15,000 EMPIRE RAILWAYMEN

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 05, Issue 48, 4 May 1942, Page 6

15,000 EMPIRE RAILWAYMEN

RUNNING THE TRAINS IN THE MIDDLE EAST Vital movement of troops and equipment for Britain's armies in the Middle East, as avo.ll as supplies for a ciA'il population of 50,000*000 people, are being largely handled by 15.000 men who in peace time Avork on the railway and docks of Britain, Australia. New Zealand, South Africa and India. Formed into companies of the Royal Engineers. New Zealand, Australian, South African and Indian Engineers, these men carry on in the Army the Avork of engine drivers, platelayers or ste\'edores. just as they did at home. Operating companies, consisting of engine drivers, firemen, signalmen (called "blockmen" in the Army), brakesmen, shunters, boilermakers and fitters, guards and stationmasters, each haA*o about 100 miles of line to Avork, some of it—like that of the Trans-Iranian railway—over mountain ranges in wild, inhospitable country. Much of their rolling stock has seen service on the railAA'ays of the United Kingdom, and more than 100 locomotiAXS and some 1500 Avaggons have been sent to Iran alone since last Sep-« tember. Where a railway has to be built from scratch, a construction company and a survey company are called in to: erect depots and lay tracks. Platelayers and other men from the railways make up a company of nhout 300 who, with the assistance of large gangs of natiA'e labour, can construct up to a mile of track a day. East on strategic main lines and in sidings since the outbreak of Avar. Ports throughout the MiddleEast are manned by dock companies, consisting of steA'edores, checkers and crane dri\'ers from British ports, all expert in their jobs. Before going out to their jobs, the British Army's railwaymcn are given a course cf training at an Armv raihvay school and a film av.lll shortly be seen in oA T erseas countries showing them at Avork there.