Portable and prefabricated railways of 1918

Soon after the First World War ended, thoughtful engineers took stock of the  railways used on the battlefields of the Western Front. Though there seemed a gulf between the Central Powers and the Allies, their trench supply railways were directly comparable, designed to be quickly installed, to take massive traffic and all to 60cm gauge.  Frank G. Jonah, lately in France in the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) wrote a paper for the American Society of Civil Engineers, New York, March 3^rd 1920. ‘They (German Railways) were extremely well built and had a greater mileage than the French or American armies.’

Friend and foe but compatible. A German D-Lok with tender shares the track with British War Department bogie wagons on this fine 16mm scale model of a World War 1 railway. Photo Jim Hawkesworth

The history of the design went back many years. From about 1870, France, Germany, Great Britain and the USA had portable track available. When Paul Decauville introduced his porteur Decauville, in 1875, it became popular. It could be used in fields, factories and quarries, even archaeological excavations. His jonction hybride was devised to make track-laying, even in the dark, safe and relatively simple. Whichever end of prefabricated track was offered up to existing track, the jonction hybride ensured a fit. Soon, Decauville systems were being sold around the world.

Sections of Decauville portable track ended with one end with fishplates

Between the late 1870s and 1888, Prosper Péchot regularly visited the Decauville factory. He devised the Péchot prefabricated track and new bogies and wagons which could take hitherto unimaginable loads. This Péchot system was formally adopted by the French Army in 1888  

The German Army adopted 60 cm gauge very soon after the French Army did. and started using bogie wagons, just as had the French. Unlike the French Army, they spent the years between 1888 and 1914 improving their Feldbahn system.

By 1918, 60cm railways were widely used on the Werstern Front by all participants, including the British, Canadians, ANZAC troops and the AEF. Prefabricated track was used, especially for rapid, initial lay. This was replaced with rail laid on sleepers as many photographs attest.

The German prefabricated track was as well designed as anyone’s. No doubt after careful examination of the Péchot prefabricated track, they understood that the sleepers (railway ties) performed much better if they enclosed the soil/ballast rather than letting it shoot out under the weight of a train. The manufacturer Paul Decauville refused to cooperate with the Germans and so they designed their own sleeper. It was rather simpler than the elegant box-shape that required the latest in Decauville steam-presses, but it did the job.

In the same way, they did not use the jonction hybride as devised by Decauville. The Germans came up with a rough-and-ready solution which attracted the admiration of Mr Jonah.

A short section of Feldbahn prefabricated track. The standard length was 10m. Picture taken at Apedale Railway, Staffs, by MD Wright

 ‘One end of the 5m section of  built-up (prefabricated) track had a pair of bars with a hooked projection while the other end had the flange of the bars bent up. In laying track, the hooked bar engaged the bent-up flange of the last section.’ 

Link between sections of German prefabricated track. Illustration adapted from Frank  Jonah's illustration. Courtesy Jim Hawkesworth

I do not mean to say that German track was inferior to French. It was different.

These railways, whether French, German, American or British War Department, could be laid with amazing rapidity on unpromising ground, quickly repaired and quickly lifted. Frank Jonah commented:

 ‘The speed with which tracks could be constructed by the different Allied armies was practically the same… A mile of track, including ballasting, required 2,100 man-days of labour.’ All the same, it was much easier to lay short lines over virgin ground than to build long supply lines over ravaged terrain. As we shall see below, some track required even more labour.

In his words, these 60 cm railways were among the chief agencies of transport:

‘The transportation of supplies necessary for the dense concentration of men at the Front could not be accomplished satisfactorily on the highways … therefore orders were given for the development of a comprehensive system of Light Railways for the following primary reasons –

1. To relieve the highways of traffic. In addition to the wear and tear on motor vehicles and the excessive use of gasoline, the wear on the roads was leading to a heavy traffic in road material so that a large part of the traffic hauled …. was to repair the damage which their own traffic was creating. And there was a saving of labour.
2.  To assist in rapid advance over shell-torn area
3.  To convey road material.
4.  To reduce manual labour at the Front.

These lines were developed so completely that eventually nearly all heavy material was transported by Light Railways leaving the highways clear for light fast-moving automobiles, trucks and ambulances.’

In the view of Jonah, the finest section of track built by the AEF was the connection between AEF central at Abainville and the American Front at Sorcy. I mention it, because it took the idea of prefabrication to a whole new level. This was not just lengths of track, it was whole bridges!

A 60cm railway bridge was made from repeats of a section of prefabricated design

Trestles were prefabricated from 5” by 10” road plank. These were used for smaller bridges. For a long span, the approaches were supported on trestles. The central section, two-deck Howe trusses fitted the conditions.  Units were normally of the order of 4 ½ tons. They were lifted into position with a 5 ton locomotive crane.

Bridges were used, not only to cross streams and canals but also standard gauge railways. A completed bridge was kept in reserve at Abainville.Such was the enthusiasm of Frank Jonah, that he designed a counter-weighted lift bridge (think Tower Bridge in London) all in timber.

You may be wondering why the AEF had their main depot so far from the Front. Abainville was chosen because it had ‘ample space for a large yard, with standard gauge rail and canal connections … It was directly behind the St Mihiel and Argonne fronts on which the greater part of the American operations were conducted. Abainville was 35 km (22 miles) back of the line. … Material coming up from the ports was unloaded at the yards and taken to the front as required’

Several interesting engineering problems were presented in its construction. To be sheltered from German long-range guns, it was in rough terrain. As it was near canal and railway connections, these had to be carefully crossed. The light railway had to be reliable. An average speed of construction was 2,460 man-days of labour.

The Germans also had timber bridges. They could be single-deck as one pictured in in the Verdun sector on the German side of the Western Front. My illustration is a detail from a postcard entitled Argonnenwaldbahn (Argonne Forest Railway). These were sold to help the War Effort. It comes from the collection of Raymond Duton.

Detail of a German timber bridge in the Argonne 1917. Photo by Sanwald and Esslingen. Courtesy of Raymond Duton

Timber bridges could be double height as in one near Tilsit (now in the Russian territory of Kaliningrad).

German bridges provided slightly different solutions to the same engineering problem – how to use the triangle as much as possible, without wasting too much timber. They too had repeating units but unlike the AEF, their bridges did not consist of milled 5” by 10” plank. They used timber 'in the round', sometimes not even straight timber.

The Allies gradually learned more about the German railway systems so that, by 1920, Frank G. Jonah was quite an authority about them.

As the summer of 1918 progressed, the Allies captured an increasing share of the territories once behind German lines. With the territories came material, including rail, rolling stock and locomotives of their 60cm Feldbahn system. Once the AEF finally swung into action they fairly hammered the Germans.

The AEF in training 1917-18. Photo from Illustration magazine. Courtesy MD Wright

In the AEF, the Germans were facing a numerous, well-resourced and determined foe. When railways were captured, the Allies put them to work on their own trench systems. They were simply repaying the compliment that the Germans had paid them, using captured equipment.

See more in Colonel Péchot: Tracks to the Trenches – Sarah Wright

Narrow Gauge and Industrial Railway Modelling Review no 66

Heeresfeldbahn der Keiserzeit - Fach and Krall

Narrow Gauge To No Man's Land - Richard Dunn

Recreating the guns of 1918

Several friends attended the Tracks To The Trenches event at the Apedale Light Railway, 13^th to 15^th July 2018. Jim Hawkesworth took excellent photographs of the 60cm gauge gun carrier which was on show and we’d like to celebrate this extraordinary piece of history.

100 years on, a replica eighteen pounder British gun sits on a 60cm gauge carriage at th eApedale Tracks to the Trenches Event September 2018. Photo Jim Hawkesworth

There was a long and intimate relationship between field railways and guns; the extensive 60cm networks of the Western Front were much used by artillery. This link went back many years. After the Franco-Prussian was of 1870-1, the French and German armies both devised railways to get guns into the field. No campaign could wait until a standard gauge railway was built; road vehicles were inadequate at the time. Everyone realised that temporary railways could provide a solution..

The Decauville Company of France had light portable track which they thought could be used for military purposes. Though portable, it proved to be too light. French military engineers proposed metre gauge railways. The Germans, rather more realistically, proposed track of around 70cm gauge.

Prosper Péchot of the French Artillery realised that 60 cm gauge was the ideal compromise between the various existing tracks. He came to this conclusion using mathematics, physics and experiments at the factory of Paul Decauville. Whatever their differences later, the two men united in a profound desire to win the next war against the Germans! Péchot also designed a sleeper for portable track.

The Péchot well-wagon was supported by two heavily sprung bogies. Thus, though over 6m long, it could  ride on rough and highly curved track. The WD F-class wagon mentioned below was heavily influenced by this design. Courtesy Péchot family

Unfortunately, no-one likes to be told that their existing efforts have been wasted and the French military were no exception. There was mess-room warfare between the Engineers and the advocates of the Péchot system. In 1888, Péchot triumphed and within a year 560 kilometres of track was being manufactured. The Germans were watching. Their flirtation with 70 and 75 gauge was rapidly ended; bogie wagons similar in length soon appeared on 60cm track. (Noted: German bogie wagons were lighter in designand, though fit for purpose, few survive today)

Between 1888 and 1918, there were developments. General Peigné devised the affut-truck. This consisted of an adapted and reinforced Péchot well-wagon, with turntable fitted in the well. A gun was mounted on this, either 120 or 155mm, which thus had a field of fire of 360 degrees. For operation, the train had to stop and an apron and stabilisers were swung out. It had an obvious disadvantage. Enemy guns could soon get its range; even if the train went off to safety, the track would suffer from hostile fire. There is more information in Dr Christian Cénac’s excellent book ‘60 centimètres pour ravitailler le Front’  and websites such as:

insomniacque.e-monsite.com or forum.pages14-18.com or Passion et Compassion 1914-19

We fast-forward to 1914-18. Soon after the Western Front was established, both sides were being supplied by 60cm systems.

The French took their guns into the field. They were very proud of the range and accuracy of their 75mm and 155mm (Long) guns, fitted with hydraulic recoil. These could be part-dismantled and taken on Péchot bogies. The Péchot bogie was an engineering wonder, durable and reliable. Quite a few survive today. By 1915, it was clear that the French could never produce enough Péchot bogies and wagons. They went for the lighter and simpler Plate-forme Decauville which was produced in thousands (3000 wagons, 6,500 bogies). There is more information in my book Colonel Péchot: Tracks To The Trenches.

When the British created their War Department Light Railways, they were clearly inspired by Péchot designs. They adopted the bogie wagon running on 60cm gauge rail. A range of wagons were created. There is more information in Colonel Péchot: Tracks To The Trenches, Light Railways of the First World War by WJK Davies and in a series of articles by Peter Foley running from issue 39 to 60 of Narrow Gauge and Industrial Railway Modelling Review.

Indistinguishable from the real thing! Apart from a few early examples most WD wagons, including the gun wagon,  ran on these standardised bogies. These 16mm scale models are produced by Wrightscale 

War Department Light Railways were used to carry guns. Photos such as CO 3807 survive in the Imperial War Museum Collection to prove the point. There are other photographs in the NGIRM Review collection, as seen in Issue 71, page 292, and 79, page 286. Enthusiasts will also like Appendix 1 of Narrow Gauge at War (2) by Keith Taylorson. He makes an important point. Once WDLR railways were up and running, ie from late 1916 onwards, there were field experiments on various ways to carry guns. The photographs in the Appendix show an adaptation of the WDLR F-class wagon being used to transport an Eighteen Pounder and a 6” 26-cwt howitzer. (An 18 pound shell is roughly 8kg. A 6” shell is roughly 150mm in diameter – 26 cwt is very roughly 1.2 tonnes.)

Replica gun wagon seen at Tracks To The Trenches. It is not an adaptation of a standard WD wagon. Photograph courtesy Jim Hawkesworth

A group decided to celebrate these gun wagons by building a replica, designed to take an Eighteen Pounder. This appeared at the Apedale Centenary Event 13-15 July 2018.

The  Imperial War Museum photographs show a complete F-class wagon with stanchions removed and steel troughs slung either side, supported by girders across the body. The Apedale replica consists of two WD bogies supporting channel steel troughs bolted to a custom framework.

End view of replica gun wagon. Photo Jim Hawkesworth

WOT! No authentic wagon butchered for their experiment! To this, there are two answers. Firstly, in 1917-18, as in 2017-18, various experimental gun carriages were built. The ingenious workshop staff used anything to hand. To my mind the gun carriage is very much in the spirit of 100 years ago. Secondly, Tom Porteous, in his article in Review 71, remarks ‘what appears to be shown (in a contemporary photo) is a wagon .. consisting of a purpose-built frame straddling WD bogies.

End detail of replica gun wagon. Photo Jim Hawkesworth

The Apedale wagon design echoes the Porteous research. Cross members in steel channel are supported by the bogie pivots. They are fitted at their ends with hangers which support the gun-wheel troughs. This gives a low centre of gravity, a great advantage. In addition, the wheel channels are the right spacing for the gun. If they had been fitted to the side of an F-class, gun wheel spacing and the wheel-troughs would have been incompatible.

Detail, replica gun wagon. Photo Jim Hawkeswoth

The motive power for the wagon (and water tank) in the picture is a restored ‘Joffre’ 0-6-0 built by Kerr Stuart for the French Army. There was a rush to provide enough motive power for the vast new trench railways. A similar 0-6-0 tank locomotive was built by Decauville in the period. Unfortunately, though similar in design, there were too many differences to ensure that parts were interchangeable. If you haven’t got your metric/Imperial callipers, a quick way to spot the KS Joffre is the ‘American-style’ spark arresting chimney. In addition, unlike the Decauville, the platework of the cab side is level with the driver’s step.

Replica gun wagon sandwiched between a water tank (just seen) and its prime mover, a restored  Kerr Stuart 0-6-0 Joffre tank. Thelocomotive was made for the French Army  but the Allies helped each other out. Photo Jim Hawkesworth

The Germans did not have much use for these gun carriages. They did, however develop almost legendary ‘big guns’

The small but deadly Minenwerfer (trench mortars) could be moved by horse or human power; the field railway was invaluable for keeping them supplied. I say ‘small’ but these trench mortars, at 170mm, were of greater calibre than the French 150mm Long or the British 6” howitzer. These German guns were not as accurate at long range but they were very suitable for lobbing shrapnel and high explosive over no-man’s-land and down into enemy trenches. They had successfully traded volume for accuracy

The Germans tended to keep large guns back from the Front. The greatest were of such a range that they could be parked somewhere convenient, supplied by standard gauge railway. They could then bombard French cities such as Meaux from a safe distance of 50 kilometres or more. The fear was that they might get in range of Paris.

'Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair. Jubilant French and AEF troops gloat over the colossal wreck of a large German gun, possibly 240mm. It has been removed and the emplacement partly destroyed. Photo from Illustration magazine courtesy of MD Wright

In late July 1918, US troops recaptured la Fère en Tardenois, Aisne, dangerously close to Meaux. Hidden in a nearby wood, they found the mountings of one such giant gun. As the AEF advanced, the gun itself had been removed by rail; it could have been a long range 240mm design or 380mm. The 380mm gun had a shorter range than the 240mm but even so this was 50 km.

In the photograph, French and US troops admire the ruins of the huge emplacement. The gun had been mounted on a huge turntable supplied by standard gauge rail. This has been partially destroyed by retreating Germans.