160 Railway Construction Company, RE

My father was Eric Sanderson, who was in the Royal Engineers during WWII. He was demobbed as a Lieutenant but I believe at one point he was a Captain. At one time he was in 160 Railway Construction Company in Italy. I have attached a photo of this unit, if you look on the wall above their heads you can see the unit identification. That is my father in the middle of the front row with the dark trousers.

I am just beginning my research into my father and his activities during the war, so if anyone has any information on where this unit was and what it did I would be grateful for any information. I have a copy of the book "Railway Reconstruction - Italy September 1943 - January 1946", published by the Central Mediterranean Force, and annotated by my dad indicating where he was, but am interested in any other sources of info.

Thanks!
Tim

 

Hi there, I am just beginning to research my father's activities during World War Two and will be sending away for his service records (if I can ever figure out what his service number was). I have seen a reference to him in the Royal Engineers in the London Gazette with the number 265785. Would this be his service number?

His name was Eric Sanderson and I know that at one time he was in 160 Railway Construction Company, Royal Engineers as either a Captain or a Lieutenant. Does someone know how to search for their war diary in the National Archives? I can't seem to find anything using 160 Railway Construction Company. I didn't find one on the Royal Engineers Museum website.

I have a couple of photographs which I was hoping someone could help me to analyze.

The first is a photo of him in uniform. I know the badge on his hat is Royal Engineers, but I was wondering what the badge on his lapel means, and what the diamond on his shoulder stands for.

The next is a unit shot, but it isn't dated or titled so I don't know who they are. Can someone identify them from their interesting hats? All the personnel are identified in my dad's handwriting so this may help someone else researching this unit, if we can figure out who they are. My dad is fourth from left in the front row.

Thanks for any help!
Tim

 

the diamond is a 'pip' and signifies he was a 2nd lieutenant at the time of the picture. the lapel badge is of the Royal Engineers badge.

the group photo looks like a picture from training but i'm no expert so i can't confirm this

 

Tim,

At a quick glance I can see 2 diaries:

WO 166/3647 Mar 1940 - Dec 1941
WO 169/10630 July 1943 - Dec 1943

Mike

 

Have you found the following data?
http://www.trenidicarta.it/reconstruction/2_2_3.html
http://www.trenidicarta.it/reconstruction/2_3_2.html
http://www.trenidicarta.it/reconstruction/appendix1.html
http://www.dalvolturnoacassino.it/doc/Railway%20reconstruction%20Italy%201943-1946.pdf

 

Thanks so much for the info! That has given me a great start. Nice to know what a "pip" is, and of course his service number, and that looks like the war diary so that's great. I do have the Railway Reconstruction book. I'm sure I'll be back with more questions.

Tim

 

TimRE
My grandfather served in the 160 Railway Construction Company from Tunisia until the end of the war. I have a copy of some drawings created at the time that show a map of the unit's locations in 1943-5 and (the unit included a cartoonist of some talent) a large number of illustrated unit anecdotes. The artworks are quite large but if you're interested, I'll try to think of some way of copying them for you

 

WOW, thank you WK61! That would be totally awesome, my father was with them during 1944-1945 until they were disbanded, so your grandfather and my father may have served together. What was his name?

Were you able to spot your grandfather in the photo in the very first post in this thread? That's my dad front row centre. I'm pretty sure this photo is in 1945. It may only be one Section of the Company. If your grandad is in there, I'll get the photo properly reproduced so you can have a copy. Perhaps over the years we can get some names to these faces.

I would love to see your maps. Even if you have to get them professionally reproduced, let me know, I will happily pay for them. Even digital camera or cellphone shots would be great to look at for now. Just spread them on a table and photograph them and then post them here for all to see if you can.

If you haven't already done it, check out the trendica links in post #6 above. This is a web version of Railway Reconstruction Italy, which covers the activities of 160 company in Italy. They entered Italy on the second day after the invasion. My dad wasn't there for that, but your grandpa may have been. I haven't got that far into it yet, but eventually we would be able to figure out which bridges they worked on, some of which are still standing today.

Very exciting news. Thanks so much for replying!

Tim

 

Wilco, you gave a very good link to RE publications of the Railway Operating and Construction in Italy. Do you know whether the same is available for NW Europe 44/45. I have been unable to find anything so far.

 

TimRE

I have recently come back from the National Archives where I have been tracing my fathers service during WW2 via various War Diaries - he joined up in 1940 as a Sapper and his first posting was to 160 Railway Construction Company in Cairnryan, Scotland. He was initially posted to Number 1 Railway Training Centre RE at Longmoor, Hampshire where he did all his basic training as well as railway training. I know this is way before your father's involvement with 160 Railway Construction Company but my interest in your story was captured by the two photos in your second post and in particular the first one which was suggested could be a training unit photo. Unfortunately it does not want to open/enlarge on my computer and so I was wondering if it could be re-posted.

My father went on to serve with 931 and 933 Port Construction and Repair Companies RE.

Ian

 

Hello,

I thought you might like some information about one of the jobs your relatives would have been involved with - the re-building of the bridge over the Paglia at Allerona, Italy, after it had been repeatedly destroyed by the USAAF in the first four months of 1944. On one of these occasions a POW train carrying Allied POWS to Germany was crossing the bridge, and when 160 Rly Co. started work in August '44 they found two of the many bodies (or by that time fragments of bone) resulting from this carnage which took place on 28 January '44.
For more details see my website http://bombedpowtrain.weebly.com
View attachment 139645
Vitellino

 

Thank you for posting this Vitellino. I have read about this story before, very tragic

Lesley

 

You still researching this 5 years on?
I have a document which mentions your father - the document lists 200+ names and addresses of the 160 Co. members. I have linked it to another thread on this site.
RE Railway engineers June 1944 - 1946

 

TimRE was last aboard in May 2020. It might be worth a PM to him, hoping that his email remains valid. Click on his name and use the 'Start Conversation'.
Welcome aboard too.

 

Hello,
My great grandfather was in the 160 railway construction company. And I too have a map illustrated by one of the soldiers. It is dated September 1943 - Christmas day 1943. It has a number of little cartoons. I would love to find more out about the company and would be interest in any other maps

 

Here is a picture of the map (as mentioned above)

 

Or to be more accurate my grandfather has this map (my great grandfathers son)

 

This is from a Christmas dinner for part of the unit at Pescia Italy 1944

 

Is your grandfather Geoffrey Taylor
He is mentioned in the document below