Last week’s Yesterday Once More, War comes to the railways, prompted reader Mrs Kathleen Woof to get in touch.

In the piece, railway historian Rob Langham described the role played by the North Eastern Railway in wartime, carrying supplies and troops, and even fitting out carriages as ambulances.

Mr Langham also gave an account of the three Zeppelin bomb attacks on York during the First World War – following one of which Mr WT Naylor, a bricklayer at York Carriage Works and a member of the NER fire brigade, was awarded a medallion by the St John Ambulance Association for conspicuous bravery.

Mrs Woof said Mr Naylor was her grandfather and reading the piece brought back a lot of memories.

She said the WT stood for William Thomas, although her grandfather was usually known as Tom, or by his nickname Brickie Naylor.

Mrs Woof’s mother Elsie Naylor, who lived to be 104, once told her the story of how Brickie Naylor got his bravery commendation.

Mrs Woof, 84, who lives in Poppleton, said: “He rescued a girl from a house in Price Street. It had been hit and was on fire. He took this girl out of the fire and took her over to his own house, in Gray Street.”