The clock will be turned back over sixty five years to the days of the Second World War this coming weekend when the South Devon Railway hosts its annual 1940's weekend on Saturday 11th & Sunday 12th July.

Organised in conjunction with the Devon Branch of the Military Vehicle Trust, the event will feature over 50 historic military vehicles, such as jeeps and motor bikes from the 1939-45 wartime era, and the event aims to recreate some scenes of what life and railway transport was like in 1940's Britain.

Featuring an unexploded bomb by the station building, armed sentries on guard, plus expected armed military and goods trains, the event will allow visitors to step back in time to wartime Britain and maybe even beat the rationing system with a special on train cream tea!

Offering a visual feast of 20th Century military nostalgia -- with the South Devon Railway's steam trains acting as a fitting backdrop to complete the period atmosphere -- the field outside Buckfastleigh station will take on the appearance of a large military camp with uniformed soldiers in the West Country prior to D-Day with various displays and military dioramas.

Men, women and children turning up in 1940's period clothing will be made especially welcome, and all travellers on the railway will be given a wartime identity card.

Military Police will be looking for a German spy who is known to be in the area, and patrolling the stations and trains to check identity cards as well as looking for downed German airmen or paratroops in disguise.

But, with the risk of Hitler's bombers still an ever present danger, the station will be decked out with blast tape on the windows and sandbags for protection, plus there'll be an unexploded bomb nearby to add to the wartime atmosphere and hopefully a bomb disposal team at work!

Period vehicles will be parked around the site and many staff will be wearing WWII uniforms and clothing. There'll even be a wartime vegetable allotment following the Government's wartime slogan: "Dig For Victory"

The two-day show will be an all steam train event featuring former Great Western Railway (GWR) built locomotives 1369, 5786, 5526 and 3803, and various different types of passenger and goods trains will be in use on both days operating to a special timetable.

In addition to a normal five-coach passenger service which will operate four round trips over the full line, goods, military and officers special trains will run plus shunting at some stations, along with a two-car "auto train"

The auto train, which is not from the 1940's era, features two former British Railways (Western Region) 1950's Carmine & Cream liveried trailer cars and will be worked by British Railways plain black " prairie" 5526.

These services will also call on request at Nappers Halt and passengers wishing to alight at the ground level halt can do so by means of the retractable steps fitted to the coaches.

On each day, a demonstration goods train will operate from Staverton to Buckfastleigh in the morning, with the return run being in the late afternoon, plus a military train and officers special around lunchtime.

Throughout both days shunting demonstrations will take place at Buckfastleigh using No. 1369. The locomotive will be coupled to the former Great Western shunters truck -- known as a "chariot" -- and will be kept busy between trains reforming the wagons as required. "Fewer and fewer people now remember what the 1940's were like, so we are hoping to recreate some of the everyday scenes from that era in conjunction with the Devon area Branch of the Military Vehicle Trust," said SDR General Manager Dick Wood. "There will be something on site to attract most people who have an interest in British military history and steam trains."

The Military Vehicle Trust is a charitable organisation of enthusiasts dedicated to the research, restoration, running and showing of historic military vehicles, as well as providing uniforms and equipment to set up living history displays. The Military Vehicle Trust actively supports the work of the British Legion, SAAFA and the Normandy Veterans Association.