A war memorial honouring men from the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Carriage & Wagon Depot who lost their lives in WW1 is to be displayed at the East Lancashire Railway’s Transport Museum at Bury in Greater Manchester.

The memorial honours 117 men from the depot who lost their lives during the First World War from 1914 to 1918 and, until recently, has been on display in the TrainCare Centre.

However, the shed that houses the memorial requires urgent repairs to its roof, so it is being temporarily moved to Bury Transport Museum where it will again go on display.

Work has already started to carefully dismantle the memorial before its move to Bury.

At the start of WW1, the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Company had a workforce of 37,000, and 10,000 of them volunteered to fight for King and country, with 1,422 of them being killed.

The 117 men from the Carriage & Wagon Depot who were killed were part of that 37,000-strong workforce.

Soon after the war ended, the memorial was unveiled at Newton Heath depot, where it remained until 1928, when the building in which it was housed was closed.

It was then moved to Newton Heath Town Hall, but when the Town Hall closed, the memorial was apparently lost.

In the 1990s, a British Rail employee found the memorial under the undercroft of Manchester Piccadilly station.

As the memorial is of historical significance, the East Lancashire Railway became its custodian for 20 years until it was rededicated and unveiled at Newton Heath TrainCare Centre in 2019. No date has yet been set for the memorial’s unveiling at its new home Bury Transport Museum, but is expected shortly.

“The memorial is very special to all of us here at the depot. It is kept in pristine condition and provides a focal point for the annual Remembrance commemorations. While repairs are made to the roof, it would be irresponsible to keep the memorial in situ due to potential damage it could face and we are grateful to Bury Transport Museum for providing a temporary home.”

Neville Dyson, Northern’s TrainCare Centre manager for Newton Heath