For the second time in a generation, the railways went to war — and were worked to the very limit. The Second World War made the railways' contribution to victory immense, and their post-war exhaustion total.
Under state control again
On the outbreak of war in 1939 the Big Four were placed under unified government control through the Railway Executive Committee. The railways moved the British Expeditionary Force to the coast, carried the troops rescued from Dunkirk inland, and evacuated hundreds of thousands of children from the cities.
Keeping running under fire
Throughout the war the railways hauled the enormous traffic of a nation under arms — troops, munitions, coal and the build-up for D-Day — while running under blackout and enduring heavy bombing of stations, depots and junctions. New passenger building all but ceased and routine maintenance was deferred.
Austerity power
Freight was king, and rugged, cheaply-built freight engines were turned out in large numbers: Stanier's superb 8F 2-8-0 was adopted as a wartime standard, and the no-frills WD Austerity 2-8-0s and 2-10-0s were built in their hundreds for service at home and overseas. By 1945 the Big Four were physically and financially spent, and full state ownership had become all but inevitable.