The Railway at War Gallery

Scammel being loaded with Anderson Air Raid Shelter, West London, 1939

Westbourne Park Yard in April 1939 is the focus of this interesting pre-war image. Parts of Anderson shelters are being unloaded from a line of wagons onto a 3 ton Scammell tractor by a Ransome and Rapier petrol electric crane. From February 1939 Anderson shelters were distributed to households throughout the country. They were issued free to low income households and to those that earned more than £5 per week they were sold at a cost of £7. A total of 3.6 million Anderson shelters were issued or sold during the Second World War. From Westbourne Park Yard these shelters would have been distributed to homes throughout the London area

Midget Submarine superstructure, 1943

Also built in the Carriage and Wagon Works at Swindon were 50 of these midget submarine superstructures which were produced for the Admiralty. The superstructure was made of mahogany and then covered in outer curtains that protected the driver and his assistant from the flow of water when submerged. All joints had to be precision made in order to prevent any water penetration into the submarine, and the vessel was built to withstand water pressure of 90lb to the square inch, so allowing it to submerge to a considerable depth. The work on the midget submarines was top secret. Only the men directly involved in its design and construction knew about it and they were sworn to secrecy. The screens surrounding the submarine in this image are testament to the sensitive nature of much of the war work carried out at Swindon Works

Female worker servicing a Thorncroft lorry at Slough Road Motor Department, 1944

During the Second World War women were given jobs normally assigned to men. At the GWR Road Motor Depot at Slough this involved car and lorry maintenance and repair

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Berkshire, Lorry, Second World War, Slough, Thornycroft, War, Women, Ww2