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Written in 1981 for the community documentary musical drama Days of Pride, this song celebrates a feat of engineering and fitting-out that had been a source of great local pride nearly 70 years before. Much of the railway work for the Great War at Wolverton Works was secret, but a particular project which people queued up to see when it was unveiled was the Ambulance Train…
The Wolverton Express of 24th March 1916 meticulously describes every detail of the train – which reveals how skilfully the composer has incorporated them: The train consists of 16 vehicles and the total length is well over 900 feet: it has accommodation for 362 patients, together with the medical and other staff. These 16 vehicles comprise: 8 ward cars for lying-down cases; 1 ward car for lying-down infection cases; 1 kitchen and mess room car; Pharmacy car; Personnel car; Staff car… The whole train is painted khaki colour outside… A large red cross on the outside of each vehicle indicates beyond any possibility of mistaking the purpose of the train when it is in use… The interiors of the open coaches, corridors, cooking and store compartments, mess rooms etc. are all painted with white enamel and designed so that there are no corners where dirt may accumulate on the floor. The train throughout is steam heated and electrically lighted… Electric fans are provided for the comfort not only of the patients but also of the doctors, nurses and staff. (From the Milton Keynes Museum newspaper archive) Hawtin Mundy, a soldier from New Bradwell, described one occasion where he was badly wounded at the front, and needed to be moved to hospital: … And eventually then, you was moved to the rail ‘ead. Well, it was a long train - there was loads of casualties… And they were fitted up very nice, those ambulance trains was, and beds all along and there was two rows and the corridor down the centre and the beds was each side. (Hawtin Mundy, LAMK 1980) Images and primary source material from LAMK archive The song is featured on the Living Archive Band’s album All That’s Changed Vol 1 (LAMK) of 2009 with Brad Bradstock lead: Ambulance Train | The Living Archive Band (bandcamp.com). The download is live from Days of Pride 1993 with Kevin Adams lead. It slows down as wounded soldiers stream past. |
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