The Winton Train was a private passenger train that travelled from the Czech Republic to Great Britain in September 2009 in tribute to the wartime efforts of Sir Nicholas Winton, described as the 'British Schindler' for his part in saving refugee children from Czechoslovakia.
As a result of Sir Nicholas' efforts in the months leading up to the outbreak of World War II in 1939, a total of seven locomotives transported 669 Czechoslovak children of mainly Jewish heritage from Prague to safety in Great Britain.[1]
Sir Nicholas' kindertransport efforts remained largely unrecognised until 1988, when they came to public attention after his wife found a scrapbook in their attic documenting the details. Only then did the individuals whom Winton arranged to have transported to safety as children learn the story of how they survived the Holocaust. As the majority of 'Winton's Children' (as they came to be known) were Jewish, it is believed this saved them from certain death had they stayed in Czechoslovakia. As of 2009, the direct descendants of Winton's Children numbered over 5000 people.
The 2009 tribute Winton Train carried some of the individuals Sir Nicholas arranged to have transported to safety in 1939, along with their families, as it retraced the original kindertransport route taken by the trains on which they rode as children to safety in Great Britain 70 years earlier. The Winton Train departed on 1 September 2009, the 70th anniversary of the eighth, and intended last, train arranged by Winton to carry children to safety but was prevented from doing so due to the outbreak of World War II on that very day.[1] It departed from Prague Main railway station and travelled through Germany and the Netherlands. After a transfer by ferry to Harwich, the journey resumed by train again to arrive in London's Liverpool Street station on 4 September, where it was met by the 100-year-old Sir Nicholas himself. For the journey across mainland Europe, the train was formed of period carriages and was hauled by historically authentic steam locomotives, while the British leg was hauled by 60163 Tornado, a brand-new, main-line British steam locomotive completed in 2008, along with carriages that were constructed in the 1950s.
The tribute train was the centrepiece of a wider cultural awareness project known as 'Inspiration by Goodness', organised by the Czech government.
- ^ a b Simon, Bob (Correspondent) (27 April 2014). Saving the Children (Television Production Transcript). 60 Minutes. CBS News. Retrieved 19 May 2016.