The coaches were packed with men and women in uniform, heading home on leave or returning to their posts, as loved ones pressed against the windows to say a tearful farewell or a joyful hello.

But as well as members of the armed forces criss crossing the country in the chaos of the blackout many seats were occupied by children who
were being sent away to the country.

Over the weekend the North Yorkshire Moors Railway is turning back to the clock not only to recall the role of the railways in keeping blacked out Britain on track, but also the plight of those lonely evacuees.

The young refugees from the blitzed cities were packed off by sobbing parents, labelled like parcels, ready for collection in village halls by strangers.

For many it would be a very long stay indeed as communities such as Hull suffered right through the fighting and the city was targeted by V1 rockets – Doodlebugs – later in the war years, just as London was.

Some evacuees would be welcomed as pitiful and innocent victims of war. Some would be shunned as unwelcome "townies". Some would sit out the war in farm houses, manor houses, and cottages.

Others would be reclaimed by their parents who thought frankly, whatever the risks, their children were better off being loved in the city than abandoned in the country. None would ever forget...

Yesterday youngsters from two infant classes in Pickering raised the curtain on this year's Wartime Weekend in Pickering yesterday, as they learned what it was like to be child evacuees during the second world war.

Accompanied by their parents, the four and five-year-olds from St Joseph's and Pickering Infants were taken to Pickering Station where they were put on the 10am steam train, bound for Goathland.

Dressed authentically, including labels indicating their name and where they were from, and with gas masks, the youngsters learned through experience just how families were affected during wartime Britain.

It marked the start of the three-day event – which started yesterday and ends tomorrow – which will put the railway at the centre of all the action, with each of the stations along the tracks transformed into a 1943 setting.

Re-enactment groups and entertainers were brought in to take part in a variety of scenarios, complemented by stalls and displays of vintage vehicles and equipment.

NYMR Marketing Manager Phil Bustard said the aim this year was to involve children more closely in the event – as well as providing a boost to the local economy.

He said: "The Railway at War event is now in its 16th year and has grown in popularity so much so that many of the traders in the area have also capitalised on the wartime theme.

"It is by far the biggest event of the year for the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, and it helps to generate significant funds for the local economy. It is the first time we have made the evacuees the centre of the whole event.

"They had to put up with no rations because food and drink were so scarce in the war years. They had to be quiet and well behaved on the train and well wrapped up because they trains are not heated like modern ones are."