Engine Cleaner, Fireman and Driver
During World War II he worked on trains transporting vital ammunition to the South Coast.
The son of Florence Catling and Thomas Percival, a L&SW railway fireman, Thomas jnr. followed in his brother, his father,
his grandfather and Great step Grandfather’s footsteps to become an engine driver. He grew up in the maisonettes on Waterloo
Crescent in Feltham, as so many railway families did, and by 19 he described himself in the 1939 identity card register as being a
Southern Railways engine cleaner but ‘qualified to act as a fireman’.
Feltham was a prime target for German bombing raids during WWII as it housed the Central Vehicle Depot and Central Ordnance
Depot where munitions were stored prior to distribution. Thomas recalled how during the war they were ferried ammunition
on trains to the south coast. Munitions factories worked round the clock to produce weapons and ammunition and relied on the
railways to transport industrial quantities long distances. Additional supplies arrived at the ports from the USA which needed to be
transported south by rail too. Such cargo was extremely dangerous, so the primers and detonators were always carried separately
under fire-retardent tarpaulins that covered the wagons in order to prevent stray sparks flying in from the coalfired engine.
Occasionally terrible accidents did occur. A wagon of munitions caught fire near Soham, Cambridgeshire in 1944. Four selfless,
brave railwaymen on duty quickly uncoupled the affected wagon which was attached to the engine, and moved it off away from
the rest of the deadly cargo before it exploded. Explode it did, killing the fireman Jim Nightall and ‘Sailor’ Bridges in the signal
box. Driver Ben Gimbert was thrown clear. Herbert Clarke the guard, at the rear of the train, was thrown 80ft but made his way
two miles back along the track to lay warnings for oncoming trains. Gimbert and Nightall were both awarded the George Cross for
their courage.
Soham munitions train disaster: https://www.warhistoryonline.com/world-war-ii/soham-explosion-1944-railwaymen.html
Feltham Green’s role in WWII https://www.felthamgreen.org/history/ministry-of-defence