VETERANS and serving soldiers attended a service to dedicate a railway tribute to those who gave their lives during the First World War.

East Coast locomotive For The Fallen entered service on the London to Edinburgh route following a ceremony at Newcastle’s Central Station.

For The Fallen has a livery filled with images, stories and tributes to regiments from up and down the East Coast route, including the Tyneside Scottish, an honorary title currently maintained by 204 (Tyneside Scottish) Battery Royal Artillery of the 101st (Northumbrian) Regiment Royal Artillery.

East Coast Managing Director Karen Boswell said: “The whole rail industry is rightly marking the centenary of World War One.

“For The Fallen” is East Coast’s individual tribute to those who went to war, and to those who made the ultimate sacrifice. This includes the 20,000 rail workers who signed up for the War, never to return.

“We’ve been working on this loco with five regiments on the East Coast route. It will take some of the stories, images, facts and history behind the regiments, and the Great War, to millions of our passengers across the country.

“What was to later become known as the Tyneside Scottish Brigade lost 1,010 officers and men on just the first day of the Battle of the Somme in 1916. This brigade suffered the heaviest losses of any brigade. So we are here today because we will not forget what they did. To quote from Laurence Binyon’s poem, For The Fallen, We Will Remember Them”

Around 700,000 people worked on Britain’s railways at the outbreak of the war and some 20,000 of them died after volunteering to serve in the Great War.

Major Eric Ingram, MBE, representing the Lord Lieutenant of Newcastle at the dedication ceremony, said: “The naming of this East Coast locomotive, ‘For the Fallen’, is a fitting tribute to the men of the North East who gave their lives in the service of their country.

“It is a great honour to be unveiling this train’s nameplate as it embarks on its journey around the UK, marking the centenary of the outbreak of World War 1 and that conflict’s fallen heroes.”