Wrightscale and military railways

The Péchot Story and Epinal

We are delighted to see that Epinal has rediscovered its military heritage! One site, the Fortiff'Séré - Le site web & l'association Séré de Rivières run by Cédric and Julie Vaubourg has ample photographs showing how the system is being restored.

A Séré de Rivières fort, lovingly restored. A 60cm railway runs over the defensive ditch in through the gate. THis is Uxegney near Toul which was quicker to preserve its heritage. Photo Malcolm Wright

As enthusiasts of the heritage of Péchot military railways, we visited Epinal in the early Oughties. In those days, it seemed unaware of its interesting heritage. So here is some background.

Epinal is the county town (chef lieu de département) of Vosges in eastern France. As such, for many years it was considered vulnerable to invaders from across the nearby Rhine.It was therefore a centre for fortifications, gradually increasing in complexity. A castle dominates the centre of town.

After the Franco-Prussian War 1870-1 and the loss of the department of Haut Rhin to the east, Epinal became a frontier town. In 1874, smarting from their defeat, the French government authorised General Séré de Rivières to plan a line of defences. These stretched from the Channel to the Mediterranean; there were also naval forts defending the Atlantic approaches.

Epinal found itself a centre for these new fortifications, planned, built and commissioned between 1874 and 1882.

These new forts, several per city, were huge (a typical outer face was 100 metres long) and earth-sheltered. Each was surrounded by a ditch; the spoil from the ditch was used to construct a glacis (vast sloping outer wall) as further protection. Although many forts were rectangular, where conditions dictated, they could be other four-sided or five sided shapes, thus the name polygone.   At the height of building the project absorbed up to one-tenth of the entire national budget.

What high explosive could do to a fort, in this case Maubeuge. Photo from Illustration magazine courtesy MD Wright

It was a huge undertaking but almost as soon as the forts were built, they were out of date. Melinite, a precursor of TNT, was introduced. In 1886, the government experimentally bombarded the fort of Malmaison with the new high explosive shells. The Press got wind of the experiment and turned out to watch.

The beautiful, if slightly old-fashioned, fort was reduced to rubble in an afternoon. If the fort had been defended all the occupants would have died, if not from a direct hit, from building collapse. The Press weren’t going to keep quiet about this threat to Our Boys. Séré de Rivières and the Committee for Fortifications were ordered to sort out the problem. Urgently.

They came up with a plan. The forts would be safe as long as the opposition couldn’t get within range. This meant that each fort had to be surrounded with mini-forts. As guns became more sophisticated, the mini-forts had to be surrounded with micro-forts and these in turn with buried guns batteries. The central fort was buried, with  a retractable gun turret and the ammunition was stored deep underground. The principle was sound. During the First World War, it took the Germans nearly a fortnight to subdue a Belgian fort which had no ring of defence. The Verdun system, which was well-defended, held out during the long and savage Battle of Verdun.

But … There were a few ‘buts.’  The first problem was cost. The Treasury could not pay to build a defensive screen all the way down France. They decided to concentrate on the border with Germany – Belgium, Britain and Italy seemed less of a threat. This was to prove a mistake. Frontier defences would be concentrated on four centres – Verdun, Epinal, Toul-Nancy and Belfort near the Swiss border. Thus Epinal which had a ring of sixteen forts had these protected by thirty for redoutes and these in turn by sixty four gun batteries.

Prosper Péchot photographed in 1907, courtesy Raymond PECHOT

Solving this problem generated a new one. To ensure that all these defences had the latest in guns and ammunition, they needed more than footpaths and a few mules. Fortunately, a solution was at hand - developed for the French Army by one of their own.

Prosper Péchot, an officer in the Artillery, had developed an ingenious portable railway in 60cm gauge. In ‘Colonel Péchot: Tracks to the trenches,’ Sarah Wright has described how he took ideas from the Decauville Company, the slate quarries of Wales, the Darjeeling Himalaya Railway and developments in North America to create a system of portable railways. Small locomotives could run on light track without disturbing the substrate – well, not very much. Enormous loads could be carried on rolling stock as long as such loads were carried on enough axles. Best of all, the trains could cope with track laid on hilly ground.

He, unfortunately, had rivals. The French Génie (Sappers) preferred metre gauge as this was proven technology. The ground around all these forts was hilly. Verdun had the Woevre, Toul the Argonne (politely known as the Parc National de Lorraine), Belfort the Alps and Epinal the Vosges. The French Army decided to spend a year testing both.

Bois l'Abbe was a minor fort in the system protecting Toul. Enthusiasts have recently relaid the 60cm railway which used to connect it to other forts. Photo MD Wright.

 60 cm was tested  between Toul and Fort Lucey, perched on a hill.  Metre gauge was to be tested above Epinal. It was planned to create a system between the forts of Girancourt and Thiéha. By spring 1888, Toul and Lucey were linked. They were nowhere near building a metre gauge line. The Génie hoped they could cover up the problem; when the tour of inspection arrived, they were treated to a slap-up dinner in town. When the inspectors arrived at Toul, they were given a picnic on the glacis at Lucey, having travelled up on a functioning 60cm railway.

The workhorse of the 60cm system was this sturdy, well-sprung wagon capable of taking ten tonnes of supplies along light track. 16mm Wrightscale model

Justice was served. 60cm was proclaimed victor.

This ingenious 60cm gauge rail-mounted crane could handle heavy ammunition safely . 16mm Wrightscale model

Other problems were not immediately solved. Hygiene was one. Human beings produce wet and dry manure. If the castle is a lofty construction, high above the heads of attackers, such products are welcome additional ammunition. Visitors to a typical medieval castle can admire the garderobes, handily placed over of the opposition! When the fortification is underground, waste not so welcome. It would trickle into the living-quarters, ammunition and water supplies. Nineteenth century France found n adequate solution.

Revolving gun turret, cosily earth-sheltered. Unfortunately, it was not well ventilated. Photographed at Villey-le-sec (near Toul) by MD Wright

Another question was ventilation, a perennial problem for underground work-places. An elaborate system of passive-stack ventilation ensured a brisk enough air turnaround for normal life. When we visited an underground dormitory, the air smelled fresh. Unfortunately, this was not adequate for heavy work underground with all the nitrogen compounds produced by high explosives. A few minutes in these conditions produced nausea and headaches. Prolonged exposure was dangerous to health.

For these reasons, forts rapidly became intolerable under siege conditions. Epinal was never truly tested. During World War One, Verdun suffered a ferocious attack; even when it was clear that the Germans were preparing their assault in March 1916, Forts Vaux and Douaumont were not properly defended. Only when Pétain introduced troop rotation was it possible to maintain a garrison in the remaining system.

Gate to fort Girancourt, near Epinal. Until recently, this was being allowed to return to Nature. Photo by MD Wright

After 1918, the frontier was pushed eastwards and the Séré de Rivières defences were made redundant. The system in the Toul-Nancy area was used until 1940 for training. When the Second World War was imminent, other forts were given some attention. The classic ‘umbrellas’ – a post supporting strands of barbed wire - as used around the Maginot line - were installed around many old Séré forts. They were still in evidence around Girancourt in 2004, concealed in vegetation.

Until the late 20^th century, many fort were still used by the Army. These were then released into the care of enthusiasts, and a number of forts were rescued. Typical would be the ‘La Citadelle’ Association of Villey-le-Sec near Toul which had a 60cm working tourist railway by 2007.  Uxegney, Lucey (both Toul), Batterie de l’Eperon (above Nancy) also had enthusiasts’ groups.

Around Epinal, forts such as Girancourt and Thiéha submerged into the forest. In the years after the War, they had been returned to the local commune who saw in the concealed ditches, barbed wire etc nothing but hazards so they were fenced off and the public kept out. Fortunately they are now, as of 2019, being rescued. The Fortiff’Séré website/facebook gives details; we were particularly gratified to see Girancourt and Thiéha emerging from the trees and brambles. 

Gate to fort Thiéha near Epinal, also being retirned to Nature. Photo MD Wright

As well as 'Colonel Péchot: Tracks To The Trenches', see if you can find a copy of 'Chemins de fer militaries a voie de 60' by Wahl and Metz.