THOUSANDS of visitors will be stepping back in time for the 18th annual Pickering Wartime Weekend.

The three-day event, which starts tomorrow, commemorates the crucial role Britain’s railways played in the Second World War and provides a taste of life on the Home Front in 1943.

Stations at Pickering, Levisham, Goathland and Grosmont come to life with re-enactments, displays and entertainment.

In Pickering, visitors will get a sense of what it was like during the blitz, with firefighting demonstrations in the station car park and air-raid scenarios on the station platform. A replica Spitfire will be on display in the station car park – an apt addition to the event to mark the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.

Pickering’s Memorial Hall will be transformed to a British Restaurant and soup kitchen. The Pontefract Home Guard will be safeguarding Goathland station, which will feature a field kitchen display and agricultural demonstrations.

Variety shows and dancing will add a touch of glamour at Grosmont, alongside a hairdressing salon, vehicle displays and an example of an Anderson shelter, which was used widely to provide individual protection for families against air attack. In contrast, Levisham is transformed into ‘Le Visham’ – an enemy-occupied French village under the control of both the German army and a unit of SS troops.

Here training demonstrations and the rescue of a pilot from a crash-landed Messerschmitt BF-109 will take place throughout the weekend. Continental-style hot and cold food will be served by locals in the ‘Café Allee de Bois’ including French onion soup and croissants.

Between 1939 and 1944 the railways were subjected to more than 9,000 bombing raids. Despite this the Germans were never able to succeed in completely paralysing the network.