Home front: Britain’s railway at war

To mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day, Richard Foster presents an overview of how the railway responded to the nation’s First and Second World Wartime needs.

It’s the night of April 15-16 1915. The signalman on duty in Oulton Broad ‘box is so overwhelmed by what he is seeing - bombs falling on the nearby Suffolk coastal town of Lowestoft - that he feels compelled to record it somewhere. So, he scratches it onto the desk that holds the train register.