GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

GWR Route: North Warwickshire Line

Birmingham Snow Hill Station: gwrbsh1157

Medical and military personnel await the arrival of an ambulance train with wounded soldiers from France arriving in the UK for recuperation circa 1916. Purpose built Ambulance trains were first used during the Boar War (see 'misc_brc&wc142') and prior to the start of the First World War the Government made plans for a number of Ambulance Trains to ferry wounded soldiers from British ports to hospitals across the UK. At the outbreak of war, seven Railway Companies were instructed to provide twelve, nine coach ambulance trains from converted coaches and these were all delivered within three weeks.

To supplement the overwhelmed French Ambulance Train service, Home Ambulance Train No 12 was moved to France in October 1914 with the GER providing seven extra carriages. This was quickly followed by another eight, sixteen coach Continental Ambulance Trains. As the war progressed, the number of both Home and Continental Ambulance Trains increased and when America joined the war another twenty--four were built specifically for their wounded. Below is a table listing those identified:

Company	Home Trains		Continental Trains
	August 1914	Later	British Army	US Army
Total	Twelve	Eighteen	Twenty-five	Twenty-four
Great Central Railway	No 1 & 2
Great Eastern Railway	No 3	No 22	No 17, 20, 28 & 36	No 61 & 75
Great Western Railway	No 4 & 5	No 20 + one	No 16, 18, 19, 26, 27 & 33	No 39, 43, 53 & 54
Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway	One		No 24, 29 & 42
Midland Railway	Two		No 34 & 40
London and North Western Railway	No 12 + two		No 21, 22, 30, 31, 32, 38 & 41
London and South Western Railway	One
London Brighton and South Coast			No 14 & 25
Caledonian Railway			No 22
North Eastern Railway			No 37
Birmingham Carriage and Wagon Works			No 15 (8 coach set extended to 12)

The Ambulance Trains were staffed by nurses of the Red Cross and the Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service (QAIMNS) and army medical officer doctors and orderlies of the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC). In the UK railway employees joined the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) which was attached to the Territorial Branch of the RAMC to assist at stations.

From the outbreak of war until 7th April 1919, the Home Ambulance trains conveyed approximately 2,680,000 patients. Most were conveyed from Southampton Docks (1,234,000 casualties on 7,822 trains) and Dover Docks (1,260,506 casualties on 7,781 trains). Over 6,000 of these trains passed over GWR metals, with 2,828 trains destined for GWR stations. Within Warwickshire that included; 200 Ambulance trains for Birmingham and a further 33 Ambulance trains for Stratford-on-Avon.

Robert Ferris

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