Great Western Railway continental ambulance trains operated in the Nord Pas de Calais, Picardy and Normandy during the First World War, their function was to collect sick and wounded soldiers from casualty clearing stations behind the lines and take them to hospitals. This 1:12 inch scale model is based on Train No. 19, which entered service in France in February 1916, under the command of Major JP Brown. The train was decommissioned in 1919; during its three years in France, it visited over 100 stations. It was attacked by enemy aircraft on 17 November 1916 and on 23 March 1918 bombs were dropped close to the train. However, its most serious damage occurred from a collision; on 27 December 1916, the train was hit by a Belgian troop train, shattering 46 windows. Soldiers injured on the other train were subsequently transferred to Train No. 19 and moved to Amiens. 

This is a faithful scale model of Ward Car 19c, one of eight ward cars. It has a removable roof to reveal six banks of three stretcher beds (36 in total) on each side of the carriage, the middle one folding, all with mattresses covered with blue and white striped ticking; two white painted tables in the centre and with a lavatory at one end of the carriage. It is painted khaki on the outside with a flag of the red cross and white within.