There Isn't Even Half an Engine to Spare for Unnecessary Journeys ... So 'Stay Put' This Summer

A railway worker with an oil can looks up at an oversized locomotive boiler on a track, under the text 'There isn't even half an engine to spare for unnecessary journeys... so stay put this summer'. The tell is the plain-folks device of an ordinary worker beside the engine, used to ask civilians to give up non-essential rail travel; the poster states no figures.

Propaganda techniques used in this poster

Plain folks

Date

1939

Period

Second World War

Made by

Railway Executive Committee; artist Reginald Mayes

Region

Western and Central Europe

Country

United Kingdom

Medium

Poster

Issuer type

State

Regime

Churchill Government

Leader

Winston Churchill

Audience

Domestic public

Purpose

Mobilize or secure compliance

Themes

Home front, Economy and finance

Event

World War II

Regime

Churchill wartime government

Leader

Winston Churchill

Source

Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are

Source

U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Foreign Posters, retrieved October 3, 2026

Rights

Held by NARA, Unrestricted; UK wartime publication (1939-1945), hosted by owner decision
Railway Executive Committee; artist Reginald Mayes, National Archives and Records Administration, 44-PF-460.

There isn't even
half an engine to spare
for unnecessary journeys

.. so 'stay put' this Summer

RAILWAY EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
559
REGINALD MAYES