Trench railway

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Transfer of ammunition from standard-gauge railway to trench railway during the Battle of Passchendaele.

A trench railway was a type of railway that represented

soldiers supplied during the static trench warfare phase of World War I. The large concentrations of soldiers and artillery at the front lines required delivery of enormous quantities of food, ammunition and fortification construction materials where transport facilities had been destroyed. Reconstruction of conventional roads (at that time rarely surfaced) and railways was too slow, and fixed facilities were attractive targets for enemy artillery. Trench railways linked the front with standard gauge railway facilities beyond the range of enemy artillery.[1] Empty cars often carried litters
returning wounded from the front.

Overview

France had developed portable

United States Army Transportation Corps used the French 600 mm narrow gauge system. Russia used Decauville 600 mm narrow gauge and 750 mm
(2 ft 5+1⁄2 in) narrow gauge systems.

Unskilled labourers and soldiers could quickly assemble prefabricated 5-meter (16 ft 5 in) sections of track weighing about 100 kilograms (220 lb) along roads or over smooth terrain. The track distributed heavy loads to minimize development of muddy ruts through unpaved surfaces. Small

locomotives pulled short trains of 10-tonne (9.8-long-ton; 11-short-ton) capacity cars through areas of minimum clearance and small-radius curves. Derailments were common, but the light rolling stock was relatively easy to rerail.[2]
Steam locomotives typically carried a short length of flexible pipe (called a water-lifter) to refill water tanks from flooded shell holes.

Steam locomotives produced smoke that revealed their location to enemy artillery and aircraft. They required fog or darkness to operate within visual range of the front.[2] Daylight transport usually required animal power until internal combustion locomotives were developed. Large quantities of hay and grain were carried to the front as horses in warfare remained essential to logistics. Fodder for horses constituted the single biggest commodity exported from Britain to France during the war.

  • BL 9.2 inch Howitzer with shells lined up on the ground recently delivered from the trench railway in the foreground.
    BL 9.2 inch Howitzer
    with shells lined up on the ground recently delivered from the trench railway in the foreground.
  • Australian 17th Light Railway Operating Company ballast train near Ypres pulled by Cooke 2-6-2 tank locomotive # 1217.
    Australian 17th Light Railway Operating Company ballast train near Ypres pulled by Cooke 2-6-2 tank locomotive # 1217.
  • 5th Australian Field Ambulance Company soldiers evacuating wounded from the front near Ypres in trench railway hand cars.
    5th Australian Field Ambulance Company soldiers evacuating wounded from the front near Ypres in trench railway hand cars.

French equipment

French equipment was largely designed on the initiative of Artillery Captain Prosper Péchot beginning in 1888. The 10-tonne (9.8-long-ton; 11-short-ton)

Péchot-Bourdon locomotive was named for him and engineer Bourdon of the 5th engineer regiment (5e régiment du génie) in Toul
. Prior to outbreak of war 150 km (93 mi) of military 600 mm (1 ft 11+5⁄8 in) track were stockpiled at Toul, along with 20 locomotives and 150 wagons.

The French military had 62 Péchot-Bourdon type built between 1888 and 1914. Baldwin Locomotive Works built 280 more during the war. The "Système Péchot" as it is named in French became the dominant system for trench railways with an estimated 7,500 km (4,700 mi) of track built by the 5th engineer regiment.

250 8-tonne (7.9-long-ton; 8.8-short-ton) 0-6-0T of Decauville's Progres design were built for military service. 32 0-6-0T of American design and 600 55 kW (74 hp) gasoline mechanical locomotives were purchased from Baldwin Locomotive Works.

The Maginot Line employed a 600 mm (1 ft 11+5⁄8 in) gauge supply system of petrol-powered armoured locomotives and underground electric locomotives pulling cars of World War I design. Two Péchot-Bourdon locomotives were preserved in the technical museums of Dresden and the railway museum of Požega. A portion of the Somme battlefield railway continued in operation and has been preserved as the heritage Froissy Dompierre Light Railway.

  • Examples of French equipment
  • Trench railway turntable.
    Trench railway turntable.
  • Pocket wagons at Fort Schoenenbourg Schoenenbourg, France
    Schoenenbourg
    , France
  • Baldwin Locomotive Works Péchot-Bourdon locomotive with water-lifter pipe carried on right side tank.
    Péchot-Bourdon locomotive
    with water-lifter pipe carried on right side tank.
  • Decauville 0-6-0T No. 5 built in 1916 and preserved on the Froissy Dompierre Light Railway.
    Decauville 0-6-0T No. 5 built in 1916 and preserved on the Froissy Dompierre Light Railway.
  • Kerr Stuart 0-6-0T "Joffre" class built in 1915 for French government and based on 8 tons Decauville 0-6-0T. Preserved on the West Lancashire Light Railway.
    Kerr Stuart 0-6-0T "Joffre" class built in 1915 for French government and based on 8 tons Decauville 0-6-0T. Preserved on the West Lancashire Light Railway.
  • A pocket wagon for transporting artillery shells. A rectangular water tank wagon is in the background.
    A pocket wagon for transporting artillery shells. A rectangular water
    tank wagon
    is in the background.

German equipment

A 0-8-0T Brigadelok preserved at Deutsches Dampflokomotiv-Museum.
German troops loading for transport to the front about 1915.

Zwillinge intended to be operated in pairs with the cabs together. The Zwillinge offered Mallet locomotive performance through tight curves, but damage to one unit would not disable the second. One hundred-eighty-two Zwillinge were manufactured from 1890 to 1903, and shortcomings were evaluated in German South West Africa and China's Boxer Rebellion
.

An 11-tonne (24,000 lb) 0-8-0T Brigadelok design with

Klien-Lindner articulation of the front and rear axles was adopted as the new military standard in 1901. Approximately 250 were available by 1914, and over two thousand were produced during the war. A Brigadelok typically handled six loaded cars up a 2% grade
.

Germany also had approximately five hundred 0-4-0T, three hundred 0-6-0T and forty 0-10-0T locomotives of other designs in military service.

evaporative cooling water jacket surrounding the single cylinder oil engine
. Fifty similar 6-wheel locomotives were produced by Deutz.

Approximately 20% of the Brigadeloks saw post-war use. Government railways of (Yugoslavia), North Macedonia, Serbia and Poland made extensive use of the military locomotives. Significant numbers were used in Hungary, France, Latvia, Bulgaria and Romania while smaller numbers went overseas to Africa, Indonesia, Japan and North America. Much of the trench railway equipment remaining in Belgium at the end of hostilities was shipped to the Belgian Congo to build the Vicicongo line.

British equipment

Main article: War Department Light Railways

Britain selected a Hunslet Engine Company 4-6-0T design as their standard for the French Decauville 600mm rail gauge; but Hunslet's production of 75 locomotives was insufficient. Baldwin Locomotive Works produced 495 15-tonne (33,000 lb) 4-6-0T of a less satisfactory American design while Hudswell Clarke and Andrew Barclay Sons & Co. built 83 0-6-0T locomotives. One hundred 15-tonne (33,000 lb) 2-6-2T of the American standard military design were later purchased from Alco's Cooke Locomotive Works for British use.

Britain pioneered the use of petrol-powered, 4-wheel

synchromesh mechanical drive locomotives (known as tractors) for daylight use within visual range of the front. In 1916 the War Office required "Petrol Trench Tractors" of 600-mm gauge that were capable of drawing 10 to 15 tons at 5 mi (8.0 km) per hour.[3] Early tractors weighed 2 tons. Total production was 102 7 kW (9.4 hp) Ernest E. Baguley tractors, 580 15 kW (20 hp) Motor Rail tractors and 220 30 kW (40 hp) Motor Rail tractors. An additional two hundred 30 kW (40 hp) petrol-electric tractors were produced by British Westinghouse and Dick, Kerr & Co.

Former British trench railway equipment was put to civilian use rebuilding Vis-en-Artois between Arras and Cambrai. Twenty Hudswell-Clarke and Barclay 0-6-0T, seven Alco 2-6-2T and 26 Baldwin 4-6-0T engines saw service until 1957.

American equipment

Magor Car Corporation[4] to test operation of their military railway car production. Two were lost at sea, and the remaining 191 saw service with the U.S. Army in France. Locomotives were initially painted grey with black smoke boxes. White lettering was applied to early production, but black lettering was used in France. Baldwin also built 5-tonne (5.5-short-ton; 4.9-long-ton) 26 kW (35 hp) and 7-tonne (7.7-short-ton; 6.9-long-ton) 37 kW (50 hp) 4-wheel gasoline mechanical locomotives for the U.S. Army. The lighter locomotives were numbered 8001-8063. The heavier locomotives were numbered 7001-7126 and operated at 2 metres per second or 6.56 feet per second (7.2 km/h or 4.5 mph), roughly the speed of a slow jogger.[5]

The standard American military railway car was 170 centimetres (5 ft 7 in) wide and 7 m (23 ft) long riding on two 4-wheel

earthmoving. The total number of cars shipped to Europe was 2,385.[1]

Fort Dix, New Jersey and an arsenal in Alabama
.

  • Examples of American equipment
  • One of the military 2-6-2T pulling 4-wheel side dump cars for a Michigan construction project in 1921.
    One of the military 2-6-2T pulling 4-wheel side dump cars for a Michigan construction project in 1921.
  • The only Baldwin 2-6-2T still in existence and preserved on the "Tacot des Lacs" in France.
    The only
    Tacot des Lacs
    " in France.
  • Baldwin 50 hp gasoline mechanical locomotive here converted to standard-gauge and preserved in France.
    Baldwin 50 hp gasoline mechanical locomotive here converted to standard-gauge and preserved in France.
  • American railway wagons preserved on the Froissy Dompierre Light Railway.
    American railway wagons preserved on the Froissy Dompierre Light Railway.

Russian equipment

During the First World War Russia used both French 600 mm (1 ft 11+5⁄8 in) Decauville and 750 mm (2 ft 5+1⁄2 in) gauge systems. More than 2,000 km (1,243 mi) of narrow gauge trench railways were built during the war. Kolomna Locomotive Works built 0-6-0T locomotives (I, N, R, T series). 70 locomotives were purchased from ALCO. Baldwin Locomotive Works built 350 seven-tonne 6-wheel gasoline mechanical locomotives for Russia's 750 mm (2 ft 5+1⁄2 in) gauge in 1916.[6][7]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Ayres, Leonard P. (1919). The War with Germany (Second ed.). Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office. p. 54.
  2. ^ a b "Light Rail Operators, Company D, 21st Engineers". The Great War Society. Retrieved 2012-06-16.
  3. ^ "Motor Rail & Tramcar Co. Ltd., Bedford, England". Old Kiln Light Railway. Retrieved 2012-06-16.
  4. ^ Magor Car Company
  5. ^ War Activities of the Baldwin Locomotive Works, Baldwin Locomotive Works Record, No. 93, 1919; pages 3-21.
  6. ^ Small 1982 p.55
  7. ^ Westing 1966 p.76

Bibliography

External links
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