大象传媒

During World War 11 my grandfather Douglas Morris 'Doug', who at that time lived in Chesterfield with his wife Olive Morris (my grandmother) worked on the railways as an engine driver. In those days most goods were transported by rail making the rail network a vital transport link.

The majority of my grandfather's work involved transporting goods, raw materials for industry, coal, munitions and troops. All this made the railways prime targets for the Luftwaffe (German airforce). They would try and destroy stations, goods depots and bridges.

My grandfather used to take a goods train to its destination and bring another back to Chesterfield. As he would have sometimes been on duty for several days at a time, he would be required to stay overnight at lodgings close by the rail depots or station.

In the event of an air raid, whilst staying in lodgings, the rail companys instructions were for employees like my grandfather to return immediately to the station or depot where they were on duty the next day to receive instructions from the station master. It was vital to get as many engines and carriages away from the stations as possible because otherwise, if the station was bombed, a lot of vital equipment and goods would have been lost. Employees had to take whichever train the station master directed them to and take it out of the town or city into the countryside. They wold stop when they got out into fields and farmland where they would have to sit and wait for further instructions. A rail employee would come out and find them and if the station had not been attacked they could reverse the train back to the station. If the station had been taken out they had to drive the train to another destination. (The bombing would happen in waves, so employees would carry this out in between severe bombardment, which could last varying lengths of time).

All this meant the railways were in chaos, which was of course, the German's aim. So my grandfather's work along with other employees like him was of great importance to the war effort.

One night always stood out in my grandfathers memory of his time on the railways. That particular night he was lodging in Coventry, with a 15 year old boy who had just started work as a fireman. The sirens sounded and they both had to run through the streets to get to the station with bombs falling all around them. It was absolute mayhem as people ran for the shelters, buildings collapsing all around them and the noise of exploding bombs was defeaning.

At one point the bombardment became so intense, they were unable to continue their journey to the station and had to shelter under a bridge with no way of contacting their families.

My grandfather was a placid man, very cool under pressure, but his 15 year old fireman was, as you can imagine, terrifed and repeatedly shouted 'we're going to die Doug'. My grandfather simply turned to him and said in Derbyshire accent 'hah lad, stick wi' me and tha'll be alright'. So once the wave of bombing had subsided, they made their way to the station and got the train to safety.

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