Mass of coins, collection of pennies and sixpences welded together as a result of bombing raid in 1942, found at York Station.

This cluster of coins was found at York station and testifies to the destruction which came to the city of York in one night in 1942.

During the Second World War Britain and Germany had been engaged upon retaliatory bombing campaigns, targeting military and strategic areas. In April 1942, the German Luftwaffe began bombing cultural targets across England in response to RAF raids on Lubeck and Rostock which had caused widespread devastation and panic among the civilian population.

York was struck in the early hours of 29 April 1942. Targets included ordinary streets and civic buildings, as well as more strategic targets such as the York Carriage Works and railway station, where these coins were found. York’s iconic Minster came through the raid unscathed; the rest of the city was not so fortunate.

The National Railway Museum’s Great Hall (then a London & North Eastern Railway shed) was hit during the bombing, and the A4 Pacific locomotive Sir Ralph Wedgwood was destroyed, as well as Class B16 locomotive No.925. A plaque now rests on the track where the damage was done, dedicated by the Gresley Society on the fiftieth anniversary of the bombing.

90 people lost their lives in the raid and hundreds more were injured.