Peter Steer’s Railway Travel in World War Two looks at the famous WWII Government exhortation “Is your journey really necessary?” and assesses whether the British public took heed and abstained from rail travel.

Between the wars, the number of cars on British roads increased from 214,529 in 1922 to 3m in 1939 while passenger journeys on railways reduced by a third from 1.2bn to 850m. The British were becoming a nation of car owners. However, the Government was desperate to ensure that there was sufficient railway capacity to move troops and equipment as quickly as possible. As Steer shows us, the public initially accepted this and the commensurate reduction in passenger services. This “Phoney War”, though, meant there was no visible military activity and the public drifted back to normal activity. 1943 turned out to be the railways’ busiest year ever recorded.

Steer’s detail gives a good sense of the disruption experienced during the war, when sixty million changes of address were recorded. There were mass evacuations of children (many of whom returned home for various reasons during the Phoney War and were then evacuated again); Government departments and the BBC were relocated away from London, as were various parts of the Services such as the Admiralty moving to Bath.

The book is also good on the tension between the railways and the Government. It was all very well for the Government to ask people not to travel, but what were people supposed to do? They still had to get to work or school. Service personnel moved location or went on leave (there is a lot in the book about armed forces personnel filling up carriages with their kit-bags and weapons). The relocation of government departments meant civil servants were travelling on business (and went first-class, of course!). The railways agonised over whether they should run restaurant cars or not with the Government wanting them removed but people on long journeys understandably wanting food and drink.

Overall, this is a really informative book and one I shall return to many times. I loved the personal anecdotes such as “James, who had originally been evacuated to Luton […]” which illustrated the impact of impersonal centralised decisions upon individuals. There are weak points: some sentences are long and convoluted, sometimes with too many “and”s linking points that should be separate sentences. Some chapters also try to do too much, containing material about many different topics, so that the reader is surprised to find abrupt shifts from a discussion about evacuees, through one about catering, to lighting within a few pages. The book would be easier to follow (and to follow a specific topic over time) if there were sub-headings within each chapter. However, these are quibbles. Peter Steer has produced a most valuable book and I am very grateful to him for doing so. I think anyone interested in WWII or railways would agree.

#RailwayTravelinWorldWarTwo #NetGalley

My husband and I really enjoyed reading this. I am a bit of a history geek and my husband is a train and war geek so this book was more up his street than it was mine.

It was an enjoyable and interesting read with some good photographs and sources. My husbands grandad worked on the railway during the second world around the Ilkeston, Derbyshire area and it’s where my husbands interest in the railway stemmed from. He has recommended the book to a few of his work colleagues as he works on the railway and also his model train group.

The Railway Executive Committee (REC) was a government body which controlled the operation of Britain's railways during both World Wars.The REC was re-formed on 24 September 1938 with a remit to run the British railways if war broke out.The railways would later be brought under government control through the REC under the direction of the Ministry of Transport.The Big Four railway companies, comprising the Great Western Railway (GWR), the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS), the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER), and the Southern Railway (SR), along with the London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB).Initially, the role of the REC was advisory and coordinated the existing emergency plans and preparations of the railway companies and the Railway Technical Committee for such matters as civilian evacuation and air raid precautions.To save money on fuel and reduce the demands on the railways the REC ordered various restrictions on passenger services which came into effect on 11 September 1939: passenger train services were reduced in number and speeds were restricted; various reduced fares were discontinued; reservations of seats, compartments, and saloons were discontinued; restaurant car services were withdrawn; and the number of sleeping car services was reduced.REC control lasted from 1939 until the railways were nationalised in 1948.The railway played a crucial role during the conflict, including transporting evacuees to safety, commuters to and from work,and moving troops and essential goods around Britain and sending trains to pick up troops from Dunkirk.That operation was effectively carried out blind,because they were unable to accurately gauge the number of troops arriving in England or the rate of the landings at particular piers or docks.As a result, the railway operation remained as flexible as possible, so trains could respond as needed.By D-Day, passengers were accustomed to war-related disruption to their journeys such as cancellations,delays, overcrowding,and numerous travel restrictions.WWII actually delayed the conversion from steam to diesel locomotives due to motive power.

Railway Travel in World War Two is interesting, informative and very "readable" (that said, due to my eyes, I have my tablet or phone "read aloud" as many books as possible ... including this one).

There is a tremendous amount of information in this book. Towards the end of the this book, i had the thought that historical fiction authors will be using this book as a way to provide more depth to their novels.

I do like to mix non-fiction into my reading and this is the type of book that I would recommend to my "Somewhere In Time" (non-fiction/history) book club. I really liked how the author intermixed stories of travelers into the narrative.

If you are a WWII or railroad enthusiast, you would really enjoy this book and I would highly recomment. Note though that although the book indicates that it is Railroad Travel in WWII, this book is specific to UK.

I was amazed at how the railroad modified train schedules and planning based on what was going on with the war efforts; contrast that to the railroad in the US which is underwhelming.

Many thanks to NetGalley who has (yet once again) introduced me to a "new to me author"; I would read another book written by Peter Steer. Thank you to NetGalley and publisher Pen & Sword for approving my NetGalley request for a copy of the advance read copy of Railway Travel in exchange for an honest review. Publication date is 30 Nov 2023.

A bit dry at times but full of facts and data, a book that illustrate in an informative and clear way how the railway travel were during WWII
I learnt a lot and found it interesting
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine