Description
Object description
The transport of essential supplies from Syracuse to Scordia by rail.
Content description
Bomb damage by the RAF on the line at Syracuse Central Station, showing men repairing the line. Damaged coaches which have been moved off the line. Men of the 53rd Bomb Disposal Section, Royal Engineers digging out an unexploded RAF bomb. Panning shot from an 'Unexploded Bomb' sign to the workshops. Close up of the bomb disposal team digging for the bomb (see note). Another crater being filled in.
Panning shot from a train driver to the moving train en route for Scordia. Close up of the engine wheels and pistons in motion. Close up of a wagon load of 25 pounder ammunition passing. Close up of the wagon wheels passing out of the picture. Close up of Sergeant Dulson of Willesden (formerly an LNER driver and now a driver with the 153rd Railway Operating Company, Royal Engineers) as he receives the signal to start; he turns around and moves to blow his whistle. Close up of the engine whistle blowing. Close up of Sergeant Dulson from another angle. Another close up of the engine whistle.
The crew of a locomotive showing the Sicilian driver and fireman with the British driver on the right. Men of the Dock Operating Company, Royal Engineers dismount from a train at Syracuse station. Close up of two of the men handing grapes out of the carriage window. A wagon checker writing in chalk on the wagon Scordia. Close up of the word 'Scordia'. The Railway Traffic Officer (RTO) Lieutenant Davies of the Royal Engineers (formerly of New Street Station, Birmingham), gives a signal to the driver.
Close up of the RTO conversing with difficulty with the Sicilian station master. Close up of the station master. Close up of 75mm gun shells in a truck. Two men of the 10th Port Ammunition Detachment, Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC) loading 25 pounder ammunition on the wagon. Close up of the 25 pounder ammunition container. Corporal Walker of Salford and Private Ross of Leicester loading 25 pounder ammunition. A train checker taking numbers of the loaded wagons. Panning shot past the train checker to the word 'Italia' on the beam of the wagon.
Two of the many German wagons being used to transport water. Close up of the German lettering on the side of the wagons. Another close up showing the word 'Berlin'. A locomotive moving up to be coupled to a loaded train. Close up of the Sicilian shunter coupling the engine to the train. The train pulling out of Syracuse staion on its way to Scordia. View of the open trucks as the train passes, showing rolls of barbed wire and timber.
The head (British) guard of the train being handed his ticket for the journey. Close up of the guard climbing aboard the train. Close up of a brakesman taking off the brake on his wagon. A hole made by an unexploded bomb. A team from the Royal Navy Bomb Disposal Demolition Party, 84th Division, digging for the bomb. Close up of a member of the bomb disposal team digging. A crater made by an RAF bomb with men working on the track; in the background are trucks damaged by the blast.
Close up of 25 pounder ammunition being passed down gravity runways for loading. Close up of two 25 pounder shells in their transit cases. Men of the 142nd Pioneer Company unloading ammunition from the truck to a lorry. Men carrying 25 pounder ammunition from the truck to the lorry. Panning shot of a 4.5 inch shell being passed from hand to hand and into the lorry.
Another angle of 4.5 inch shells being unloaded to the lorry. The lorry moving away from the train after loading. A truck driving away from the camera for the front. Panning shot of the truck as it disappears to another lorry loaded with shells. The station yard at Scordia showing a line of lorries being loaded from the train.
Interior close up of men loading 25 pounder ammunition by gravity runways from wagon to lorry. Close up of a lorry driver starting up and driving away from the train. A heavy train carrying petrol pulled by two engines and being pushed by another one arriving at Scordia. The train drawing into the station.
Part of the train being shunted into a siding, the town of Scordia can be seen in the background. The scene from a different angle showing the Sicilian shunter. Lorried transport waiting on a hill outside the station for the arrival of the train, panning shot to a lorry moving up to the station. The lorries entering the station yard. A lorry backing to a wagon. Men unloading petrol onto a lorry. Lorries backed up to the train and being unloaded. Panning shot from men unloading petrol up to show the whole siding filled with lorries.
Colonel R B Emerson, in charge of the railway, conversing via a British officer interpreter with a Sicilian railway official at "Valsadoia" (as noted on the dope sheet).[?] Railway sign 'Valsadoia'.[?]
Physical description
35mm