大象传媒

Throughout the War I lived in Guildford in Surrey and from May 1940 I worked near Surbiton. My father worked in West London and our journeys to and from work coincided over the "Southern Electric" line from Guildford to Surbiton via Effingham Junction. Particularly in the evening we looked out for each other and sometimes - caught the the same train.

On the occassion of this story there had been an air raid in the afternoon and my usual bus did not arrive, so I took the trolley bus to Surbiton which made me later than usual. The station was in total darkness and, by a remarkable coincidence the first person that I literally blundered into was my father.

After a long wait a train arrived on our line, it was in a sorry state with many broken windows as it had been bombed in a station nearer London. However, we got on and it set off.

Freezing cold we rattled on watching the ack-ack fire and the flash and crump of bombs falling. We stopped at all the stations and, when we reached Cobham we were in the country and, we thought, out of trouble.

About five minutes out of Cobham the already dim lights went out and the train was obviously rolling without power. We soon stopped and, after a while the guard came along the track to say that there was a bomb by the line ahead which had cut the power lines, he had apparently been on the trackside telephone. He said that we should get down and walk back to Cobham on the track, about 2 miles. A group of us wanted to go towards home so we decided to walk forward to Effingham Junction about 4 miles, where there was a possibility of a train on the other line from Leatherhead.

So, about ten of us set off in pitch blackness with torches growing more dim every minute and the flashes of the raid behind us to light our way. The power was off the "third rail" and the gleam from the polished rails helped to guide us.

Eventually we came to the bomb crater at the side of the track and passed it without difficulty, but soon we came to the bridge over the River Mole, the rails were mounted on cross girdars without any deck and open to the water below. However, we found a footway about 12 inches wide and with a handrail, so with great trepidation we all got safely across.

Just after the bridge there was a sub-station to feed power to the track and I noticed through the window that the lights on the equipment were on so it was probable that the "third rail" was now live! Our torches had more or less failed by now as we walked very carefully in single file only guided by the shine of the rails.

About three hours after leaving the train Effingham Station came into view with a three coach train at the down platform. The station master said that it was going into the sidings for the night. We told him our story and pleaded with him to get us to Guildford. After a few phone calls he said it was OK and the shed driver would take the train as far as London Road Station in Guildford but not to the main station. He added that there was no guard available so we had better behave ourselves! We set off and arrived home about midnight without further incident.

Twice more during this winter I was involved in similar track walking episodes but none were so long or arduous as this one.

Note 1: For more stories from Ken Larbey see:

* A7082517 - People's War 1940-41 ("Anyone for tennis?")

* A7983930 - People's War June 1944 ("Did we shoot it down?")

Note 2: My wife's story "My First Day as a Wartime Nurse" can be found at A3959076.

Story: This story has been submitted to the People's War site by Muriel Palmer (volunteer) Age Concern Shropshire Telford & Wrekin on behalf of Kenneth LARBEY (author) and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

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