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Ammunition

Newspaper article about an ammunition wagon for Foxfield restored at Her Majesty's pleasure.

Letter to the Museum

By Archive

We were very pleased to receive this letter to the Museum recently.  It came from a couple who live in Cumbria.  The letter expressed their appreciation for the Museum (which is always nice to hear) and they also included an interesting article about a World War One ammunition wagon.

Sir James, the Fireless Locomotive outside the Museum.

The Museum has a World War One fireless locomotive outside which our visitor referenced in their letter.  This loco is called Sir James.  It was used at HM Factory Gretna in World War One.  Some of the Museum displays focus on the use of railways within the Factory site – over 120 miles of railway track were laid and 16 stations were built within a complex which was nine miles in length.

Excerpts from the letter below…

And, below, the article which was shared (which also includes a look at female munitions workers, The Devil’s Porridge Museum also considers the lives and experiences of 12,000 women workers).

We are always happy to know more about munitions work in World War One and the actions taken by different heritage sites and groups to preserve anything relating to this work.  Thanks so much to our kind visitor for donating this article to our archive. 

The following books from the Museum’s online shop may be of interest to you:

HM Factory Gretna’s Unique Railway System Booklet

Gretna’s Secret War

The Devil’s Porridge Museum Guidebook

Sir James Postcard

A Royal Navy ship at sea.

World War Two ammunition shipped from Gretna to Russia

By Collections blog

We recently received a copy of the article below.  It appeared in a newspaper local to the Museum, The Annandale Observer, on September 7th 1945.  It details the wartime shipment of ammunition from a Central Ammunition Depot near Gretna Green (Eastriggs?  Longtown?).  The ammunition was sent via the Arctic convoys to Russia.  We weren’t aware of this before and were very interested to find out.

 

gretna to archangel arctic convoy world war two

If you are interested in this region during World War Two, you might like this book, which was published by the Museum following local history research and oral history interviews.

The Solway Military Coast book

This booklet (which is included within the Solway Military Coast book), specifically looks at The Ministry of Defence depots at Eastriggs and Longtown.

The Ministry of Defence Depots: Longtown and Eastriggs

gretna to archangel arctic convoy world war two

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