​GTR remembers railway workers’ First World War service across network

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Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) hosted a commemorative event at Brighton station on Friday, 9 November, to mark 100 years since the end of the First World War, and to honour the railway workers that served in the Armed Forces and at home.

A large poppy was placed on a life-sized “Tommy” outline sponsored by GTR and supplied by the “There But Not There” non-profit organisation that supports military veterans’ charities.

GTR hosted similar events at London Blackfriars and Potters Bar stations, and also sponsored the purchase and installation of Royal British Legion silent soldier ‘Thank You Silhouettes’ for 19 stations where the Sussex Community Rail Partnership organised remembrance events.

At Brighton on Friday, representatives of the local Royal British Legion chapter and Brighton & Hove Council attended the ceremony with Angie Doll, GTR’s Passenger Services Director for Southern and Gatwick Express.

Angie said: “A century since the end of the First World War, GTR wants to remember the railway workers from Great Britain and Ireland who served under arms, of whom 19,000 gave their lives. We also pay tribute to the enormous contribution made by the hundreds and thousands of men and women who worked tirelessly to keep Britain’s rail network moving, delivering vital munitions and supplies to the Western Front.

“The historic London Brighton & South Coast Railway was central to this effort. More than a third of its workers – around five and a half thousand men – left to join the war, and over 500 did not return. The company also transported 30,000 soldiers and delivered the bulk of the British army's stores and munitions, about 7 million tons, to the troops on the continent.”

The Royal British Legion’s East Sussex Community Fundraiser Sonja Bateup said: “Everyone has a connection to the First World War, and we all have a reason to say ‘Thank You’ for the legacy that extraordinary generation left for us.

“As we come to the end of the First World War Centenary now is the time to come together in our communities and say ‘Thank You’. The poignant way that GTR have been and continue to commemorate over this centenary period is fantastic, with their events, silhouette installations and ceremonies at stations.”

Ends

Editors’ notes

• In addition to the life-sized ‘There But Not There’ Tommy outlines at Brighton, London Blackfriars and Potters Bar stations, GTR has sponsored Royal British Legion silent soldier silhouettes at the following 19 stations:

1. Horsham
2. Christ’s Hospital
3. Pulborough
4. Billingshurst
5. Arundel
6. Ford
7. Chichester
8. Bosham
9. Angmering
10. Worthing
11. Lancing
12. Salfords
13. Lewes
14. Hove
15. Newhaven Town
16. Bishopstone
17. Three Bridges
18. Bexhill
19. Rye

• London Brighton & South Coast Railway (LB&SCR) operated out of Brighton station and on the Southern network in the early 1900s.
• 5,635 LB&SCR railway workers left to join the war (almost 35 per cent of those in the company’s service in 1914). 530 railwaymen fell, and 900 were wounded, made prisoner or reported missing.
• LB&SCR was responsible for carrying the bulk of stores and munitions delivered to the British troops on the continent, principally through its ports of Newhaven and, to a lesser degree, Littlehampton.
• It was responsible for ambulance trains as well as transporting nearly 30,000 troops and nearly 7 million tons of goods, including 2.7 million tons of explosives.
• LB&SCR ran an additional 80,742 trains (27,366 for troops and 27,366 for goods for the purpose of the war – on average, a train every half an hour from the day war broke out until the day the Armistice was signed
• 678 LB&SCR ambulance trains ran from the outbreak of war to the end of December 1918, carrying 79,407 patients (37,070 of whom were taken to Brighton)