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Railway Companies

The 2nd NZEF supplied two specialist railway groups, a Construction and Maintenance Group and an Operating Group. A chaplain served with these, and his parish was as long and as narrow as the railway. He spent his time travelling from station to station and from detachment to detachment. Each night would see him in a different place with a different group of men. He would hold a service for them in the evening and probably a celebration of Holy Communion next morning. The rest of his stay would be spent in welfare work and in getting to know the men. Small groups appreciated these regular visits from their own chaplain, and in spite of the unusual conditions good work was done by the chaplains until the time when these units were disbanded after the close of the North African campaign.