From 1888 to 2014 and still going strong

The sight of a Pechot wagon at the Apedale Heritage Centre may seem unremarkable. To see it loaded with rail may not excite much interest, save a small sigh of satisfaction. After all it's better to move rail-related material on a railway rather than using road transport. Would you believe it but we have followed a lorry carrying a Caledonian sleeper carriage! But I digress.

Photo courtesy Jim Hawkesworth

Yet this photograph deserves a closer look. Pechot wagons - Artillery 1888 material, to give them the correct name - were built between 1888 and 1893. The one making its way around the yard at Apedale is a sprightly centenarian. In fact, in Tolkien terminology, it has celebrated its eleventy first birthday. As our friend Jim Hawkesworth gathers, the wagon was used by the French army until the Second World War. Somehow it escaped the Germans. It was then used industrially in northern France. At some point, it lost the stanchions which go into the little pockets you can see as bulges along the wagon side. Not only did the stanchions serve to retain the load on the wagon, but they could also be used as re-railing bars. The wagon has also lost the brakestands which should be at each end. Recently, it was purchased by an English enthusiast for  light duties and an honourable retirement.

Photo courtesy Jim Hawkesworth Beside the coupling chain can be seen a pocket to take the re-railing bar - going off the rails occurred all too frequently.

Not many wagons of this age look this good. Other countries such as Germany and Britain emulated the Pechot system. They simplified the design - cut corners, you might say. By the 1960s, their wagons were sad, battered shadows, bulging at the side, bowed below by their load.Their reasoning was sound enough. Even the admirers of Artillerie 1888 admitted that it was 'too complicated, too expensive, too perfect. It couldn't be manufactured in the quantities required for war' (Lt Georges Mangin, who saw service during the First World War) All the same, if you want wagons which wear well, nothing beats a good Pechot design. If the brakestands are removed by some reason, the brakes can still be operated by a screw lever.

The stanchions have survived on this wagon, and also the brake-stand at the left hand side.

The Apedale wagon is not exceptional. When we visited Fermont, a post on the Maginot line, we found another Pechot wagon. It is not quite in original condition; it has been repainted. Originally Artillery 1888 wagons were grey; as we all know, colour was invented half-way through the 20th century! The history of the wagon was something like this. It was used by the French Army and retained at the end of the First Word War. Once plans were made to create the Maginot Line, it was moved east to the frontier with Germany. During the Occupation, it was pushed into the deepest part of the Maginot fortification. When enthusiasts decided to preserve Fermont as a historic monument, the wagon was returned to the surface. There it sits. Like the Apedale wagon, it's still game. Unlike the one in England, it can't move - it is on a short length of track!