Farewell Ypres until the next time ❤️

Solferino Farm Cemetery today

Lovely day in Ypres Looked around a certain well known book shop and came out with a Belgium railway lamp and chemin der fare watch - photo taken by a convenient WW1 railway sleeper!

Went looking for the locations of the light railways in Trônes Wood #WW1 #Railway

Beaucourt Hamel station then and now

Visited Delsaux and Bac-du-Sud cemeteries yesterday looking for 4 men of the 54th Light Rly Co RE’s I am piecing together the company history as there is no diary or other archives, except for data I have found, and their story deserves telling

Authuille Bridge - one of many bridges on the Albert to Arras line demolished in March 1918 as the Germans advance. The red building seems to have survived the bridge demolition - looking at the date on the wall it was only built the year before! Map @GreatWarDigital

Albert Station today, complete with aeroplane hanging from the ticket hall ceiling - and why not!

Grandcourt Level Crossing on the Albert to Arras line today. Note the two buildings by the crossing were rebuilt in 1919 and different design to the originals (see old postcard)

Heilly Station Well known for the Casualty Clearing Station in WW1 where trains arrived and departed with the wounded. Those who sadly didn’t journey onwards can be found in the cemetery in the distance #ww1 #Railway #Somme

Finally got the opportunity to pay my respects today to GWR employee Thomas Edmund Simpson at Vignacourt Cemetery. The circumstances of his death illustrates how, as on many occasions, luck and fate can deal an appalling hand (See below) #GWR #Railway #WW1

Rather a nice pad - plus the sound of the nearby trains on the Albert to Arras line

Beautiful day for the start of our trip to get fully engrossed in all things WW1 Railways #WW1🛤️🚂#Somme #Ypres

New card: Level crossing at Grandcourt - Somme Will be looking at this for real in a couple of days time 😉

Great Western Railwaymen who lost their lives in the First World War #WW1 #FWW #GWR James Card (Packer Engineering Dept Lawrence Hill Bristol) Rifleman 1st Battalion Rifle Brigade Killed in action 13 Sept 1914 Aged 29 Buried at Vauxbuin French National Cemetery

Great Western Railwaymen who lost their lives in the First World War #WW1 #FWW #GWR John George Ilsey -Riveter Signal Dept Reading Private 1st Royal Scots Fusiliers Died of wounds 19/11/1914 aged 29 Buried at Boulogne Eastern Cemetery

Great Western Railwaymen who lost their lives in the First World War #WW1 #FWW #GWR Henry Frank Milton Signal Porter Pyle (Bridgend) Private 1st Battalion Gloucestershire Regt killed in action 21/10/14 during First Battle of Ypres. Aged 26 - commemorated on the Menin Gate Ypres

Great Western Railwaymen who lost their lives in the First World War #WW1 #FWW #GWR George Francis Lee (carriage cleaner Old Oak Common) 1st Class Stoker HMS Aboukir - was torpedoed by German submarine on the 22 September 1914 He is Commemorated on the Chatham Naval Memorial

Great Western Railwaymen who lost their lives in the First World War #WW1 #FWW #GWR Albert John Bailey Labourer Loco Dept Old Oak Common Private 2nd Highland Light Infantry Died of wounds 23 Sept 1914 at American Ambulance Neuilly-sur-Seine & buried at the nearby CWGC cemetery Paris

Great Western Railwaymen who lost their lives in the First World War #WW1 #FWW #GWR Edward Walter Turner - labourer Old Oak Common Pte 1st Middlesex Regt Died of wounds 26 Oct 1914 at the 19th Field Ambulance aged 27 Buried at Ration Farm Military Cemetery

Enjoyed your article Judith. Much research has been done over the years, including by me, regarding Seale Hayne. My grandfather was a patient and my grandmother was a worker there. Local BBC filmed there highlighting the groundbreaking work done there. @judithbarrowauthor.bsky.social

Great Western Railwaymen who lost their lives in the First World War #WW1 #FWW #GWR Alfred John Hunt (Shunter Westbury) L/Cpl 4th Middlesex Regiment Died of wounds 21/10/1914 aged 26 Buried at Bethune Town Cemetery Originally enlisted in 1903 when his occupation was a Gunsmith

Great Western Railwaymen who lost their lives in the First World War #WW1 #FWW #GWR William John Clifford (brakesman Tondu) Pte 1st Bedfordshire Regiment Killed in action 13 October 1914 aged 29 Commemorated on the Le Touret Memorial

Great Western Railwaymen who lost their lives in the First World War #WW1 #FWW #GWR Herbert Gardiner - Shunter Swansea Docks Lance Corporal 1st Kings Royal Rifle Corps Missing 17 Sept 1914 (1 of 3 men on a cross found saying died 16th) reburied in Vendresse Cemetery

Great Western Railwaymen who lost their lives in the First World War #WW1 #FWW #GWR Frank Rawlinson - Goods Porter South Lambeth 9023 Pte 1st Battalion South Wales Borderers Died at Edgbaston General Hospital Birmingham on 13/11/14 of wounds received in action Aged 26

New card which led to a new WW1 Railway story: Birthday card to Sapper Graham Fisher sent by his sister 17/8/17 three months later Fisher & 3 others of the 35th Light Rly Co RE were captured at Cambrai on 30/11/17 and remained POW’s until Dec 1918

Great Western Railwaymen who lost their lives in the First World War #WW1 #FWW #GWR George Philip Baggs (Porter Goods Dept Bristol) Private 1st Duke of Cornwalls Light Infantry KiA 9/9/1914 Aged 29

Great Western Railwaymen who lost their lives in the First World War #WW1 #FWW #GWR Charles Edward Theobald (Horsekeeper Goods Dept Paddington) Pte 1st West Surrey Regt KiA 30/10/1914 Aged 37

Great Western Railwaymen who lost their lives in the First World War #WW1 #FWW #GWR Sydney George Margary Goods Porter Radstock Pte 1st Somerset Light Infantry Killed in action 1st or 15/10/1914 Buried in a collective grave in Verberie French National Cemetery, Oise

Great Western Railwaymen who lost their lives in the First World War #WW1 #FWW #GWR Clarence White (Porter Goods Dept Oxford) Pte 2nd Ox & Bucks Light Infantry Killed in action 14 September 1914 aged 30

New card: lovely photo of Belgian civilian railwaymen working with the army - interesting to see on the reverse the card was written by a British person and addressed to Oissel south of Rouen (?)

New postcard: looks like a railway depot possibly Audruicq - note cranes in background Anyone help with the cap badges of the officers #Railway #WW1

Great Western Railwaymen who lost their lives in the First World War #WW1 #FWW #GWR Walter Percy Gerrard (Porter Goods Dept Bristol) Private 1st South Wales Borderers killed in action 26th September 1914 aged 28

New postcard: Carpenters and joiners with the Railway Operating Division at Audruicq in August 1919 #RoyalEngineers #RE #Railway #WW1

Great Western Railwaymen who lost their lives in the First World War #WW1 #FWW #GWR Frederick George Styles Porter South Lambeth Private 1st Royal Berkshire Regt Died of wounds 10th Sept 1914 Aged 34

Great Western Railwaymen who lost their lives in the First World War #WW1 #FWW #GWR Arthur Thomas John Proule/Prowle (Porter at Bristol) Private 2nd Devonshire Regt in 1911 (bandsman) then 1st Battalion in 1914 Died of wounds 22/9/1914

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Western Front Railway Stations: Beaumont Hamel Station Somme as it was prior to the First World War and what it looked like after being captured from the Germans in November 1916 #WW1

Great Western Railwaymen who lost their lives in the First World War #WW1 #FWW #GWR Harold Denham (5th Dragoon Guards) - Taunton George Victor Grimmer (1/8th Worcestershire Regt) - Henwick

Western Front Railway Stations: Ypres - once a beautiful station but, as was the fate of Ypres, four years of war reduced it to rubble. #WW1

Great Western Railwaymen who lost their lives in the First World War #WW1 #FWW #GWR Fred Charles Leonard (3rd Wessex Brigade Royal Field Artillery) - Swindon John Pardell (Sgt 17th Royal Welsh Fusiliers) - Shrewsbury

Western Front Railway Stations Saulty Larbret HQ of 3rd Monmouth Railway Co RE 10th June 1916 5.15am Enemy shelling started, aeroplane observed effect 5.30am range adjusted, buildings & yard damaged. Shelling stopped 9.15am Total of 125 shrapnel & HE shells were fired #WW1

Great Western Railwaymen who lost their lives in the First World War #WW1 #FWW #GWR Sidney (not L) Gordon Hughes (Army Cyclist Corps) - Acrefair Arthur Baggs (1st Wiltshire Regt) - Llantrisant

Great Western Railwaymen who lost their lives in the First World War #WW1 #FWW #GWR John Price (Sgt 116th (GWR) Railway Co Royal Engineers) - Llanvihangel Percival Frank Lane (1/8th Worcester Regt) - Campden

Always handy to come across official records of men where a unit War Diary has been lost These relate to the 118th Railway Company RE’s showing casualties due to bombing raids on two occasions #WW1 #Railways

Great Western Railwaymen who lost their lives in the First World War #WW1 #FWW #GWR Walter John Ellis (19th Welsh Regt) - Newton Abbot Frederick James Gibson (3rd Air Line Section Royal Engineers) - Frome

Now is the time we reflect on events during the year, the good and the bad both globally and personally, and look forward to the New Year with positivity. I wish you all the very best for 2025, and leave you with a couple of photos from the Western Front taken this year.

Am looking at RE railway company records & came across this which is misfiled - Daily orders 1/4th Leicestershire Regt 30/9/1916 incase anyone is interested.

🎄 Merry Christmas 🎄 Hope everyone has a great time

Light Railway locomotive taking on water in freezing conditions at Trônes Wood December 1916