Title:AMERICAN TROOPS AT WATERLOO STATION [Allocated Title]
Film Number:BTF 56
Other titles:RAILWAYS IN BRITAIN, 1935-1976 [Allocated Series Title]
Summary: Cromwell tanks and other military vehicles in transit on the Southern Railway. Other content includes; repair work underway on the Charging Cross Bridge and American GIs at Waterloo Station.
Description: (14-22 September 1944) American built armoured cars being loaded onto flat railway wagons by breakdown crane, at Strood in the South East of England. The armoured cars, American built Chevrolet M6, are then hauled away by a Southern locomotive. The wagons used for transporting the vehicles are; “USA FLAT – ON LOAN TO GWR”. The scene cuts to the exterior of Dover Priory Station (South East coast of England) where minor damage has been incurred at the front of the Southern Railway building, caused by an HE bomb. A civilian car has also been burnt out in the incident. SH355
(29 September 1944) Winchester, in the South of England, where British Cromwell MKVII tanks are being unloaded from a Southern locomotive (No. 165). The tanks are shunted on flat railway wagons, up to a loading bay, where they are driven slowly onto a ramp. A Churchill tank and an unidentified tank with a Cromwell cassis are briefly featured. The tanks are then driven, with their turrets facing backwards, out of the loading bay. (2 min 5 sec) SH356
(1 October 1944) Repairs underway on the Charging Cross Bridge, damaged during a V1 flying bomb raid. The sequence shows railway tracks being relayed and specialist instruments being used to test stability. Finally, the first locomotive, a Southern 4-6-0 (No. 1817), reverses carefully over the bridge. (3 min 55 sec) SH357
(2-3 October 1944) A long line of American GIs stand close to the platform edge at Waterloo Station. Carrying rifles and equipment, the GIs are led aboard Southern Railway carriages by two Officers. A Southern locomotive (No. 754) then hauls the carriages out of the station, as some of the GIs lean from the windows and wave as it passes. The scene then cuts to American Military Police (MPs) on duty along the Waterloo concourse. They stop to check the papers of a lone American Officer. (5 min 40 sec) SH358
Alternative Title:RAILWAYS IN BRITAIN, 1935-1976 [Allocated Series Title]
