Britain's Railways in the First World War, Foley, Michael, New Book

It is easy to believe that the only part that Britain's railways played in the First World War was to carry the soldiers to the ships that would take them to France.\nThis couldn't be further from the truth. Without the help from the railways it is unlikely that the war would have been over as quickly as it was. In _Britain's Railways in the First World War_ Michael Foley examines how the railway system and its workers proved to be a vital part of the war effort, one contemporary writer even commenting that he thought they were as significant as the navy.\nThe book describes how the enlistment of railway troops for the Royal Engineers to meet the increasing transport demands of the military was to bleed the civilian system dry as skilled railwaymen were sent to work at the front.\nIn addition, the military commandeered thousands of Britain's railway vehicles, sending them to each of the theatres of war, and turned the already stressed railway workshops away from maintaining what remad