Intercity Express Train named after Herefordshire-born Lance Corporal Allan Leonard Lewis VC and Flight Sub-Lieutenant Harold Day DSC
Great Western Railway (GWR) marked 100 years since the end of the Great War by unveiling a very special train prior to a remembrance service for fallen railway workers at Paddington Station.
The Intercity Express Train features the names of all 2,545 men who worked for the GWR and died during the war, and was welcomed into London Paddington by relatives of those killed.
The train was also named after two of those who died, Flight Sub-Lieutenant Harold Day, DSC, the only railway man to become a flying ace and Herefordshire-born Lance Corporal Allan Leonard Lewis VC, whose name had historically been omitted from the GWR Roll of Honour. Present for the ceremony were relatives of both Harold Day and Allan Leonard Lewis.
To recognise all of the lives lost, the full train has been given a distinctive design stretching over both sides of the nine carriages including the driving cabs at either end of the Intercity Express Train. The Roll of Honour features detail of where they worked for the company, their rank, regiment, where they were killed and where they are either remembered or buried. From the 2,545 names, one hundred will also feature in more detail on the train, including pictures and background stories.
Great Western Railway Deputy Managing Director Matthew Golton said: “The role of the railway in helping mobilise the country and sustain the war effort was immense. Over 25,000 employees of GWR volunteered to serve, a third of the company at the time. It is therefore fitting that as we remember all those who took part in this terrible conflict, we honour those of the GWR who fell.”
Allan Leonard Lewis' great niece Dawn Lewis said: “Why Allan was never included on the GWR Roll of Honour is a mystery, but I am thrilled that his extraordinary valour is now commemorated in such a spectacular and moving way.”
Those being remembered worked in all areas of the company; engineers, labourers, solicitors, carriage cleaners and apprentices from across the GWR network. At the time the network stretched from Paddington to Penzance, and as far north as Liverpool, Manchester, Chester, Birmingham and Wolverhampton.
Clash over Ross-on-Wye petrol station licence
Woman pleads guilty to online monkey cruelty offences after global investigation
New ‘old’ pub bid in Ledbury rejected
Fresh calls for justice powers on 25th anniversary of devolution
Chepstow listed building to be affordable apartments
Hereford May Fair gets underway
Man dies on A46 near Evesham
Decision to permit festival – three weeks before it happens
