The definitive archive led long-form documentary celebrating the railway’s vital role in the nation’s war effort. Railway posters during the Second World War enquired of civilian passengers \"Is Your Journey Really Necessary?” - the railways, in their logistical role transporting the men, munitions, materials and machinery of combat, really were a weapon of war. This 100% archive film programme is made from significant amounts of previously unseen film footage from the vaults of the Imperial War Museum in combination with genuine wartime newsreel footage. It evidences the great diversity of steam locomotive types brought to bear on the transportation of all kinds of wartime goods and passengers. This DVD is the first part of the most comprehensive trilogy ever made on Britain’s railways during the war years; this first volume covers the events from the outbreak of war to the cessation of ‘The Blitz’ in May 1941. This volume features: The 1939 – 1940 evacuation of children from British cities. The transportation of B.E.F. troops and equipment to the South coast Southern Railway docks. Railway ‘blackout’ procedures, the removal of station signage, railway staff bomb shelters and A.R.P. exercises. The movement of interned German nationals and the reception of refugees from mainland Europe. Ambulance and hospital evacuation trains. The movement of B.E.F. troops evacuated back through Southern Railway ports following the retreat from Dunkirk. Extensive coverage of the Luftwaffe’s aerial Blitz bomb damage to the home front railways including at Redbridge, Bishopstone Beach Halt, Portsmouth Harbour Station, Clapham Carriage Sheds, Camden Goods Yard, Dalston Junction, Coventry, Manchester Exchange Station, Southampton Docks, Stonebridge Park Carriage Sheds, Fratton Loco Shed and the London termini – Euston, Waterloo, Charing Cross and Victoria. The relocation of the L.M.S. and S.R. Headquarters to The Grove at Watford and Deepdene House in Dorking respectively. Locomotive naming ceremonies. The reparation of air-raid damaged tracks, bridges, viaducts and signalling.