the vast armies
0:03:02 > 0:03:05of France, Germany and Russia, millions strong,
0:03:05 > 0:03:07British forces were tiny.
0:03:07 > 0:03:12There were just 247,000 in the regular army.
0:03:12 > 0:03:14As one of the country's foremost industries,
0:03:14 > 0:03:17the railways employed a vast, skilled workforce,
0:03:17 > 0:03:19particularly in the Northeast.
0:03:23 > 0:03:24I'm making my way
0:03:24 > 0:03:28to the Tanfield Heritage Railway line, south of Gateshead,
0:03:28 > 0:03:31to meet living history enthusiast, Rob Langham.
0:03:33 > 0:03:35- Rob, hello.- Hi, Michael.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38I find you poignantly dressed in First World War kit.
0:03:38 > 0:03:40Actually, what uniform are you wearing?
0:03:40 > 0:03:44This is the uniform of the 17th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers,
0:03:44 > 0:03:46who were the North Eastern Railways Battalion.
0:03:46 > 0:03:47So when the war broke out,
0:03:47 > 0:03:51did the railwaymen in the north-east enlist with enthusiasm?
0:03:51 > 0:03:54Yes, within just a few weeks of the outbreak of the war,
0:03:54 > 0:03:571 in 10 of the men had already joined the armed forces.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00War fever had gripped the nation.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03Half a million British men joined up in the first month
0:04:03 > 0:04:07and the "Pals battalions" were a great recruiting success.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10Just four days after the outbreak of war,
0:04:10 > 0:04:13over 2,000 reservists from the North Eastern Railways
0:04:13 > 0:04:15had left their jobs for the army.
0:04:15 > 0:04:21By the end of August 1914, 3,500 workers had joined up.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24So, so given that these railwaymen were specialists
0:04:24 > 0:04:28and that railways were going to play a very important part in the war,
0:04:28 > 0:04:31do you think that the authorities were a bit slow
0:04:31 > 0:04:34to recognise the value of railwaymen at the front?
0:04:34 > 0:04:37I suppose with the benefit of hindsight we could say so,
0:04:37 > 0:04:39but at the time when the services were offered,
0:04:39 > 0:04:40it was still a war of movement.
0:04:40 > 0:04:42We didn't know which way it was going to go,
0:04:42 > 0:04:46they didn't really expect to see the trench lines come up
0:04:46 > 0:04:50and there was a vague hope that it would be over by Christmas.
0:04:51 > 0:04:53It wasn't.
0:04:53 > 0:04:54And by November 1915,
0:04:54 > 0:04:57the battalion's full training was complete
0:04:57 > 0:05:00and they were deployed to the Somme valley as pioneers,
0:05:00 > 0:05:04building vital infrastructure such as trenches and supply roads.
0:05:06 > 0:05:10When the first assault finally came on 1st July 1916,
0:05:10 > 0:05:12it was a bloodbath.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15While the railwaymen attempted to dig new trenches
0:05:15 > 0:05:16behind the advancing troops,
0:05:16 > 0:05:20they were hindered by the piled up dead and wounded.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23As the Somme campaign dragged on into the autumn, it became clear
0:05:23 > 0:05:28that the railway supply network was hopelessly inadequate.
0:05:28 > 0:05:32The 17th Northumberland Fusiliers were ideal candidates
0:05:32 > 0:05:34to form a new Railway Battalion.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38I'm imagining that when the railwaymen are doing their proper work at the front,
0:05:38 > 0:05:40building and maintaining railways,
0:05:40 > 0:05:43some of that must be in very dangerous and appalling conditions.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46Certainly, yes, they were still at risk of gassing, shelling,
0:05:46 > 0:05:48even long range machine gun fire.
0:05:48 > 0:05:49As well as that,
0:05:49 > 0:05:52when doing narrow gauge work on the Passchendaele salient
0:05:52 > 0:05:55it was still extremely muddy, absolutely full of shell holes.
0:05:55 > 0:05:57You've got old trenches, old dugouts to contend with as well.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00They were going over absolutely destroyed ground
0:06:00 > 0:06:04that the British and Germans had fought over previously.
0:06:04 > 0:06:06The North Eastern Railway company didn't forget
0:06:06 > 0:06:12the valiant sacrifices their employees were making at the front.
0:06:12 > 0:06:14Do we know the individual stories
0:06:14 > 0:06:18of railwaymen who served with the NER Battalion?
0:06:18 > 0:06:19Well, there is a few.
0:06:19 > 0:06:23The North Eastern Railway published a magazine from 1911 onwards
0:06:23 > 0:06:25but continued to do so throughout the war years.
0:06:25 > 0:06:28They also included, a lot more sadly, the roll of honour,
0:06:28 > 0:06:31of men from the North Eastern Railway who had been killed.
0:06:31 > 0:06:33One of them in particular is a Private F Bayes,
0:06:33 > 0:06:36who had joined the 17th battalion Northumberland Fusiliers.
0:06:36 > 0:06:40According to the magazine, previous to enlisting he was employed as a wagon builder at York
0:06:40 > 0:06:42and was killed in action on July 1st,
0:06:42 > 0:06:44the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
0:06:44 > 0:06:46"He was 27 years of age
0:06:46 > 0:06:49"and had been in the company service 13 years.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52"Four of his brothers, it may be mentioned, are in the army,
0:06:52 > 0:06:53"three of them being at the front."
0:06:53 > 0:06:55It's a frightful thought, isn't it,
0:06:55 > 0:06:58that one mother has five sons there in the war,
0:06:58 > 0:07:01four of them at the front, one now already dead.
0:07:01 > 0:07:04But it brings them back to life, doesn't it, being able to see their photograph?
0:07:04 > 0:07:06It certainly does, and in many cases,
0:07:06 > 0:07:10this is most likely the only photographs of these men that remain in the world.
0:07:10 > 0:07:11Though their work was dangerous,
0:07:11 > 0:07:15the Railway Battalion didn't generally work on the front line,
0:07:15 > 0:07:18so their death toll was relatively low.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21They lost a total of 112 men,
0:07:21 > 0:07:24while infantry units, like the Leeds Pals battalion,
0:07:24 > 0:07:28suffered 750 casualties out of 900
0:07:28 > 0:07:31and the Sheffield pals were disbanded
0:07:31 > 0:07:33because the casualties were so high.
0:07:34 > 0:07:37And the ones who had survived, did they go back to railway work?
0:07:37 > 0:07:39Most of them, yes.
0:07:39 > 0:07:42In cases where the men were wounded too badly to return to that work,
0:07:42 > 0:07:44the North Eastern Railway tried to find a way
0:07:44 > 0:07:48to get them back into a lighter role but still working in the railways.
0:07:48 > 0:07:52So their employer did recognise the terrific job they'd done on the Western Front.
0:07:52 > 0:07:54- And this, I think, is your train. - It certainly is.
0:07:54 > 0:07:57Thank you very much indeed, have a good journey.
0:08:23 > 0:08:26The train companies provided enthusiastic,
0:08:26 > 0:08:30skilled recruits to the depleted British Army,
0:08:30 > 0:08:32but the primary job of the railway
0:08:32 > 0:08:34was to move men and kit to the front.
0:08:34 > 0:08:37This was a war that some had believed
0:08:37 > 0:08:39would be over by Christmas 1914.
0:08:39 > 0:08:43But by 1915, the army was short of more than just men.
0:08:44 > 0:08:47I think I can envisage how trains conveyed
0:08:47 > 0:08:50soldiers to the front, even by the million.
0:08:50 > 0:08:53But once the war became dug into trenches,
0:08:53 > 0:08:56pounding the enemy with artillery
0:08:56 > 0:09:00offered the only hope for each side for breaking the stalemate.
0:09:00 > 0:09:03What defies my imagination is the manufacture
0:09:03 > 0:09:06of millions of tons of shells
0:09:06 > 0:09:09and their transport to the front by railway.
0:09:12 > 0:09:14I'm travelling to a field
0:09:14 > 0:09:16just outside the Oxfordshire town of Banbury
0:09:16 > 0:09:21to meet a military historian fascinated by how we met that challenge,
0:09:21 > 0:09:26so much so he's earned the nickname "Mr Logistics", Rob Thompson.
0:09:26 > 0:09:28Rob, a muddy field by the M40 motorway,
0:09:28 > 0:09:30but what was this during World War I?
0:09:30 > 0:09:33During WW1 this would not have been a muddy field,
0:09:33 > 0:09:36this would have been National Filling Factory Number 9,
0:09:36 > 0:09:39a shell-filling factory which was absolutely vital to the war effort.
0:09:39 > 0:09:41Early in the conflict, the War Office
0:09:41 > 0:09:44asked the railway companies to make munitions,
0:09:44 > 0:09:46such as gun carriages, in their workshops.
0:09:46 > 0:09:50They had the capacity and the skills to be able to turn their hand
0:09:50 > 0:09:54to just about any manufacturing output on a giant scale.
0:09:54 > 0:09:57But soon everyone's mind was on ammunition.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00In 1915 we reached the shells crisis,
0:10:00 > 0:10:03that's where we were firing only four shells per gun per day
0:10:03 > 0:10:04By way of contrast,
0:10:04 > 0:10:07the Germans were firing over 180 shells per gun per day.
0:10:10 > 0:10:14When news of the shells crisis broke, scandal rocked the nation.
0:10:15 > 0:10:18Railway companies turned over their locomotive works
0:10:18 > 0:10:22to shell production, while a new "Ministry for Munitions"
0:10:22 > 0:10:25set up shell-filling stations in places like Banbury,
0:10:25 > 0:10:30which was chosen for its central location and excellent rail links.
0:10:30 > 0:10:34From here, shells could be transported to the north-east and Scotland
0:10:34 > 0:10:37or southwards to Southampton.
0:10:37 > 0:10:39It was built around the railways,
0:10:39 > 0:10:41the wagons would come in with the component materials,
0:10:41 > 0:10:44the wagons would leave with the filled shells,
0:10:44 > 0:10:47those wagons would continue to the ports of the English Channel,
0:10:47 > 0:10:50they would move onto ships themselves, still on their rails,
0:10:50 > 0:10:52across the Channel, off at the other end
0:10:52 > 0:10:56and would go directly to the guns at the front, never leaving the rails.
0:10:56 > 0:10:58Here there's a bit of brickwork left,
0:10:58 > 0:10:59do you know what this would have been?
0:10:59 > 0:11:02Well, this would have been where they brought the trolleys through
0:11:02 > 0:11:07for bringing the shell components in in the first place.
0:11:07 > 0:11:11And what do you feel when you come to a place like this?
0:11:11 > 0:11:14To me, this is not a dead site, it's not a muddy field
0:11:14 > 0:11:16or just some old brick works, to me this is living history.
0:11:16 > 0:11:19History is an exercise in the imagination
0:11:19 > 0:11:23and what I hear is the sound of the girls coming to work giggling,
0:11:23 > 0:11:26the clanking of the wagons and they come through,
0:11:26 > 0:11:30Wow, you've brought it alive, you really have.
0:11:30 > 0:11:31It's never occurred to me to ask
0:11:31 > 0:11:34how you actually make a shell, but I guess you're going to tell me?
0:11:34 > 0:11:37Yeah, well, the process is very simple,
0:11:37 > 0:11:40however, it's precision that matters.
0:11:40 > 0:11:42This is a shell, this one is a shrapnel shell,
0:11:42 > 0:11:45but we're going to be using it to show a high explosive work,
0:11:45 > 0:11:48it consists of a cartridge, which is this,
0:11:48 > 0:11:53a shell body, which is this,
0:11:53 > 0:11:58made out of steel, and a fuse, which is what sets it off.
0:11:58 > 0:12:00OK, so this would be the cordite.
0:12:00 > 0:12:03It's very similar to spaghetti, in fact.
0:12:03 > 0:12:05It would be bundled in red ribbons,
0:12:05 > 0:12:09placed inside the cartridge of the shell itself,
0:12:09 > 0:12:13the cartridge will be on top, like so...
0:12:13 > 0:12:17Inside the shell would be poured molten picric acid, known as lyddite,
0:12:17 > 0:12:19A very yellowy colour.
0:12:19 > 0:12:22This would be poured in, again, very precisely.
0:12:24 > 0:12:27Now who's doing all this pouring, munitions workers,
0:12:27 > 0:12:28so what sort of people are they?
0:12:28 > 0:12:30Many of them are women.
0:12:30 > 0:12:32They've never had the opportunity of employment before
0:12:32 > 0:12:33and also on top of that,
0:12:33 > 0:12:35I feel that they would have realised
0:12:35 > 0:12:37they were doing something for the war effort as well,
0:12:37 > 0:12:40helping their men at the front.
0:12:40 > 0:12:42Government Minister, David Lloyd George,
0:12:42 > 0:12:45had called on suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst
0:12:45 > 0:12:47to help to recruit his new workforce.
0:12:47 > 0:12:50She organised a rally in July 1915
0:12:50 > 0:12:52championing "Women's Right to Serve."
0:12:52 > 0:12:55Hundreds of thousands answered the call.
0:12:56 > 0:12:58"I had never been in a factory before
0:12:58 > 0:13:00"and a friend and I thought to ourselves, well,
0:13:00 > 0:13:03"let's do something."
0:13:03 > 0:13:06The women were known as "munitionettes",
0:13:06 > 0:13:08but they soon earned another nickname.
0:13:08 > 0:13:12It was dangerous work with toxic chemicals including TNT,
0:13:12 > 0:13:15which turned their skin and hair bright yellow,
0:13:15 > 0:13:18so they were called "the canaries."
0:13:20 > 0:13:23So were they quite safety conscious in these factories?
0:13:23 > 0:13:26They were extremely safety conscious in these factories.
0:13:26 > 0:13:28Not necessarily for the benefit
0:13:28 > 0:13:30or the health and safety of the workers themselves,
0:13:30 > 0:13:33but to keep production flowing.
0:13:33 > 0:13:34Production was everything.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39Lethal explosions could be caused by dropping a shell,
0:13:39 > 0:13:44so the system at Banbury ensured munitions were always transported on trolleys
0:13:44 > 0:13:47and never lifted or lowered.
0:13:47 > 0:13:49The production process was seamless.
0:13:49 > 0:13:51And it did the job.
0:13:51 > 0:13:55By the last year of the war the shells crisis was a distant memory.
0:13:58 > 0:14:02By 1917, they're fighting what becomes known as an "artillery gourmet's war."
0:14:02 > 0:14:05At one particular battle, the battle of Messines,
0:14:05 > 0:14:09we fire 144,000 tons of shells,
0:14:09 > 0:14:12that's about a ton every two or three seconds.
0:14:12 > 0:14:16We cap this in 1918, on 29th September,
0:14:16 > 0:14:21we fire just shy of one million shells in 24 hours
0:14:21 > 0:14:23in the assault on the Hindenburg Line.
0:14:23 > 0:14:25Terrifying.
0:14:25 > 0:14:26Absolutely.
0:14:30 > 0:14:32Throughout all this, the railway companies had worked
0:14:32 > 0:14:36side by side with the Ministry of Munitions,
0:14:36 > 0:14:39transporting supplies and helping to manufacture shells.
0:14:39 > 0:14:40Without the railways,
0:14:40 > 0:14:44it wouldn't have been possible to re-arm the front on such a lethal scale.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49Since Britain began the war with a tiny army,
0:14:49 > 0:14:51the railways had an obvious role
0:14:51 > 0:14:54in the rapid expansion of our continental forces.
0:14:54 > 0:14:58But they were also vital to the war at sea.
0:14:58 > 0:15:01The Royal Navy was the world's largest
0:15:01 > 0:15:03and its dreadnoughts ran on steam,
0:15:03 > 0:15:07for which they needed reliable supplies of coal.
0:15:09 > 0:15:12The trains were known as "Jellicoe Specials",
0:15:12 > 0:15:16after Admiral Jellicoe. They carried hundreds of tons of coal
0:15:16 > 0:15:19from South Wales to Grangemouth
0:15:19 > 0:15:24from where it was conveyed to the battleships in the Orkneys.
0:15:24 > 0:15:28The entire British rail network was feeding the voracious war machine.
0:15:29 > 0:15:34British railway expertise was also in demand on the Western Front.
0:15:35 > 0:15:39My journey take me to Longmoor in Hampshire.
0:15:43 > 0:15:46Given the strategic importance of railways,
0:15:46 > 0:15:51the British Army had to sustain its resources of specialised man-power.
0:15:51 > 0:15:53I'm standing above Longmoor camp
0:15:53 > 0:15:56where soldiers were taught about railways
0:15:56 > 0:15:59and where railwaymen learned to be soldiers.
0:16:00 > 0:16:03Not far from Longmoor lives Tony Rudgard,
0:16:03 > 0:16:08the proud son of one of those First World War Royal Engineers.
0:16:08 > 0:16:12Tony, which of these fine men is your father Harold?
0:16:12 > 0:16:17He's in the centre, this was taken in 1917 in France.
0:16:17 > 0:16:22He was superintendent of the Fourth Army Light Railway
0:16:22 > 0:16:28and they were delivering goods and ammunition to the front.
0:16:28 > 0:16:30Harold Rudgard had joined the Midland Railway
0:16:30 > 0:16:33as an apprentice in 1900.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36When did your father join the armed forces?
0:16:36 > 0:16:42In 1914, he was with the 5th Battalion Sherwood Foresters.
0:16:42 > 0:16:44So in that role,
0:16:44 > 0:16:47he had no opportunity to apply his railway expertise?
0:16:47 > 0:16:51No, he wasn't. But he was a machine gun officer.
0:16:51 > 0:16:57And he did that until he was wounded in Sanctuary Wood in France.
0:16:59 > 0:17:01It was only after he'd recovered from his injuries
0:17:01 > 0:17:05that he became involved in training at Longmoor.
0:17:05 > 0:17:06He was then promoted to major
0:17:06 > 0:17:10and became a superintendent for the railway in France.
0:17:10 > 0:17:13His main job was to keep the traffic moving.
0:17:13 > 0:17:20200,000 tons of goods were transported per week in France.
0:17:20 > 0:17:24If an engine failed, they wouldn't worry,
0:17:24 > 0:17:25they'd just push it off the line.
0:17:25 > 0:17:27They'd come back the next day and take it up.
0:17:27 > 0:17:31Cos they had to get the traffic through to the sidings.
0:17:31 > 0:17:38And here's a letter dated 17th November 1918, from whom is it?
0:17:38 > 0:17:41It's from my grandfather, Edward Rudgard,
0:17:41 > 0:17:44to my father, Harold Rudgard.
0:17:44 > 0:17:49This was dated five days after the armistice was signed.
0:17:49 > 0:17:52- Do you mind if I read a little of it?- Yes, certainly.
0:17:52 > 0:17:54"My dear son,
0:17:54 > 0:17:57"I feel I cannot allow this great and wonderful week to pass
0:17:57 > 0:18:01"without sending you a few words of hearty congratulation.
0:18:01 > 0:18:03"What a joy it has brought to millions and millions
0:18:03 > 0:18:08"and we who are spared to rejoice must always keep in our hearts
0:18:08 > 0:18:12"a place for those dear ones who nobly and cheerfully died
0:18:12 > 0:18:14"that England may live,
0:18:14 > 0:18:18"and for those who joined up for Love of the Cause..."
0:18:18 > 0:18:21Capital L, capital C.
0:18:21 > 0:18:24"I shall be pleased to hear that a grateful country
0:18:24 > 0:18:26"will very shortly allow you
0:18:26 > 0:18:30"to resume your work on the Midland Railway.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33"May you have good health and deserved success in life.
0:18:33 > 0:18:39"I am your affectionate father, Edward Rudgard."
0:18:39 > 0:18:41It's quite a letter, isn't it?
0:18:41 > 0:18:46Yes, it was. They felt things very strongly in those days.
0:18:47 > 0:18:50It was the work of men like Harold Rudgard
0:18:50 > 0:18:52that kept vital supply lines open,
0:18:52 > 0:18:55delivering men and munitions to the front.
0:19:01 > 0:19:05As the preeminent role of artillery in the war became ever clearer,
0:19:05 > 0:19:09the front line demanded not only more shells, but ever bigger guns.
0:19:09 > 0:19:13Machines so colossal and difficult to manoeuvre
0:19:13 > 0:19:19that they could be built only as massive railway wagons.
0:19:19 > 0:19:21Travelling on down to the South Coast,
0:19:21 > 0:19:24I've come to Fort Nelson near Portsmouth,
0:19:24 > 0:19:26home of the "big guns"
0:19:26 > 0:19:29to see for myself one of those monstrous machines
0:19:29 > 0:19:32in the company of curator Phil MacGrath
0:19:32 > 0:19:33Well, Phil,
0:19:33 > 0:19:37we are staring at the business end of the most colossal barrel.
0:19:37 > 0:19:40- What is it? - It's an 18-inch railway Howitzer,
0:19:40 > 0:19:45and here we have one of the rounds used for firing.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48That's over a ton in weight,
0:19:48 > 0:19:51which would have caused quite a serious amount of damage.
0:19:51 > 0:19:55Why did the British Army demand railway-mounted guns of this size?
0:19:55 > 0:20:00The requirement was for a much larger destructive fire power
0:20:00 > 0:20:06against key targets, like the very important Hindenburg Line.
0:20:11 > 0:20:12The Hindenburg Line
0:20:12 > 0:20:16was Germany's main line of defence on the Western Front,
0:20:16 > 0:20:18stretching from the north coast of France
0:20:18 > 0:20:21to the Belgian border near Verdun.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24Heavily fortified, it could only be overcome only
0:20:24 > 0:20:27through massive artillery bombardment.
0:20:27 > 0:20:31This enormous gun obviously cannot be conveyed on roads,
0:20:31 > 0:20:32was it manoeuvrable by rail?
0:20:32 > 0:20:38Yes, Michael, in fact the service wagon was much larger than this,
0:20:38 > 0:20:42yet still relatively transportable by rail.
0:20:42 > 0:20:44So they could get it to the front
0:20:44 > 0:20:46and then could they get it going pretty quickly?
0:20:46 > 0:20:48Yes, within a reasonable amount of time.
0:20:48 > 0:20:51It's hard to imagine that the wagons in World War I
0:20:51 > 0:20:54were even bigger than this, this weighs what?
0:20:54 > 0:20:56This is 180 tons.
0:20:56 > 0:21:01I've heard about guns with wonderful names like Bosch-buster
0:21:01 > 0:21:04and Scene-shifter, what sort of guns were they?
0:21:04 > 0:21:07Well these were actually the service wagons,
0:21:07 > 0:21:12and the gun barrel that they housed was the 14 inch gun barrel.
0:21:12 > 0:21:15So a tiny bit smaller than this but nonetheless, massive.
0:21:15 > 0:21:17Yes, indeed.
0:21:17 > 0:21:20On one famous occasion in 1918,
0:21:20 > 0:21:25King George V visited the front to witness this leviathan in action.
0:21:30 > 0:21:33They settled on a railway junction as the target
0:21:33 > 0:21:38at a place called Douai, and a troop train, by all accounts,
0:21:38 > 0:21:42was destroyed with 400 casualties.
0:21:43 > 0:21:46My goodness, one shell, 400 casualties?
0:21:46 > 0:21:48Incredible destructive power.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51Were there limitations to using these guns?
0:21:51 > 0:21:56Yes, of course, these were open to aerial bombardment,
0:21:56 > 0:22:02but also there was a problem on traversing the gun barrel.
0:22:02 > 0:22:04Ah, because it didn't swivel, of course.
0:22:04 > 0:22:06So what did you do about that?
0:22:06 > 0:22:08The way that they overcame that
0:22:08 > 0:22:13was to position the gun on a curved section of line.
0:22:13 > 0:22:14So all you had to do
0:22:14 > 0:22:16was just trundle a few hundred tons worth of gun
0:22:16 > 0:22:20round to the right point of the curve and fire away?
0:22:20 > 0:22:21Yes indeed.
0:22:22 > 0:22:24The First World War was won with artillery
0:22:24 > 0:22:27and that came at a price.
0:22:27 > 0:22:29The number of casualties was immense
0:22:29 > 0:22:32and in the vital work of tending to the wounded,
0:22:32 > 0:22:34the railways also played their part.
0:22:39 > 0:22:43I'm travelling back north, to the cathedral city of York
0:22:43 > 0:22:46and a magnet for British railway enthusiasts,
0:22:46 > 0:22:48the National Railway Museum.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56The Railway Gazette, dated 1920.
0:22:56 > 0:22:59"A well organised system of hospital trains
0:22:59 > 0:23:02"nowadays enables the worst cases
0:23:02 > 0:23:05"to be brought in a few hours from the field to the hospital.
0:23:05 > 0:23:10"It is pleasing that in addition to its role as a weapon of offence,
0:23:10 > 0:23:13"the railway serves to reduce death and suffering."
0:23:13 > 0:23:16I'm interested to see how in World War I,
0:23:16 > 0:23:19the train fulfilled its mission of mercy,
0:23:19 > 0:23:25giving the hope to wounded men of a return to health and to home.
0:23:25 > 0:23:29I'm meeting Medic and First World War scholar Dr Malcolm Timperley
0:23:29 > 0:23:35and archivist Alison Kay to find out about hospital trains.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38- Good to see you. Malcolm, hello. - Hello, welcome to the National Railway Museum.
0:23:38 > 0:23:40I'm delighted to be here.
0:23:40 > 0:23:41Prior to World War I,
0:23:41 > 0:23:44what experience had the British had with ambulance trains?
0:23:44 > 0:23:47The British experience was really in the Boer War.
0:23:47 > 0:23:50A couple were constructed and shipped out to South Africa,
0:23:50 > 0:23:53but from that they decided that what they really needed to do
0:23:53 > 0:23:54was make some plans
0:23:54 > 0:23:58because they believed that a European war was on the way.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01And when the war kicks off at the beginning of August,
0:24:01 > 0:24:04the plan is implemented immediately?
0:24:04 > 0:24:05The day after.
0:24:05 > 0:24:09And as you can see over here, they were very good plans
0:24:09 > 0:24:14because the order went out on the 5th of August 1914,
0:24:14 > 0:24:16and exactly three weeks later here is a picture
0:24:16 > 0:24:20of the first train leaving Dukinfield, near Manchester,
0:24:20 > 0:24:24en route for Southampton, so within three weeks, it's running.
0:24:24 > 0:24:25I'm quite impressed by this
0:24:25 > 0:24:28because I think of Britain as being not very well organised
0:24:28 > 0:24:32at the beginning of the war. But here's a plan that's working out.
0:24:32 > 0:24:35These plans show that the standard ambulance train
0:24:35 > 0:24:38had accommodation for around 400 injured soldiers,
0:24:38 > 0:24:4239 medical personnel and 8 other staff.
0:24:42 > 0:24:45The train generated its own electricity
0:24:45 > 0:24:48while all carriages were steam heated.
0:24:48 > 0:24:53You get these amazing wards that are full of freshly linened sheets,
0:24:53 > 0:24:56you get flowers shown as well.
0:24:56 > 0:24:58So you would be quite pleased, really,
0:24:58 > 0:25:00if your son or your husband
0:25:00 > 0:25:02was travelling back on one of these trains, I think.
0:25:02 > 0:25:06You'd even, in a railway carriage, this is a staff car,
0:25:06 > 0:25:07be able to take a bath.
0:25:07 > 0:25:12You can see here the water heater coming straight from the train
0:25:12 > 0:25:14that would heat your bath whilst you were sitting in it.
0:25:14 > 0:25:16That doesn't sound too bad, does it?!
0:25:16 > 0:25:19It doesn't. But plans are one thing and reality another.
0:25:19 > 0:25:22What was the reality? Was it different?
0:25:22 > 0:25:23It was very different. It was pretty grim.
0:25:23 > 0:25:27The trains are designed for about 400 patients.
0:25:27 > 0:25:32In fact we have many reports of them taking 800 and occasionally more.
0:25:32 > 0:25:34You're looking at an environment
0:25:34 > 0:25:37with an awful lot of very badly wounded guys.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40Many of whom have infections and, to be honest,
0:25:40 > 0:25:44one of the major problems is the smell that that generates.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47That a lot of these guys had laid in shell craters
0:25:47 > 0:25:50for 2 or 3 days before they even got to medical help.
0:25:50 > 0:25:52The trains smelt awful.
0:25:52 > 0:25:54Most people were actually smoking.
0:25:54 > 0:25:56It made it more pleasant for people
0:25:56 > 0:25:59to actually be in this thick fog of smoke
0:25:59 > 0:26:02which is completely, completely, different from what you might imagine
0:26:02 > 0:26:06from the official photographs with the flowers.
0:26:07 > 0:26:12Artillery, machine guns, barbed wire and poison gas
0:26:12 > 0:26:14caused new and horrifying injuries.
0:26:14 > 0:26:17Infection festered.
0:26:17 > 0:26:20This was before the advent of antibiotics,
0:26:20 > 0:26:22so much of the work involved dressing wounds
0:26:22 > 0:26:25or dealing with severe pain and high fever.
0:26:25 > 0:26:27Working conditions were terrible
0:26:27 > 0:26:30and staff would go without sleep for days.
0:26:30 > 0:26:31By the end of the war,
0:26:31 > 0:26:352.6 million injured troops had been transported
0:26:35 > 0:26:39in 49 ambulance trains on nearly 8,000 journeys.
0:26:40 > 0:26:43It's a pretty grim picture.
0:26:43 > 0:26:45Do we, do we learn something as a nation,
0:26:45 > 0:26:48does medicine learn something from these ambulance trains?
0:26:48 > 0:26:51This was one of the first times when it was actually realised
0:26:51 > 0:26:54that there are some parts of healthcare that you have to organise
0:26:54 > 0:26:56from the top, centrally,
0:26:56 > 0:27:01and ultimately, from that, came the kind of systems that we have today.
0:27:03 > 0:27:07So apparently, out of all that horror came the kernel of the idea
0:27:07 > 0:27:10that would become the National Health Service.
0:27:13 > 0:27:15At the time of World War I,
0:27:15 > 0:27:18the railways were at their peak.
0:27:18 > 0:27:21Because their managers ran such complex organisations,
0:27:21 > 0:27:24they were enlisted to boost the supply of shells
0:27:24 > 0:27:27and their delivery to the front line.
0:27:27 > 0:27:30Ordinary railwaymen who'd joined pals battalions
0:27:30 > 0:27:36found their practical skills in demand, both at home and abroad.
0:27:36 > 0:27:40The ambulance trains were another railway success,
0:27:40 > 0:27:42although they would eventually be overwhelmed
0:27:42 > 0:27:45by the unimaginable level of casualties.
0:27:49 > 0:27:51Next time, I'll be getting hands-on experience
0:27:51 > 0:27:53of the narrow tracks and trains
0:27:53 > 0:27:56that kept supplies flowing to the front line...
0:27:56 > 0:27:57- Ready, lift!- Whoa!
0:27:57 > 0:28:01..uncovering the story of the war's forgotten railway poet...
0:28:01 > 0:28:04"Blasphemer braggart and coward all..."
0:28:04 > 0:28:06- It's quite strong stuff, isn't it? - It is, yes.
0:28:06 > 0:28:08..and commemorating the many soldiers killed
0:28:08 > 0:28:12in a horrific railway accident on British soil.
0:28:12 > 0:28:15It was a disaster almost waiting to happen,
0:28:15 > 0:28:17and it happened here on that fateful Saturday morning.