1940s Gallery

Kemble Station, Gloucestershire, c.1940s

A view of the Junction of Cirencester Branch towards Swindon at Kemble station in Gloucestershire, c.1940s. It opened in 1872, and closed to goods 1967.
The limestone bridge became Grade II listed in 2015, with the station and the water tank granted listed status in 1986

© STEAM Museum of the GWR

1940s, Bridge, Gloucestershire, Grade Ii Listed, Junction, Kemble, Kemble Station, Platform, Station

Servicemen drinking tea from a refreshment trolley on Paddington station, during WWII

A member of Refreshment Department staff serving tea to servicemen from her platform trolley at Paddington Station is the feature of this official photograph taken in 1943. Despite the fact that numerous official photographs featuring women at work were taken by the Company Photographer during the war, it is noticeable how much less they are featured in the Company Magazine than in the previous war. An indication, perhaps, that the employment of women was no longer being regarded at a novelty

© STEAM Museum of the GWR

Mobile emergency canteen at Paddington Station, during WWII

Paddington station in 1943 and a shot of the mobile emergency canteen, which was used to feed station staff, APR wardens, firemen and other staff who were active during the night when the station canteen was closed. The canteen was usually manned by a driver and a female attendant and was designed as a mobile unit so that it could move from place to place, where it was most needed when air strikes affected station or depot facilities. This mobile trailer canteen was designed in the Road Transport Department Drawing Office at Slough and built at Swindon Works, and was designed with adaptable couplings so that it could be attached to any of the Company's articulated tractors. The canteen was fully equipped with water supply, cooking facilities, tea urn and storage space for emergency stocks of dried food

© STEAM Museum of the GWR