大象传媒

Whilst journeying on holiday to my Grandmothers in York in 1941 as a boy of ten years old. Whilst travelling on the Bristol to Newcastle night mail train, I had a frightening experience. It was about 12.30am and the train arrived at Sheffield. After a short wait, it then left the station, next stop Rotherham. Shortly after leaving the Air-Raid warning was given, and an air-raid began. It was a clear moonlit night, with a full moon, which lit up the area quite brightly. When the raid began, all the lights in the train were switched off, except for low level blue ones in the roof of the coaches. The train reduced speed so that very little steam in the locomotives exhaust. By now we were on the viaduct above Brightside. Peering through the window blinds we could see flares and hear explosions as the raid progressed.

Passengers began to get very anxious, we were moving only slowly, and they were concerned that the bombers overhead could see us.

(The full moon was known by the Air-crews as a bomber鈥檚 moon) and they were fearful we were a Sitting Target. We eventually arrived at Rotherham and as no air raid warning had been given there, when the train left it proceeded at a normal speed towards York. Also the coach lighting was restored.

Had the warning sounded whilst we were stopped in Sheffield we could have been advised to use the Shelters, and the train stayed there till the raid was over.

There is however a postscript to this story.

When we returned from holiday 14 days later, of the four railway lines on the viaduct we had crossed, two were out of use. Brightside station had been hit and our train ran at slow speed over temporary decking on the viaduct on the two in use.
The question remains unanswered, were they hit that night? Or on a subsequent night, we will never know?

This story was submitted to the 鈥淧eoples War Site by Rod Aldwinckle of the CSV Action Desk on behalf of Kenneth Moore and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the terms and conditions of the site.

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