SIXTY young children kitted out as World War II evacuees were left stranded by the latest disruptions to Northern Rail services.

The pupils, aged eight and nine from St Mary’s and St Martin’s Primary School, Windermere,were taking part in a school re-enactment of what life was like for children who grew up during the war.

They had walked the half mile to Windermere railway station wearing outfits from the 1940s and were to be seen off by parents on the 9.34am service last Friday – but on arrival they found their train was cancelled.

The school had already pre-paid for tickets and asked Northern Rail to add an extra carriage in advance.

Parents who were there to wave their children goodbye complained that there was no explanation for the cancellation and no effort made to find alternative transport.

Janett Walker, who had taken time off work to help the event, said Northern Rail needed to be held accountable for leaving the children stranded.

“The school went to great lengths for the children to have this experience. Northern Rail knew in advance this was happening and they did nothing to let us know. This is not good enough,” she said.

"To do something like this to children is just a step too far, but the school were great and they bounced back and adapted brilliantly to what had happened."

Another disappointed mum, Emma Brierley, said: “We feel very let down.

“This was meant to be a special trip for our children, an important way for them to learn about the war.

“Now, we will remember this day for all the wrong reasons.”

The school children were due to travel one stop to Staveley, where the local pavilion had been decked out in war-time decorations and activities like baking and food rationing were to be held.

Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron, who has led a campaign to have Arriva, which runs Northern Rail, sacked and the franchise handed over to another company, said: “You couldn’t make it up. I guess we should all just be grateful that Northern Rail weren’t responsible for evacuating children during the war!

“Northern Rail knew that there were 60 children from Year 4 booked on the train. It was expected that they would put on extra carriages to cope, but instead they cancelled the whole train and didn’t even put on a replacement bus service.

“I have written to Northern Rail asking for an apology and compensation, and to Transport Secretary Chris Grayling to ask him once again to remove the franchise from Arriva.”

A spokesman for Northern said: “We are very sorry for the disruption and disappointment experienced by our customers in Cumbria.

“A severe signalling failure in Manchester meant we were unable to run a number of services across the north of England – and the train due to operate the 9.34 Windermere service was caught up in these problems.

“We worked hard to provide as many alternative transport options as possible for customers at short notice but were unable to source sufficient buses.

“Again, we are sorry for the inconvenience and disappointment caused by these problems andWe will be talking with the school to look into the matter.”

Nobody at the school was prepared to comment.