Articles on the Shipley Glen Tramway, which reopened last year following a major refurbishment, have sparked memories for John Armstrong, a former churchwarden at St Paul’s Church in Shipley.

“The other warden with me was Ronnie Burrows, who sadly is no longer with us,” writes John.

“While warden, he wrote a pen picture of himself in the parish magazine and said that during his time in the Army during the Second World War he had served in Monte Cassino.

“I told him he was a secretive fellow because, although I had known him a long time, I didn’t know he had been involved in the Battle of Monte Cassino.

“He then told me about a very unusual event which happened there. Ronnie was ordered to take an armoured vehicle up to the village to bring back the British wounded. On his journey he was attacked by an anti tank gun but made it safely to the village, where he organised the wounded to board his vehicle.

“While waiting, he was asked where he came from and was frightened to realise that the questions came from two German soldiers armed with rifles on top of a building in the village square.

“He said, ‘I just replied that I came from England. The German said ‘what part of England’? and I said ‘the North’. The reply was ‘what part of the North?’”

Adds John: “Ronnie said he came from Bradford in Yorkshire and the German amazed him by asking if the Shipley Glen Tramway was still running! Ronnie asked how he knew about the tramway, and was informed that before the war the German had been a student at Leeds University.”

Thanks to John for this touching tale, bringing a human element to the darkness of war.

The tramway continues to be visited by people from across the world. Earlier this year, the T&A reported that a plaque had been donated to replace a nameplate from the original engine powering the line, which was stolen.

The brass plate, which dated back to when the tramway opened in 1895, was stolen from the site’s museum. The original is still missing but, following an appeal for it in the T&A by Trustees chairman Richard Freeman, George Drake, manager of Calderdale Industrial Museum, donated a replacement embossed brass plaque, with the words ‘The Shipley Gas Engine’ engraved on it.

The plaque came from a 1935 cold-starting oil engine made by John Robson’s of Shipley, which is part of a tool workshop display in the Calderdale museum.