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N A RAILWAY YARD IN THE MIDDLE OF ENGLAND IN 1939, WITH THE THREAT OF WAR IMMINENT, TWO LADS WENT ABOUT THEIR WORK AS ENGINE CLEANERS, THE FIRST STEP IN THE LADDER TO BECOMING FIREMEN OR ENGINE DRIVERS.

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STORY MAC MACDONALD ART KEITH PAGE COVER KEITH PAGE

IF HITLER AND HIS NAZIS DECLARE WAR, I’M LEAVING HERE FAST TO JOIN UP, JAMES, SEE IF I DON’T.

IT’S NOT AS EASY AS THAT, FRANK. THIS IS A RESERVED OCCUPATION...WE CAN’T BE CALLED UP. AND JUST LOOK AT THAT BLACK FIVE. WHAT I’D GIVE TO DRIVE ONE OF THESE!

4 JAMES BAILEY WAS RAILWAY MAD, HIS DAD A SIGNALMAN. ALL HE HAD EVER WANTED TO DO WAS TO DRIVE A LOCOMOTIVE, ESPECIALLY ONE LIKE THE BLACK-LIVERIED, GENERAL PURPOSE STANIER CLASS FIVE 4-6-0 WHICH HAD JUST PASSED BY. HIS FRIEND, FRANK DOYLE, SAW IT AS JUST ANOTHER JOB AND ONE THAT HE WASN’T TOO KEEN ON.

WE’LL SEE...I’M NOT INTENDING TO HANG ABOUT HERE FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE.

THAT WOULD SUIT ME FINE. DAD RECKONS I’D ALMOST WORK HERE FOR FREE!

WHAT ALL OF EUROPE HAD FEARED SOON CAME ABOUT AND THE POLISH FORCES TRYING TO DEFEND THEIR COUNTRY IN SEPTEMBER, 1939, SAW HOW DEVASTATING THE INVADING GERMAN WAR MACHINE WAS WHEN THEIR LIGHTNING WAR CAMPAIGN STARTED. IT SEEMED NOTHING COULD HALT THE NAZI ADVANCE.

THAT’S THE AMMO GONE...

GET US OUT OF HERE!

HIT THE SCHWEIN HARD!

5 AT THE SAME TIME, FRANK WAS TOLD THAT HE WAS TO MOVE TO A RAILWAY YARD FURTHER FROM HIS HOME. THE LADS HAD PLENTY TO TALK ABOUT AS THEY CYCLED HOME AFTER FINISHING THEIR SHIFT. YOU’LL HAVE TO GET UP MUCH EARLIER TO GET OVER TO YOUR NEW ENGINE SHEDS.

I’VE THOUGHT IT ALL OUT. DON’T WORRY, I KNOW WHAT I’M DOING.

IN THOSE DAYS, IF A RAILWAY WORKER DIDN’T TURN UP AT HIS NEW PLACE OF WORK HE WAS CONSIDERED TO HAVE BEEN SACKED BY HIS NON-APPEARANCE. SO THAT’S WHAT FRANK DID, JOINING THE ARMY BEFORE ANYBODY COULD STOP HIM. NICE AND STEADY NOW. TAKE YOUR TIME...THE BULLET DOES THE FAST BIT.

I WAS SORRY TO LEAVE JAMES BEHIND, BUT THIS IS THE LIFE FOR ME.

6 JAMES WAS TAKEN ABACK BUT JUST SHRUGGED AND GOT ON WITH IT. HIS DAD HAD LOST ALL HIS BROTHERS IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR AND HE WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN HAPPY IF HIS SON HAD PULLED THE SAME TRICK AS FRANK. THE RAILWAYS ARE VITAL TO THE WAR EFFORT ANYWAY. I CAN DO MY BIT HERE.

NOT THAT THE HOME FRONT WOULD TURN OUT TO BE A SAFE PLACE. AFTER THE FALL OF POLAND AND THE ADVANCE INTO FRANCE, ALL WENT QUIET IN THE PERIOD KNOWN AS THE PHONEY WAR. THAT CHANGED WHEN THE NAZIS UNLEASHED THEIR FORCES AGAIN. HOLD THIS COURSE FOR FIVE MORE MINUTES.

THE ANTI-AIRCRAFT DEFENCES WERE AWARE THAT THERE WERE HOSTILE AIRCRAFT ABOUT, BUT FOR VITAL SECONDS THEY COULD NOT PINPOINT THEM.

BOMBS GONE! CIRCLE ROUND AND HEAD FOR HOME!

7 IN THE RAILWAY YARD BELOW, THE WHISTLE OF THE FALLING BOMBS WAS FOLLOWED BY A HOLLOW CRUMP. THEN IT WAS AS IF ALL THE AIR HAD BEEN DRAWN OUT OF JAMES’ LUNGS AS HE WAS CAUGHT ON THE EDGE OF THE BLAST.

AAGH!

A LOCOMOTIVE READY TO MOVE OUT WITH STEAM UP HAD BEEN ON THE EDGE OF THE BLAST. HIS FIREMAN HAD BEEN KILLED BUT THE INJURED DRIVER, SID WOOD, WASN’T ONE TO GIVE IN EASILY.

GET ACROSS HERE, JAMES, AND HELP GET US MOVING BEFORE THE HUN ATTACKS AGAIN.

A NIGHTMARE...

IT’S LIKE A NIGHTMARE.

8 THE YOUNGSTER HAD CLEANED ALL THESE LEVERS AND WHEELS MANY TIMES BEFORE, AND HAD EVEN EASED LOCOMOTIVES FORWARD A LITTLE WHEN A DRIVER HAD LET HIM. THIS WAS FOR A REAL, THOUGH, AND HE CALMED HIS NERVES AND DID AS HE WAS BID.

MAYBE I WAS A BIT...

GOOD LAD...

SEEMS YOU WEREN’T JUST DREAMING ABOUT HOW MANY GOALS WANDERERS WOULD SCORE WHEN YOU WERE AT WORK.

SID’S CALM BANTER HELPED JAMES TO DO WHAT WAS NEEDED, BUT IT WAS CLEAR TO ANYBODY WHO KNEW LOCOMOTIVES THAT THE LAD WAS A NATURAL DRIVER. IT WAS JUST AS WELL BECAUSE MORE BOMBS FELL TO DEVASTATE THE SPOT WHERE THE MIGHTY ENGINE, MORE THAN SIXTY FEET LONG, HAD BEEN A FEW SECONDS BEFORE. YE GODS!

AYE, BUT WE’RE SAFE FOR NOW, LAD, THANKS TO YOU. TAKE US OUT UNDER THE FIRST BRIDGE. WE’LL GET SOME SHELTER THERE.

9 THE RAID PASSED. SID WAS WHISKED OFF TO HOSPITAL AND THE FIREMAN’S BODY RETRIEVED. JAMES, SHAKEN BUT RECOVERING, WAS SAVOURING A WELCOME MUG OF TEA WHEN MISTER PETER BRETT, THE WORKS MANAGER AND A PERSON HE HAD RARELY SEEN BEFORE, APPEARED WITH A POLICEMAN TO THANK THE LAD FOR HIS BRAVERY...BUT ALSO TO DELIVER BAD NEWS.

THE SIGNAL BOX TOOK A DIRECT HIT AND I’M AFRAID THERE IS NO HOPE FOR YOUR FATHER. P.C. WALLACE HERE WILL TAKE YOU HOME.

THE LAD’S MOTHER HAD DIED A FEW YEARS BEFORE AND FOR A MOMENT JAMES WISHED THAT HE WAS SERVING OUT IN FRANCE IN THE ARMY LIKE FRANK. HE COULD PAY THE NAZIS BACK MORE DIRECTLY THERE, BUT HE REALISED THAT IT WOULDN’T DO ANY MORE GOOD THAN STICKING WITH THE RAILWAY. WE MOVE TROOPS AND EVACUEES AND PILES OF SUPPLIES...WE PLAY OUR PART JUST LIKE THE THREE SERVICES, BUT WITHOUT GUNS, PLANES OR SHIPS.

DAD GONE? HE CAN’T BE...

10 HIS KEENNESS AND HARD WORK HAD BEEN NOTED. BY THE TIME SID WAS FIT AGAIN THERE WAS A SURPRISE IN STORE.

GOOD TO SEE YOU, MISTER WOOD, I’M ALMOST FINISHED HERE.

OH, NO, YOU’RE NOT LAD. YOU’RE JUST STARTING...AS MY NEW FIREMAN.

BUT THAT TAKES MUCH LONGER THAN I’VE SERVED! ARE YOU JOKING?

I WISH I WAS, YOUNG BAILEY, BUT IT’S DESPERATE DAYS AND WE NEED ALL THE HELP WE CAN GET. YOU’D BETTER LEARN FAST.

THERE WAS ART AND GREAT SKILL IN FEEDING COAL INTO THE HUNGRY BOILER OF A THROBBING RAILWAY ENGINE TO GET THE BEST OUT OF IT. IT WASN’T JUST A CASE OF SHOVEL AND HOPE, BUT JAMES SOON PROVED HE COULD MASTER THE WORK. EASE OFF A BIT NOW, LAD. THAT’S YOUR DAD’S OLD SIGNAL BOX ALMOST REBUILT NOW. HE’D BE RIGHT PROUD OF YOU.

I HOPE SO. I’M STILL TRAINING HIS WHIPPET AS WELL.