With all the dramatic stories of resistance in movies and novels, we tend to forget that resisters were civilians living under an occupation that lasted for four or five years. Like all other civilians they had to get by on short rations and worn out shoes. They lived in cold houses and drank ersatz coffee made out of roasted chickory like everyone else. Maybe they had more than their fair share of fear and anxiety, knowing that the authorities were after them as they did. And resisters who traveled as couriers or guides had much more than their fair share of the inconveniences of trying to get around as a civilian in Occupied Europe.

Travel was difficult for every civilian, of course. Because of the gasoline ration, the only option for long distance travel was the trains. Civilian passenger trains did not get top priority during the Occupation and could easily be delayed or cancelled because the Occupation authorities declared that either the train or the track was needed for military purposes. The only way to know for sure when and if a train was running, was to go to the station to inquire.

If a train was running, there was a good chance that it would be delayed. In addition to the usual, peacetime reasons that a train might be delayed, there were a few reasons specific to the occupation. In an air raid, trains stopped wherever they were so that the passengers could evacuate it to seek shelter. If they happened to be in a rural area, passengers could find themselves lying in a ditch until the all clear sounded. If the pilots damaged the train, the passengers could be there for a long time or would need to walk to the nearest town. Sabotage attempts had similar consequences although they were possibly more dangerous.

A Dutch-Paris courier reported in late 1943 that he was late getting to Paris because someone, presumably resisters, had blown up the track underneath a couple of carriages while his train went over it. The courier had helped to rescue the wounded. Other passengers helped to push the damaged carriages off the track. They had hooked up the remaining carriages and continued on.
Even without attacks, the trains of the time were cold, unlit and very crowded. They were ideal places for police to check people’s documents because very few people are willing to jump off a moving train. Train stations were also subject to heavy surveillance. International couriers and guides also had to go through several layers of document and customs inspections at every border.
There wasn’t anything very glamorous about train travel during the Occupation, even if the traveler was a courier or guide in heightened danger of arrest during the journey.