Our model kits include Welsh narrow gauge items, the Péchot
wagon and British War Department bogies.
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| Wrightscale 16mm Péchot wagon detail |
As we British are proud to relate, we were pioneers in
railway development. The Welsh corner of Britain was particularly inventive, especially in
narrow gauge. It was a combination of geology and ingenuity. Northern
Wales has an abundance of slate, known for millennia as a good
roofing material. What was produced in Wales
had to stay in Wales
until it could be exported and narrow gauge railways provided the missing link
between the slate and the ports.
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| Detail of 16mm WD class D wagon on Wrightscale bogies |
The Talyllyn, Corris and Festiniog railways were born this
way, firstly with horse-drawn freight and then with locomotives. The Festiniog
developed the well-loved Fairlie locomotive which pulled four-wheeled slate
wagons down to Portmadog.
Wales
had lessons for the French. They had compartmentalised ideas about railways.
There were the ‘serious’ gauges – standard gauge and one metre – and light ones
– very narrow gauges of 60 cm and less. From the mid-eighteen seventies, the
Decauville company sold portable track in 40 and 50cm gauges. In the early
eighteen eighties, they introduced a portable ‘military’ gauge but this tested
the technology to the limit and was less than successful.
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| Four ton wagon typical of the narrow gauge freight wagons before the Péchot revolution. Photo courtesy MD Wright |
Along came Prosper Péchot and combined the best of Welsh and
Decauville then infused a spark of personal genius. He produced a sturdy
portable system on which could run rugged and adaptable ten tonne bogie wagons.
A significant number have survived to this day. Revolutionary features
included: 60cm gauge; bogie-mounted wagons 6m by 1.7m (about 20’ by 5’8”); low
centre of gravity for a wagon with a central well; adaptability ensured by
stanchions; bogies which had compensatory as well as vertical springing;
coupling attached to the bogies rather than to the wagon body; brake could be
applied to every bogie wheel; a prominent brake-wheel at each end; ten tonne wagons
with capacity for 8 tonnes of freight.
His design was copied and adapted; by 1918, there were
thousands of kilometres of track on which ran tens of thousands of ten tonne
bogie wagons. The bulk of this material was sold off as War surplus – some
track, wagons and locomotives returning to the land where it all began, Wales.
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| Ten tonne bogie wagon of 1895 after the Péchot revolution. It still has the traditional couplings, attached tothe wagon body. Drawing by Victor Rose. Courtesy MD Wright |
Malcolm has celebrated the Péchot designs, both the
originals and important adaptations.
Even while the French military were experimenting with
Péchot designs, the German Army were looking on. By early 1888, they were
beginning to produce their own versions. They moved from 72 and 75cm gauge to
60cm, from four wheeled wagons to ten tone bogie wagons and from horse drawn to
locomotive haulage. Yes, German engineers and their ‘Pioneer’ railway troops
were among the best for the time.
But no, they were quite capable of industrial espionage.
Paul Decauville caught them at it, as he explained to the French Government. In
1907, when the sugar-works at Cramaille took delivery of a 60cm gauge railway by
Aubineau, they were soon visited by ‘technicians’ from Orenstein and Koppel. In
no time at all, O&K were selling suspiciously similar 60cm wagons. Eric
Fresné goes so far to say ‘the O&K wagons were ‘furiously inspired’ by the
Aubineau ones’. (’70 years de chemins de fer betteraviers’ p 113)
The German adapted the pirated design to produce their own
Brigadewagen (military wagon). Although the important features were retained –
6m approx by 1.7, bogie mounted, brake to every bogie-wheel, coupling through sprung
bogies, 8 tonne capacity etc, they made changes. The bogies were lighter and the wagon body
was a comparatively simple framework with wood instead of steel plate. The
wagon bodies did not have the well and were more easily adapted than the
all-steel Péchot design. For the standard Brigadewagen, the idea of stanchions
was retained, though they were usually seen attached to wooden sides. The bogie
couplings also provided the springing – an arrangement which was both
economical and effective. Overall, they were cheaper to make. The bogies
projected a generous 50cm beyond the wagon body, making the life of the Bremser (brakesman) safer and more
comfortable.
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| Brigadewagen on a slope. Line drawing courtesy Eric Fresné |
By the time the First World War started, the Germans had a
considerable stock of material. The French had a couple of hundred Péchot
wagons (modèle artillerie 88) which had been in service since 1888. Once the
Western Front was established and hundreds of miles of trench had to be
supplied, the French realised their need for more wagons. Most of what they
ordered was of a lighter pattern, reminiscent of the Brigadewagen as well as
the artillerie 88. It was known as
the Decauville 15.
By 1916, the British, though initially sceptical, began to
admit that 60cm had advantages. They produced their own War Department design,
but with similar features to the Péchot design. This was produced to metric
rather than Imperial scale. Can you imagine what torment this would have been
to the Eurosceptics of the time! Rather than sticking to a standard shape, they
produced a number of wagon bodies. The Classes E and F had a well, useful for
transporting bulky loads.
When the USA
joined the War, they immediately designed their own military narrow gauge
system, known as Pershing. Another nation of Imperial measurement, they too
were forced to bow to the Péchot design. Their locomotives and rolling-stock
ran on 60cm gauge. The Pershing was a bogie wagon. Each bogie was fitted with
brakes and a brakewheel. The couplings were to the bogie not the wagon body.
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| 16mm model of WD class D wagon on Wrightscale bogies |
These later designs were all more prolific than the Péchot
original but there was a catch. Although there were thousands of examples of
these alternative designs, they did not have the sheer staying power of the artillerie 88. When World War One ended,
the Germans had to hand over most of their 60cm gauge material. This and Allied
material were used as temporary railways to restore and rebuild the ruins of
the Western Front. Afterwards, they were sold off. In France,
agricultural systems such as for sugar-beet were the main beneficiaries.
English and Welsh quarries also bought surplus stock. Thus the grand-children of
the original designs came home to Wales. Being of wood and light
steel construction they had a short life. There are few photos, and these show
them in a very poor state.
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| WD wagon photographed in the 1980s Photo courtesy J. Hawkesworth |
Eric Fresné is not a fan of the Péchot design which he
describes as ‘a veritable monster, heavy and over-engineered’. (Betteraviers
page 114). Without appreciating the contradiction, he goes on (page 115) to say
‘the Army took great care to return the Péchot wagons to their bases and depots
once the job of (post-war) reconstruction was over’ These ‘monsters’ are now
beginning to reappear to great acclaim and can be seen at preserved railways in
the UK and France. Though few in number, those Péchot wagons just keep rolling
along.
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| Péchot wagon 2015, minus stanchions but still going strong. MD Wright |
Sources: ‘Colonel Péchot: Tracks To The Trenches’ Sarah
Wright
‘Chemins de fre betteraviers’ Eric Fresné A French language treasure trove
‘La Voie de 60’ Dr Christian Cénac
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