The Work Done by Railway Troops in France During 1914-19.” by DAVIDLYELL, C.M.G., C.B.E., D.S.O., M
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94 LYELL ON WORE: bONE BY PAILWAY TROOPS [Minutes of 23 March, 1920. Sir JOHN PURSERGRIFFITH, M.A.I.,President, in the Chair. The PRESIDEXT,inannouncing the death of Mr. A. G. Lyster, Past-President, remarked that to him the loss was a personal one, forhe and Mr. Lyster hadbeen friends for many years, and wereactually boys togetherin Holyhead. They both learned practicallythe beginnings of their profession onthe Holyhead breakwater, of which Mr. Lyster’s father was Assistant Engineer at thetime. Mr. Lysterand he had workedtogether on several occasions. Withinthe last month he had had a conference wit11 him at hishome. The following resolution had been passedby the Council, and would nodoubt meet with the approval of the members :- “That the Council record the deep regret with which they have learned of the death of Mr. Anthony George Lyster, Past-President of The Institution, and that an expression of the Council’s regret and condolence be conveyed to Mrs. Lyster.” (Paper No. 4335.) The Work done by Railway Troops in France during 1914-19.” By DAVIDLYELL, C.M.G., C.B.E., D.S.O., M. Inst. C.E, INthe early stagesof the war the British Headquarter Staff did not anticipate thata heavy programme of railway construction would be carried out by British troops in France ; it was expected that any reconstruction of the main lines of railway in that country would be carriedout by the French railways. The British troops were supposed to assist the Belgians inrepairing the lines through Belgium, and for that purpose a small quantity of plant and stores was collected at different points in the north of France. Later on in 1915 it was realized that regulating yards and sidingsat t,he base ports and, in addition to this, main regulating stations at Romes- camp and Outreau wouldbe required.The French laid in the regulating stations at Romescamp and Outreau, the British supply- Downloaded by [ UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA] on [12/09/16]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved. Pr0ceedinga.j IN PRANCE DURIXG 1914-18, 0 5 ing the material for Outreau. The British railway troops laid in sidings at Calais, Abbeville,Blargies, Rouen and Havre, with Britishmaterial. It was also decided thatthe British would double the line from Hazebrouck towards Ypres ; this work was taken in hand early in 1915. During 1914 and the early months of 1915, orders were placed for permanent way material in England in very small quantities, as, and when required, no stocks being held in .France. In 1915 it was decided thatthere should be a ConstructionStore Dep6t in Francefor railway material, and Audruicqwas chosen as being a suitable place on the main line between Calais and St. Omer, and very convenient for the ports of Calais andDunkerque. In thisdep6t there was stored a fair quantity of bridgingmaterial in theform of steelgirders and rolled joists, with only a small quantity of timber for piles. Special pilingand bridge-launching gear was designedand built in England,and sent to Audruicq to be heldthere till required. Later on in 1915, when trench warfare began to assumea more or less permanentaspect, and produced a type of warfare which requireddense grouping of troopsand a moreliberal supply of ammunition and other material, it was realized that a great deal of depBt construction,both in backand forward areas, would be required,and orders were then placed inEngland for some 250 miles of railway track and 300,000 cubic feet of bridging timber. The destruction of bridges and water supplies by the enemy had been anticipzted from the beginning, and to a certain extent mate- rial had been provided for repairing these, but it was not at that time realized that the enemy would destroy the permanent way. Towardsthe middle of 1915there were eleven 12ailway Con- structionCompanies in France; they were engaged in doubling the Hazebrouck-Poperinghe line, building a new line from Candas to Acheuu,laying sidings at Abbeville,Calais, and Blargies, and buildingthe railway-material depBt at Audruicq.There were no engineering difficulties in connectionwith any of theseworks exceptthat the sidings at Abbevillewere placed on a bog and requiredlarge supplies of ballast. Atthe end of 1915two Canadian Railway Construction Companies arrived in France. At first there was no railway work for them to do, and they were sent to buildconcrete gun-emplacements on the Belgian coast. Later on they were sentto build a linefrom Abeele to Ouderdom, to supply the troops between Ypres and Armentikres. This was first linked in as a surface line ballasted with sand, but later on, when it was decided to attack the Messine Ridge, the grades and curves had to be very much improved and hard ballast placed under the sleepers. Early in 1916 the laying of a line between Bergues and Downloaded by [ UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA] on [12/09/16]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved. 96 I,J+F:T,I, (;S IVOI;K 1r)y); 1:~l:,\~rAn.~y '1VI;rjl )PS [Minutes of Proven w:~st;&n in llnnd, :Lntl :tt, first, it single line WLS laid and ballasted with sand hllttst. Duringthe Somme b:Lttle, whicll conlmenced onthe 1st July, 1916, the railway construction troops took in hand the building of the following linesto serve the troops in that ;(.rea :-(l) from Meaulte to Plateau, :md on through Xlaricourt to Trones Wood ; (2) Meaulte to Longeraland Quarry Wood ; (3) Meaulte to Posieres.These lines were not intended to bo used :is through main lines, they were built to a ruling gradient of 1 in 45 com- pensated, and with a maximum curwture of 10 chains. There can be no donbt that these lines saved the situation w11en the roads gave way during the Somme battle. Late in 1915, when it was decided to undertake active operations on a larger sade, and ammunition began to pour ixto the country, demands for railway facilities rose to :L high pitch. Xarly in 1916 an ammunition depBt was built at Audruicq, the arnmunit,ion being placed in sheds placed 60 feet apart, and with no overhead cover or traverse to protect the explosives from hostile aircraft. In July, 1916, when this dep6t wns complete and filled with about 25,000 tons of ammunition, hostile aircraftcame over andbombed it, placing one bomb into a shed of boxed nmmunition, setting it on fire and destroying the whole of the depbt and over 15,000 tons of ammu- nition. The 1:trge shell did not detonate to any great extent, but the whole of the propellant, with theboxed and trench ammunition, was destroyed. Railway Construction troops mere then detaiied to design a new style of dep6t and to rebuild hudruicq as quickly as possible. The first ammunition tlep8t built to the new isy-out \.vas Dannes-Camiers, which was arranged to hold 60,000 tons of ammn- nition. In the new lay-out the sheds, which were 300 feet long, were placed 300 feetapart endways, each line of shedsbeing placed1,200 feet apart sideways. The sheds containing the heavy shell were placed 400 feet instead of 1,300 feet apnrt. Euch 5hd had the ends and back protected by sandbag traverses, and faced the back of theshed in its immediate front. The sheds cow tainingthe boxed ammunition werealso protected by overhead cover consisting of loose sandkept in position by sand in bags laid on top of the loose sand. In constructing the dep6t at Dannes-Camiers over 250,000 cubic yards of excavationhad to be moved from cutting to bank, and over 40 miles of track laid. In addition to the ammunition dep6t at Dannes-Camiersthe clepbts at Rouxmnsnil,containing 35,000 tons ; Seignaville, containing 40,000 tons ; Zeneghem, containing 40,000 tons ; Bourbourg, containing 30,000 tons, and Blargies, con- taining G0,OOO tjorls of ;~mmunition,were hilt to tile new lay-out. Downloaded by [ UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA] on [12/09/16]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved. Proceedings.] 13 PR.iNGE DURiSG 1914-13. 97 Theammunition depGt at Audruicq was rebuiltby September 1916, the sheds (300 feet long by 30 feet wide) being placed not lesstha.n 400 feetapart. In additionto the wider spacing the ammunition was protected with overhead cover, and in addition to thisthe sheds were divided into bays 100 feetlong and 30 feet wide by sandbag traverses. This proved to be effective, as ammu- nition sheds in this depBt were twice struck by enemy bombs, only local damage being done, the sand on theroof falling in and putting outthe fire. Thedepats at Blargiesand Seignaville were also struck by enemy bombs, but in every case the damage was kept local by the overhead cover and sandbag traverses. At Rouen an ammunition depBt was built with the sheds near to each other and without any overhead cover. A few days after it was completed, and while it was being filled with ammunition, it is believed someone dropped B shell which exploded and set fire to the rest of the ammunition in the depBt. This depBt was not again used for ammunition as itwas too near to thedown of Rouen. While these ammunition depBts were being built other demands for railway facilities rose to a very high pitch, and with the re- organization of railway troops under a Director-General of Trans- port,orders for railwaymaterial were considerably increased; the authorities in England began to realize how important it was that railway material should be supplied, and a higher priority was given, and material that should have been delivered several months ahead began to arrive. Thetype of permanent waychosen wasthe British standard section, 75 lbs. to the lineal yard, flat-bottomed rail, 36 feet long, laid on steel bearing plates and spiked to wooden sleepers, each sleeper boing 9 feet long, 10 inches wide and 5 inches deep, the fish-plates being the ordinary fish-plate with four pear-necked fish-bolts.