Winton Train

The headboard worn by No. 60163 Tornado from Harwich to Liverpool Street station, the final leg of the Winton Train from Prague

The Winton Train was a private passenger train which travelled from the Czech Republic to England in September 2009, in tribute to the wartime efforts of Sir Nicholas Winton, described as the 'British Schindler' for his part in the saving refugee children from Czechoslovakia. Between March and September 1939, in the period up to the outbreak of World War II, Sir Nicholas organised eight trains to transport in total 669 mainly Jewish Czech and Slovak refugee children from Czechoslovakia to homes in Britain. The Winton trains were part of a wider British rescue effort from various other countries across Europe, known as the Kindertransports.

Sir Nicholas' efforts remained largely unrecognised until 1988 when he came to public attention. As the majority of 'Winton's Children' (as they came to be known) were Jewish, it is believed this saved them from certain death had they stayed in Czechoslovakia. As of 2009, the direct descendants of Winton's Children numbered over 5,000 people. The tribute train carried some of those original children and their families on the 70th anniversary of the original Winton trains retracing their original route.

The 2009 train departed on 1 September from Prague Main railway station, and travelled through Germany and the Netherlands. After a transfer by ferry to Harwich, the journey resumed by train again to arrive in London's Liverpool Street station on 4 September, where it was met by the 100 year old Sir Nicholas himself. For the journey across mainland Europe the train was formed of period carriages and was hauled by historically authentic steam locomotives, while the British leg was hauled by 60163 Tornado, a brand new main line British steam locomotive completed in 2008, along with carriages that were constructed in the 1950s. The tribute train was the centrepiece of a wider cultural awareness project known as 'Inspiration through Goodness', organised by the Czech government.

Background

Inspiration by Goodness project

Sir Nicholas Winton in Prague, October 2007

The project was announced on 21 January 2008 as the Train Prague – London project, and the organisers were negotiating to have the train named after Sir Nicholas. The train was run by Czech Railways and sponsored by the Czech government, with the project being dedicated to their holding of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union from January to June 2009. The train was part of a wider project encompassing social and cultural events along the route to "inspire young people through the deeds of Nicholas Winton", and with the theme of "Inspiration by Goodness", it incorporated art, film, photographic and literary contests by university students and school children. The project was to follow on from the work of documentary film maker Matej Mináč about Sir Nicholas, including his new film project Nicky's Family. While travelling on the train, Mináč filmed scenes for a new version of the Winton story.

The Czech Senate President Přemysl Sobotka said of the project that it "should warn against rising extremism and anti-Semitism in Europe and in the world".

Original Winton trains

A statue of Sir Nicholas Winton by Flor Kent, unveiled in Prague Main railway station on 1 September 2009, the day of departure of the Winton tribute train. The girl is modelled on the grand daughter of a girl saved by one of Winton's original trains in 1939.

At the time of the original Winton trains, Sir Nicholas was a 29 year old Christian British stockbroker whose parents were of German Jewish descent. In 1939 he cut off a trip to a Swiss holiday resort to go to Prague after hearing of a growing refugee crisis resulting from the German occupation of Czechoslovakia from a friend working in the British embassy for the British Committee for Refugees from Czechoslovakia already working to help adults escape from Czechoslovakia. On learning of the situation of the refugee children who could not leave unnaccompanied, Sir Nicholas decided to arrange their evacuation to Britain. While the Winton evacuations later became known by the collective label of the children's Kindertransports, which were officially being organised elsewhere in other countries, no official Kindertransports had been arranged in Prague at that time.

Sir Nicholas organised the transfer of the children from the Nazi appointed Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia to homes in Britain, in the process arranging the necessary bonds and permits for their departure, and the finding of the receiving families in Britain. Sir Nicholas and a team identified those children most at risk, from the thousands of refugees driven south following the Nazi invasion of the Sudetenland. For each child to be accepted, British officials required a confirmed foster home and a £50 guarantee. Winton returned to England in March to arrange the reception of the children, but his task was hampered by the fact that the domestic evacuation of children was already occurring, and places were hard to find.

Beginning in March, Winton organised eight trains, which in total transported 669 mainly Jewish children from Nazi occupied Czechoslovakia to Britain. A final train with 250 children on board was stopped at the last minute, due to the outbreak of the war. Almost none of the children on this ninth aborted train survived the war. According to Channel 4 News reporting on the 2009 Winton train, "Sir Nicholas has said many times that the vision that haunts him most is the families waiting at Liverpool Street for the train that never arrived".

The original trains left from Prague Wilson railway station (now Prague Main station). While most of the children were met by their new families at London's Liverpool Street station, some of the children actually got off the trains at Harwich, being placed with local families. Few if any of the Winton children saw their parents again.

Winton's efforts did not come to public light until 1988 when his wife discovered papers in their loft, whereupon Winton began to publicly talk about his work, and he came to be known as the 'British Schindler', in comparison to Oskar Schindler. Sir Nicholas himself believed this was undeserved, because unlike Oscar Schindler his life had never been in danger.

2009 Winton Train

Journey

Locomotive No. 486.007, used in the Czech Republic (front)

Locomotive No. 498.022, used in the Czech Republic (rear)

Locomotive No. 41 018, used in Germany

Locomotive No. 41 360, used in Germany

Locomotive No. 01 1075 with the Winton Train passing Arnhem Velperpoort railway station in the Netherlands

Locomotive No. 60163 Tornado arriving with the Winton Train in London Liverpool Street station, England

The motive power for the train journey was provided by six different steam locomotives in each country, two as a double-headed train in the Czech Republic due to the terrain, two in Germany, one in the Netherlands and one in England. The entire journey was scheduled to take four days, involving a European train leg, a crossing by the passengers on a ferry and an English train leg. It covered a distance of 1,296 kilometres (805 mi), of which 1,139 kilometres (708 mi) was the train journey across mainland Europe.

On 1 September the train departed Prague Main railway station. On this first day it travelled to the German city of Nuremberg, crossing the Czech - German border at Furth im Wald in the Bavarian Forest. The following day, the train was to travel across Germany to Cologne, via Frankfurt am Main. Instead of Frankfurt however, it travelled via Wiesbaden and the right bank of the River Rhine. On the third day, the train arrived on the North Sea coast at the Dutch ferry port, Hook of Holland, crossing the Dutch - German border at Emmerich am Rhein and passing through the Netherlands via Rotterdam. The passengers disembarked the train to cross the North Sea to England overnight on the Stena Line ferry Stena Britannica to Harwich, a port in the East of England on the Essex / Suffolk county boundary. The English train journey formed the fourth day of the journey, travelling from Harwich to the London terminus of Liverpool Street station.

On this final day the train departed Harwich International railway station at 09:12am. It travelled via Colchester railway station and Chelmsford railway station, arriving at Liverpool Street station at 10:37 on Platform 10. Platform 10 was also the platform number that the original Winton trains had used. (Although the actual platforms had been reconfigured in the 1980s as part of the station's redevelopment).

Sir Nicholas, now 100 years old, met the train at Liverpool Street as guest of honour. On greeting the passengers, Winton said "It's wonderful to see you all after 70 years, Don't leave it quite so long until we meet here again." Also at Liverpool Street to meet the train was Štefan Füle, the Czech Minister for European Affairs, and a former Czech ambassador to Britain.

Motive power and rolling stock

Travelling through the Czech Republic from Prague to Furth im Wald, the train was double-headed by locomotives No. 486.007 and 498.022., with 486.007 leading as the train left Prague. No. 486.007, known as the Green Anton is a preserved steam locomotive built in 1936 and based in Vrútky, Slovakia, owned by Slovak Republic Railways (ŽSR). It is one of the class, and has a green livery. No. 498.022, which is one of the class, has a blue livery and is owned by Czech Railways, who store it at Libeň in Prague, Czech Republic.

Travelling through Germany (from Furth im Wald to Emmerich am Rhein), the train was hauled by locomotive No. 41 018, a preserved steam locomotive built in 1939, based at the Augsburg Railway Park railway museum in Augsburg, Bavaria, and owned by DG München. (Locomotive class DRG Class 41) From Linz am Rhein to Cologne, a second locomotive, No. 41 360 was attached.

Travelling through the Netherlands (from Emmerich am Rhein to Hook of Holland), the train was hauled by Locomotive No. 01 1075, a preserved steam locomotive built in 1940 and based at the Stoom Stichting Nederland (SSN) railway museum in Rotterdam. (Locomotive class DRG Class 01.10)

Travelling through England (from Harwich to London), the train was hauled by No. 60163 Tornado, a brand new British mainline steam locomotive built by the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust, the construction of which began in 1994 and was completed in 2008.

The passenger rolling stock for the European leg from Prague to Hook of Holland comprised nine historic railway carriages of Hungarian and German origin, with a capacity for 240 passengers. The train included the blue liveried state luxury saloon carriage of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, the first president of Czechoslovakia, which entered service on 7 March 1930, Masaryk's 80th birthday.

For the British leg, behind Tornado and her maroon support coach, the train was headed by Pegasus, a cream and brown Pullman Bar Car incorporating the Trianon Bar, followed by the historic 1950s built red and cream The Royal Scot rake of British Railways Mark 1 passenger coaches of Riviera Trains. Pegasus was built in 1951 for the famous Golden Arrow boat train, and later rebuilt for heritage mainline use.

Passengers

The 2009 Winton train carried 170 passengers, including 22 of those originally rescued, who came to be known as 'Winton's Children'. Passengers included the first, second, or even third generation of desecendants of the original children rescued by Sir Nicholas. The descendants of the children Sir Nicholas rescued had by 2009 grown to number 5,000 people. Passengers on the 2009 train also included Sir Nicholas's daughter Barbara. Other survivors who did not travel on the reunion train instead met it at Liverpool Street.

Future trains

It was the hope of the project to follow up the 2009 Winton Train to London with other Winton Trains to other European cities, and for it to become a tradition.

Further reading

• Winton's children: Lisa Dasch
• Profile: Nicholas Winton
• Winton Train: Prague - London - by Steam
• Sir Nicholas Winton, Schindler of Britain

External links

• Footage of Green Anton and carriages in Prague
• Footage of the Czech leg
• Footage of the German leg
• In pictures: Winton Train departs Harwich
• Footage of the British leg and Liverpool Street station
• Lady Milena Grenfell-Baines talks about her memories of being on 'The Last Train Out Of Prague'