The Work Done by Railway Troops in France During 1914-19.” by DAVIDLYELL, C.M.G., C.B.E., D.S.O., M

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-

ingthe 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 doublethe 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 verysmall quantities, as, and whenrequired, 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 themain 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 material 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, andBlargies, 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 onthey 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

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 placed60 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 ammunition. The 1:trge shelldid 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 ammnnition. In thenew 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 fromcutting 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, containing G0,OOO tjorls of ;~mmunition,were hilt to tile new lay-out.

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 ammunition 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 shellwhich 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. This standard has been maintained throughout, except when in 1917 the availableoutput of the rolling-millshad to be supplementedby about 450 miles of second-hand 80-lb. Canadian track, which, being slightlyworn, differed veryslightly from the British standard section,and in additionto this, some 205 miles of secondhand track from the British railways. Most of this latter supply had to be used in depBts, as in some cases the sleepers were in very bad condition, which often meant having to take the chairs off the old sleepers and replace them on new ones before theywere relaid. The standard track adopted by the British had several points at variance with the French practice, the principal differences being that, in the British standard, steel sole-plateswere placed under flat-bottomed rails on the top of soft-wood sleepers, the rails being secured to the sleepers with steel spikes. [THE INST. C.E. VOL. CCX.] H Downloaded by [ UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA] on [12/09/16]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved. 98 LYELL ON WORK DOXE RY PAILWAY TRGOPS [lifinutes of The French practice, except in the case of the ktat railway, is to us0flat-bottomed rails weighing 90 lbs. tothe lineal yard, secureddirect on to adzed and recessed oaksleepers with steel coach-screws. Thismakes a splendidroad, butcannot becompared with the rapidity of laying of thesimpler type adopted by the British, and it is interesting to note that in 1918, whenthe difficulty hadbee2 realized of keeping pace withthe enemy withdrawal, the FrenchStaff decided to adopt the dog-spike fastening in place of the coach-screw. The practice of using soft-wood sleepers gave rise to trouble in a fewcases wherebearing plates had been omitted, causedby the spreading of the track in curves, but this was due to abnormally soft sleepers, principally American redwood. Another disadvantage more difficult to overcomewas rail-creep onlines with one-way traffic. This was got over to a certain extent by using coach-screws on three sleepers to the rail length, but in some cases anchors had to be laid in concrete. As a great deal of joining up between British and Continental types of rails had to be undertaken, special junction fish-plates were madeand kept in store. These were most useful during the advance of 1918. Theprincipal types of Continentalrails encountered were :- French,45 kilograms and 30 kilograms ; Belgian, 38 kilograms, 40 kilograms, 50 kilograms, 52 kilograms,and 57 kilograms ; German, various types, about 40 kilograms. This question of junction fish-plates gave rise also to the question of fish-bolts. The Nord 45-kilogram fish-boltscould, in anemergency, beused to fitthe Belgian 50-kilogram, 52-kilogram and 57-kilogram, but the British fish-bolts were not interchangeable, owing to the use of pear-shapednecks, which would notenter the round holes in the Continental fishplates. The diEcu1ty was got over by using ordinary &inch square-headed black bolts, as these could be screwed up by the British fish-bolt spanners. As regards fish-bolt spanners, ordinary single-ended spanners were provided for British type track, anda certain number of double-headed spanners having jaws of 40 and 45 millimetres were supplied, which a-oulcl fit all the Continental types. There was anotherquestion which gave rise to a gooddeal of apprehension in 1918, theunscrewing of the different types of coach-screws to allow the relayingof the destroyed rails, and samples of allthe various heads of French,Belgian and German screws were compared. The Nord box spanner tofit screws for 45-kilogram rails was adopted as the standard, as it fitted most of the coach- screws, and onespigot-and-socket adapter was designed to fit aU

thesmaller box-screw heads,and another to fit all the heavy Belgian Screws. These adapters were made in the local shops. Standard-gaugepoints and crossings were designedwith stock rails and frogs of such a length that they could be used without having to cut closures for the repair of Belgian turnouts, as it was originally intended that the British reconstruction would be carried out in Belgium. This did not prove to be the case, as a very large proportion of the reconstruction was carried out by British troops in France, and asa rule the enemy madesuch a complete demolition of the leads that minor repairswere out of the question. The Standard crossings stocked were 1-5.7,1-7, 1-8, l-ll,l-llh, and 1-12 three throws, 1-8 diamonds and double slips; these were foundto fulfil allordinary demands. 1 in 8 crossingsbecame standmd. Any special diamonds wanted were ,made in the railway workshops. Thestandard points had blades 12 feetand 15 feet long. Some of the sets sent out to France were so designed that thetumblers gripped the operating bell cranksin two positions. The result of this is to hold the switches hard over even if trailed through,whereas the others, which allowed the blades to be thrown over by the first pair of wheels, were much less severe on switch-blades and undoubtedly the best suitedfor military work. Atthe beginning of thewar full-sized die-squared soft-wood sleepers wereprovided, but later on, when timber became very scarce, sleepers of different classes of wood, such as beech and oak, were cut in the forests of France by the Forestry Corps and handed over for railway construction. These sleepers were cut at all seasons and were usually handed over in a green state, the result being a few cases of split sleepers, as time did not always permit of boring beforespiking, but the proportion of thesesplit sleepers was so small that it was neglected. It was at onetime anticipated that a considerableamount of metre-gaugework would be undertaken in Belgium, and for this a stock of about 100 miles of 50-lb. and 45-lb. flat-bottomed rails, together with a suitable supply of points and crossings, was stored at Audruicq, but it was never used to any great extent. A certain amount of trouble was encounteredwith the metre-gauge crossings, as the points and crossings were designed with a flange gap of 35 millimetres, which suitedthe Belgian vicinal rolling stock, but on the other hand the French metre-gauge rolling stock required a flange gap of 45 mm., and when in 1918 the development, of the metre-gauge lines in the rear of the British Army in France became necessary, a considerable amount of work had to be undertaken in the railway shops to alter the standard turnouts to suit the French clearance. H2 Downloaded by [ UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA] on [12/09/16]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved. 100 LYELL ON WORK DONE RY RBIL~AI' TROOPS [Minutes of

At the eud of the first Somme battle, 1916, the operations for the following year were being considered. Early in January, 1917, a very large programme of new lines and other forward facilities washanded over to the Railway Construction Department. The first part of the programme had to be ready by the 15th of March, in order that there should be time to get supplies forward for the Arms attack on the 5th of April ; this attack really took place on the 8th. The programme consisted of :- l. The doubling of the St. Pol-Arras line. This line was doubled so that it would be readyfor the main advance to Belgium. At thesame time as the British doubled thisline the French were doubling the line between St. Pol and Etxples. 2. Thebuilding of the Warlincourt-Wanquetin-Ack line.This line was built to give station and trans-shipment facilities behind the front round Arras. 3. Gun spur linefrom Mareuil towards Ecurie. This line was builtin order to run forward guns and howitzers onrailway mountings into prepared positions as soon as the battle started. 4. The Doullens Racordement was built in order to give direct access fromFrkvent on tothe Doullens-Arras line with holding sidings, water supply, and locomotive dep8t. 5. Doubling the line from Doullens to Warlinconrt. The existing line was in very bad condition and with heavy gradients. In order to get mfficient supplies on to the WarlincourbWanquetin line it was considered necessary to double this line. The work was heavy, the excavation being about 15,000 cubic yards per mile. 6. TheAuthie .Valley line.This line was built to supplythe troops to the north and south of Colincamps. It was not required at this period of the war, as the Germans retired on this sector a few days before the Arras battle commenced, but it came in very useful after the German advance in March,1918. All these lines had to be constructed during the very hard frost of Januaryand February, 1917, whichheld back thework very much. Butnotwithstanding this drawback all these lines were ready for traffic on March 14th, though very heavy maintenance gangs had to be kept on till the endof April. The banks were made of frozen earth which, when the thaw set in, sank very considerably and large quantities of b:tllast had to be supplied to keep the rails outof the mud. At the same time as this programme was in hand a larger one was being'carried out in the north for the Messines and Passchen- daele battles. This consisted of the following works :- (1) Poperinghe Avoiding Line.-This line was started on tile

4th of September, 1915, subsequent to thefirst shelling of Poperinghe Station. The original intention was to construct a line on which railheads could be provided in the VI Corpsarea and which would at the same time afford a single line to be used as an avoidingline, when Poperinghe Station was placed out of action bybombardment. The work on this line was carriedout inter- mittently, and was finally completed and handed over for traffic on the 1st April, 1916. This line proved to be a most useful adjunct, notonly for avoiding Poperinghe, but as a means of supplying railheads at Oakhanger,Edmaarthoek, Pesselhoek, Railhoek and Zwynland. In addition to this it served as a jumping-off place for varioussystems subsequently constructed. The Elverdinghe gun loop, t8heMidland Railway, and the Bergue-Proven lines were connected tothe Poperinghe avoiding line, and, owing to it, Poperinghe Station was never congested. (2) The Oudevdom-DickebllscllLine.-A lineto serve the area between Ypres and Armentihres was first proposed in August, 1915, but was abandoned for a time as the corps commander of that area consideredsuch a line would draw fire onthe rest billets. The subject was again brought up in Kovember, 1915, and was fully considered by a11 branches concerned, and finally recommendations were forwarded to General Headcluarters that the line should be built and the work was started in December,1915. The line took off from Abeele on the Hazebrouck-Poperinghe line, running east through Wippenhoek and Ouderdom ; at each of these places railheads were provided. At Ouderdom theline bifurcated, one branch running to Dickebusch andthe other to the back of KemmelHill. The object of both these lines was to provide firing positions for railway mounted guns. Later on, the Kemmel line was carriedon till it joined the DouveValley line at ClaphamJunction. These lines became of great importance, the gradients and curves had to be improved and the line properly ballasted wit11 red mine earth. In addition to the important railheads at Wippenhoek and Ouderdom, 1t.E. parks and ammunition depBts were subsequently built near toKemmel Hill. The Ouderdom-Dickebusch line was lateron extended to Elzenwalla and along the west slope of the Messines Ridge to Deependale wherean important railhead was built. (3) The Bevgue-Proven-BoesingheLine.-The reconnaissancefor this line was made in February 1916, the intention being to have :L direct connection between Dunkerque and the Ypres-Staden and the Ppres-Roulers lines without having togo round by Hazebrouck, when the tactical situation permitted the joining up at Boesinghe. In May, 1916, orders were issued that the line was to be built as far as Znternational Corner before June 30th as an offeusire in the

Downloaded by [ UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA] on [12/09/16]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved. 102 LPELL ON WORK DOSE BY RAILWAY TROOPS [hfinutes Of Ypressalient was projected early in July, 1916, if theSomme offensive proved to be successful. This offensive nevertook place, and for many months the line lay idle till preparationswere started for the offensive at Passchendaele, which was to take place in July, 1917. At that time it was designed that Dunkerque would become the main base of the northern half of the British Army and replace Havre.This called forthe doubling of thisline throughout. The lineruns almost in a straightline from Bergues to Proven, and thenbears almost east to Boesinghe. A connecting-link was also builtbetween Proven and Crombeke Road in order to connect Poperingheto this northern system. When the Passchendaele offensive started the line was pushed on from Boesinghe across the Pilkemridge towards Langemarck, but Boesinghe remained the advanced railhead, and the only supplies that were taken beyond there mere R.E. stores and road stone. At Bergue a locomotive clepdt and thirty-two sidings were laid, andthis yard eventually beca.me theregulating station for the north.On this line railhead stations were constructed at Rous- brngge, Proven, International Corner, Elverdinghe and Boesinghe, withcasualty clearing stations at Bandighem, Rfendinghem and Doesinghem ; there were ammunition clepdts at Bambecque, Watou and Swiss Cottage. (4)illidlad Bni1muJ-h January, 1917, the Second Army pressed for another line to be built between the Proven-Boesinghe line and the Abeele-Ppres line, called the Midland Railway, to serve as an alternative to the Abeele-Ypres line, on account of t,hnt line being veryheavily shelled. The proposalwas sanctionedand the work put in hand on the 5th April, and the line wits opened for traffic on the 16th June, 1917. The take-off was on the Poperinghe avoiding line at Pesselhoek, and the line ran almost due east, crossing the Poperinghe canal on a trestle bridge and joining into the original Ypres-Boesingheline with a triangle at Reigersburg Chateau. It took off again at the north end of that triangle and crossed the Tpres Canalon a timber pile bridge.When the Passchendaele offensive took place thisline was extendeddue east over the St. JeanRidge through Wieltje and on to the Steinbeck. The intention was to carry the lineas far as Westroosebeke, but as that place wasnot captured the line terminated in a double howitzer spur at Spill Farm. The main features of this line were the number of gunpositions and railheads constructed. Thirty-two gun and howitzer positions were laid, and amongst other railheads and depbts werePesselhoek, Stientje Mill, ArrivalFarm, Pottenhoek and Brielen ammunition sidings, but the main railheads were St. Jeaa, and Wieltije, witbig a mile of each other.

(5) The Douve Tdley Line.-In November, 1916, the Second Army asked for railway facilities between Neuve Eglise and Kemmel. At first it was proposed to extend a broad-gauge gun line, which had been built from Steinwerck to Petit Pont, into the valley of the RiverIlouve, but this was abandonedon account of the heavy gradients, and the plan was finally superseded by a line taking off the main Hazebrouck-ArmentiBres line near Bailleul, running inan easterly direction towards Kersboom and then down the valleyof the River Douve. The line was first constructed as far as Kennebak, and after the Messinesoffensive was pushed on as far as Donnington Hall on the Messines-Ploegsteert Road. The whole line was abandoned and blown up in May, I9 18, when the Germans took Bailleul, but when the British finally advanced in 1918 it was reconstructed and linked up with the German system at Warranton and finally became one of the main advance lines through Menin and Courtrai. Theruling gradient on this line was 1 in 80 and it was well ballasted with red mine earth. Previous to the attack on thePasschendaele Ridge by the Second and Fifth Armies, reconnaissances had been made along the Ypres- Roulers and Ypres-Comines lines witha view to their reconstruction. The Roulers line had been badly damaged and the cutting at Hell- Fire Corner was waterlogged, but as the adjacent country was in just as bad a condition, it was decided to follow the old alignment, andthis line was repairedas far as Wild Wood. The Ypres- Cominesline was in astill worse state as theembankment approaching Hill 60 was honeycombed with dugouts and the cutting through Hill 60 was half-filled with silt. This line was constructed as far as Verbrandenmolen, and from there a short branch was laid towards Ravine Wood to provide positions for four howitzers on railway mountings, but beyond that this linewas never required. The whole of the preparatory work for the Passchendaeleoffensive was completed for the original date, 25th July, but the attack was postponed till the 31th July, 1917. ThePasschendaele battle continued with various pauses until November, 1917, butowing t,o thelimited objectives of our troops no verybig railway development on any of the lines was called for. In addition to theoffensives at Arras, Messines and Passchendaele the scheme of operations for the summer of 1917 included a com- bined attack on the Flanders coastby the Na.vy, in co-operation with the Fourth Army, whichwas transferred from the Somme area to the coast for this offensive. This project entailed a certain amount of newrailway construction, as the area between the coastand Pismude was dependent on a single line of railway running east

Downloaded by [ UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA] on [12/09/16]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved. 104 LYELL OS WORK DONE BY RAILTVAY TROOPS [Minutes of fromDunkerque, crossing theBelgian frontier at Ghyvelde,and fromthence through ddenkerke and Furnes to Dixmude. The BelgianEngineers had built a branchline from Furnes north to Coxyde, which then turning east terminated at Ooste Dunkerque, 23 miles west of Nieuport. The first piece of new construction taken in hand in this section was the doubling of the existing single line from Eosendale to Furnes ; this was started on June 16th. It had meanwhile been arranged with the Belgians that the British would only double the line from Durtkerque to the Belgian frontier, and that theBelgians would complete the doubling from thenceto Furnes; also that the Belgians, in the event of a rapid retreat on the part of the enemy, would then take in hand the reconstruction of the original line through Dixmude to Thourout, and the British would form a newline by prolonging the line already constructed to Ooste Dunkerque across the mouth of the Yser River at Nieuport throughLombardzyde-Westende and Middlekerke into Ostend. The only feature of any interest in this projected line would have beenthe bridge over the mouth of theYser. The length of the bridge would have been 375 feet and the mean height above water- level 25 feet. The necessary soundings were taken and all timber andgirders prepared and storedin Dunkerque ready for trans- ferring to thesite at n moment’s notice.Subsequent events, however, did not call for the carrying out of this construction. It was seen from the beginning that facilities for direct traffic from Calais to this coast sector would h:Lve to be provided in order toavoid the necessity of throughtrains entering the already congestedstation of Dunkerque.An avoiding line was therefore decided uponand constructed between the two points known as Plannettesand Rosendale, in order to take the through trafic directly on to the newly-doubled Dunkerque-Fumes line. This line was commenced on the 24th June and completed on the 13th July. Thelecgth of theline was slightlyover 3 miles. Theearth- work on it was of no account, but two navigtble and two irrigatiorl canals had to be crossed, and this was done on timber pile bridges. Onlyone railhead of any size was built in the coastal area, that being at St. Iddesbald, which is about a mile north-west of Furnes. This was used as a supply railhead and also an ammunition trans- shippingstation. Unfortunately a train-load of ammunition was struck by an enemy shell while it was being unloaded at St. Iddes- bald, causingmany casualties and much dislocation of trnftic A newammunition transhipment station was thenbuilt at DainhoekSabliere, but by thetime this was completed it wyits apparentthat an advance in this sector was improbable. In the early part of November, 1917, when the Fourth Army wa~witll-

drawn from the coast all the installations built by the British were handed over to the French and Belgians. During the time this work was being carried out in the northern sectors, the Germans had retired from the old Somme battle zone tothe Hindenburg line. In following upthe Army after the German withdrawal in &larch, 1917, the Candas-Acheux line was extended beyond EustonDump to a junctionwith the Amiens- Arras line at a pointbetween Miraumont and Achiet-le-Grand stations.This extension was over country which had been very heavily shelled, and as there had been continuous wet weather the groundwas a quagmire; consequently, large quantities of ballast wererequired. A connection with the Amiens-Arras line was made on the 8th April, 1917. Thereconstruction of theAmiens-Arras main line was tobe taken in hand by the French, but they were very short of skilled labour, and for military reasons it was most urgent that this line should be pushed through : British railway troops and labour were, therefore, supplied to assist them. In fact, most of the work was carried out by the British, the material for the track being supplied bythe French. New stations were built at Achiet-le-Grandand Boisleux. It was at Achiet-le-Grandwhere the first delay-action Germanmine went off, causingconsiderable darnage to a supply train whichwas passingover it at thetime. This was followed byanother delay-action mine exploding three days later, causing considerabledamage to the track, but no rolling stock was destroyed.After the second mineexploded a close searchfor delay-actionmines was made,and several were found and withdrawn by the British railway troops. Beforeretiring the Germans had cleared away all therails andsleepers from the Boisleuu-St. Leger,and the Achiet-le- Grand-Baupaume-Velulines, and destroyed all the culverts and bridges. TheBritish took in hand the rebuilding of theselines with British material. A very large railhead was also built at Boisleux, and the Boisleux-St. Leger line was relaid as far east as Croiselles with a railhead at St. Leger ; several gun spurs were laid between St. Leger and Croiselles. The Achiet-le-Grand-Bapaume line was relaid to Velu with rail- headsand ammunition s’tations at Bapaumeand Fremicourt. From Velu the original line lay along the crest of the hill and was in full view of the enemy, while in addition to this it crossed the Kord Canal on a bridge 112 feet above the bed of the canal ; on account of these drawkacks it was decided to lay ZL deviation to the nuutl~ander tjhe rise more out of view awl where the N~rdCanal

could be crossed by a bridge 22 feet high. This line was built as far as Havrincourt, where it joined the old formation. The t,raffic on the Achiet-le-Grand-Bapaume line was very heavy, andthis line had to be doubled between Achiet-le-Grand and Fremicourt. Tothe south of thisthe French reconstructed the line from Amiens to Tergnier, and the British took over the reconstructionof the line from Chaulnes towards Cambrni. On the Chaulnes-Cambrai line nearly all the rails, including the points and crossings, had been either destroyed or thrown into the canal,but most of the sleepersand ballast remained. Work was started at Chaulnes on the 25th March, 1917, and a single line was opened to PBronne on the 25th April. As soon as the single line was through, the doubling was taken in hand and the track was relaid with 45-kilogram flat-bottomed rails supplied by the French; sidings being laid inat Chaulnes, Brie andLa Chnpellette. Beyond Pbronne all the rails and sleepers had been removed by the Germans before they retired, and, in addition to this, they blew several large mines where the roadscrossed the railway line, making craters about50 feet in diameter and30 feet deep. These craters were fullof water which had to be pumped out and the craters were then filled with hard material. British rails and sleepers were used in relaying both lines between PCIronne andEpbhy. New station-yards were rebuilt at PBronne, Tincourt and Roisel. BetweenChaulnes and Ep&y 48$ miles of main line and sidings were laid. The single line was completed on the 27th April and the double line on the 29th June, 1917. While the Chaulnes-PQronne line was being rebuilt a new line was built from Maricourt toPBronne, and the railwaywhich wasbuilt fromMaricourt through Trones Wood to Guillemont during the Sommebattle was extended through Lesboeufs and Rocquigny to Ytres, where it joined the original Velu-Ytres-Ep&y line. The formationbetween Lesboeufs and Rocquigny required a great deal of work as it passed over heavily-shelled ground ; shell holes hadto be pumpeddry and then filled withdry material and in many placesfascines were put downunder the ballast with excellent results. Between Velu, Ytres and Epbhy the rails and sleepers had been removedby the enemy, but the formgtion and ballast was left. This line was relaid with British material throughout, and a timber pile bridge was built over the Nord Canalat Etricourt. On theselines railheads were built at Rocquigny,Etricourt, Fins,and Heudicourt, with a verylarge ammunition dep8t at Le Transloy.The line was opened through to Beudicourt og the 24th July, l917?

The ballast used on the Trones Wood-Etricourt line was chalk in the bottom and the top lift on ashes or mine earth. There was a very heavy traffic over this line, but even during the wet weather it held up very well. On the 5th September, 1917, it was decided that there should be a tank offensive onthis front. The tanks were toconcentrate at Plateau during night and tobe hid in the surroundingwoods during the day: immediately.before the attack they were to be reloaded on torailway wagons andforwarded to their positions, which lay betweenVelu andHeudicourt. At Plateau five tankramps were built, and each forward detraining position had a ramp correspond- ingto that at Plateau. It was arrangedthat tanks should arrive at their detraining points facing theramp so tjhat they would not have to move off backwards. The total number of tanks forwarded was 486; they were sent on nine trains of twelve tanks each on four consecutive nights, and the balance when the attack commenced as reinforcements.Immediately after the tank attack the line between Ep6hy and Marcoingcame into British possession, and was relaid as far north as Marcoing with British material. The Germans in their retreat did not blow up the steel bridge over the Escault Canal at Marcoing, and on the 26th November, 1917, the rails were connected right through to the undamaged track to the east of the canal. On the30th November the Germans counter-attacked opposite Gouzea,ucourt and advanced on Gouzeaucourt village and took the railway station. At that time the railway construction parties were at workalong the line between Gouzeaucourt and Villers Pluich. Whenthe Germans advancedthese parties joined the defending troops, and took their place in the line with the 35th Brigade, and held it, till they were relieved, 48 hours afterwards, by the Guards. They suffered sixty-eight casualties. At this time the British railway troops blew np the bridge over the Escault Canal at Marcoing, and moved all the guns on railway mountings farther back. In December, 1917, it wasdecided that a railwayline for tacticalpurposes would be required to runfrom Quinconce to Etricourtwith stations at Allaines,Moislaines andManancourt. The whole comprised 84 miles of main line and 53 miles of sidings. The maximum gradientwas 1 in 80, and the maximum curvature10". This line was built to supply the Fifth Army, in the event of it having to retire on to a defence line, which was supposed to run fromHavrincourt south through Heudicourt to Tincourt and on to Ham; but this defence line was never made, and the Germans drovethe British Army over it on to a linerunning between BiPiers Prettowew agd Alhert in March, 1918,

Other installations constructed to supply this defence line, known as the green line, were LeTransloy ammnnition dump, Chaulnes R.E. park,Pbronne transhipment sidings, Fonchette ammunition dump,Misery ammunition dump, Wormwood Scrubbs railhead. The Froissy Fay line was rebuilt and a railhead built at Chuignes. . On the 20th March, 1918, the situation in the southern area was as follows :-- The line between Quinconce and EtricouBt was compcleted, and the numerous other works already mentioned were ready for use. Allthe railway construction companies hadtheir demolition schemes prepared for the destruction of the railway bridges, water supplies, and sections of line, explosives being ready on the ground suflicient tocarry out the demolitions in the front areas in the event of a retreat. At 5.0 a.m., on the 21st March, the Germans opened the battle by a veryheavy bombardment on this front. On that night the 0 * 2 gun on railway mountings, which had been placed on a gun spur just completed near Forreste station, fired ten rounds and was withdrawn to Ham, and later on taken back to Audruicq. On the Phonne-Cambrai line there were three 9.2 guns firing from gun spurs north of Roisel. Enrly in the day both the main lines at Roiselhad been broken in severalplaces by enemy shell fire. A railwayconstruction party was sentforward to Roisel to repair the lines and get the guns out. The lines were repaired shortly before midnight on the 21st March, and the three 9.2 guns were hand-shunted back to Roisel Station, where an engine picked them up and took them back to La Chapelette;from there they were sentwest of Amiens.On the Etricourt-EpBhy line there were three12-inch howitzers, two between Fins and Heudicourt and theother in FinsStation. These were moved back toEtricourt, and as the Germans advanced they were sent back to the west of Amiens. On the 22nd March, 1918, it was seen that the Germans were in great force, that they had driven back all the front and reserve line troops,and were advancingfast. Orders were then given from General Headquarters to destroy the railway bridges and as much of therailway line as was possible. Thedemolitions were to be carried out immediately the 18-pounder guns had passed, care being takeu not to blow up any road bridges until the road transport had ceased. All the under-line bridges on the Chaulnes-Roisel line and about 16 kilometres of double track between Roisel and Chnulnes were completely destroyed ; only one over-line road bridge uear Brie was left undamaged,

Thewater-supply stations between XoiPel andChaulnes were completely destroyed. On the Plateau-Etricourt-Heudicourt linethe bridge over the Nord Canal at Etricourt and the bridge over the Somme and canal at Braye,and about 8 kilometres of mainline werecompletely destroyed, as well as all the water-stations on that line. On the Albert-Arras line, the Boisleux-St. Leger line, and the Bapaume-Havrincourt line, twenty-two bridges and about110 miles o.f lineand sidings were entirelydestroyed. The importance of having demolition schemes worked out was clearly proved in this retreat, as the Germans were brought a to stop through being unable to get their supplies forward. The lines had been so badly damaged thatmany had not been reconstructedwhen the British Army counter-attacked in July 1918. Onaccount of the rapidity with which the Germans advanced 6ome anxiety was felt with regard to the withdrawalof the guns on railwaymountings as well asthe railway construction plant and rolling stock. All the guns and howitzers on railway mountings weremoved back tothe west of Amienswith the exception of two12-inch howitzers whichbecame derailedand were ultimately cut off by the enemy near Villers Faucon. The whole of the construction plant and rolling stockwas evacuated to the west of Amiens, but about 2,000 tons of rails which could not he removed werecaptured by the Germans. They were retaken by the British in August, 1918. Owing to the enemyadvance penetrating toa much greater depth than was anticipated, all the gun positions and railheads constructed to supply the defence battle were lost and the important rail centre of Amienshad become unworkable. To relievethis situation a comprehensive programme of construction, in conjunction with the French, was undertaken to provide, independent of Amiens, three separateroutes for north and south trafic. Heavy work was in- volved in doublings and quadrupelings of existing lines of railway, in the construction of new lines, and for the development of a railhead system for the mrtintenance of thearmy on its new front. Amongstthe most important of theseworks carried out by the British were :- l. Thedoubling of the Longprk andGamaches line. This line was not required by the British but was urgently asked for by the French, and as they, at the time, had neither the personnel nor the materialavailable to carry out this work themselves, thesection betweenLongprk nnd Martainville, 35 kilometres in length, was

Downloaded by [ UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA] on [12/09/16]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved. 110 LYELL OH WORK fDofi~BY RAILWAY P#OoPs [Minutes of handed over to the British to construct. On this section the work amounted to about 6,000 cubic yards of excavation to the mile and aeveral small timber bridges of about 30 feet span. The work was commenced on the 16th April andcompleted on the 4th June,1918. 2. The doubling of the Abbeville-FrBvent line. This was simply a precautionary line in the event of the British having to retire on to the General Headquarters’ defence line, which ran from west of Amiensto the east of Doullens.This doubling was 28 miles in length and the earthworks averaged 12,000cubic yards to the mile. The bridges bad originally been built for a double line. This work was started on the 24th April andcompleted on the 26th July. 3. The quadrupleing of the ktaples-Abbevjlle line. The section of this line between ktaples andConchil was undertaken by the British, and the French were to build the part betweenConchil and Noyelles. TheFrench were also tobuild a newdouble line from Noyelles throughChepy-Valisnes, Martinville, Romescamp, to Feuquikres Junction, and from there the single line to St. Omer-en-Chasse was to be doubled. This through line was being built with the object of giving a direct connection between the ports of Calais and Boulogne and Paris, in place of the Boulogne-Amiens-Paris line, which was thrown out of action by the Germans south of Amiens. The British portion of the linewas completed on the 20th July, but the remainder of tho line was not completed throughout when the British advanced on the 8th August, and the Boulogne-Amiens-Paris line was again openedfor through traffic. Theportion of thisline built by the French was pulled up soon after ,4rmistice Day and the material was used to reinstate damaged lines in the devastated area. 4. The Gouy-Cahan avoidingline and locomotive dep8t.This was built in order that throughtraflic between Boulogne and Paris, via Pont et Marais and Aumale, should not go through Abbeville, which was repeatedly bombed byenemy aircraft. The line consisted of 3& miles of double track with two lift bridges over the Somme Canal. 5. Railheads at PontRemy and Poullainville, besides other smallerinstallations. These facilities were tosupply the troops between Amiens and Albert. 5. The building of a new single line between Hesdin andFrBvent. This line was to supply reserve troops while resting in the billeting areas. The line was 20 kilometres in length, of a very light nature; the only work on it of any consequence was a timber viaduct at FrBvenD, about 600 feetin length and 22 feethigh. This bridge was built in 8 days and was considered a very smart piece of work. 7. The buildiDg of a new single line between Conchil and Candas

with large installations-and railheads along the route; amongst the most important of those was a supply depBt at Vron for the Royal AirForce and a petrol depBt to hold 3 milliongallons of petrol. An ammunition depBt for 10,000 tons of ammunition was also built at DomLegar. This line was 36 miles inlength, the earthworks in the main line amounting to 8,000 cubicyards per mile, which was all done by mules and scrapers. While this programme was being carried out, the transportation situation in generalwas made increasingly more difficult by the activity of the enemy’saircraft, whichwas particularlydirected a.gainstimportant junctions. Special protective and precautionary measures had to be taken to safeguard bridges and in order that the effect of bombs might be localized, so that if the bridge was damaged a substructure wouldbe preparedready to build a temporary superstructureon. These precautionary measures also took the form of deviations. In justification of thesemeasures it maybe mentioned that one of the brick arches in a high double-line viaduct over the Conches River at Jhaples was hit by a bomb and badly damaged during a very heavy troop move to reinforce the Kemmel district,when the Germans took Kemmel Hill in April,1918. Fortunately, however, an avoiding line had been linked through as a single line the day before the viaduct was broken, and in spite of this line only being partially ballasted, it was possible to divert the traffic and to carry on the troopmove with little disorganization or delay. In April, 1918, when the Germans advanced towards Hazebrouck, a considerable amount of work hadto be takenin hand in the northern district. Early in April it was decided to withdraw the frontline from its position at Passchendaeleand the Ridges. Thesepositions had been held since the close of theBritish offensive at Ypres in October, 1917, and were served from railheads at Boesingheon the northern line, St. Jean and Wieltje on the Midland line, and Ypres and Cambridge Road on the Roulers line. The decision of theArmy to retire necessitated thesalving or destruction of ,theforward lines of railway.All the linesand yards east of the Ypres Canal were dismantled, and the rails and fastenings despatched to the Railway Stores DepBt at Audruicq, in all 550 truck loads of railway material. The loss of Kemmel Hill, and the German attack and advance to Bailleul and Meteren, placed the whole of the Hazebrouck-Ypres line out of action. The British railheads were then moved back to Rousbrugge, Proven and International Corner, with an R.E. dump at Ondank.The Northern line was keptin repair as far east as

Waanebek,the Midland as far as Brielenand the Ppres line to Brandhoek.A new linewas also built between Wntten, on the Calais-St. Omer line, :tnd Soex on the Hazebrouck-Dunkerque line. Thisline was 15 mileslong and was built at therequest of theFrench to supply their army in the Kemmel area, but wits never required. A comprehensive scheme of demolitions was then prepared for destroyingall the railway lines back tothe line of theDunkerque-St. Omer Canal, and a.nother scheme, known as the Z scheme, to destroy the whole of the railways and works backto the line of theSomme ; but as no furtheradvance 'cc'as effected by theenemy, these schemes neverhad to be put into execution. By the beginning of August all the defence lines taken in hand bythe British in the back areasto reorganize the new defence front,necessitated by the German advance during March and April, were completed and brought into use. On the 8th August,1918, the British again took theoffensive, and from that date all defensive operations ceased and the organization previously preparedfor reconstruction of the railwayscame into action while the energies of the railway construction troops were centerecl onthe repair of thelines recaptured from the enemy. Fromthis time on toArmistice date the British and Canadian railwayconstruction troops made their greatest effort, and some idea of their achievements may be obtained from the fact that in the short period from the 10th August to the 31st October no less than 1,050 miles of line, much of which had been destroyed, was made tit for traffic. To do this more than 580 miles of new trwk was used, and 4,000 lineal f-+ nf new bridging was built in replace- ment of destroyed structur The Amiens-Chaulnes lip. S, bythe 9$h of August,freed for 5 mileson to Guillaucourt. The reconstruction of thisline was undertaken by the French, but as they were short of railway troops they were assisted by three battalions of Canadian railway troops.By the 12th the line was repaired as far as Chemin Vert, and on that date British railway troops took in hand the repair of theChemin Vert, Bray-Plateau-Rocquigny line, the French and Canadians continuing on towards Tergnier, while on the 30th August that line wascompleted as far as Chaulnes. British troops then took on the repair of the Chaulnes-Cnmbrai line, and the French, with one British Railway Construction Company, continued to repair the line on to Montescourt and St. Quentin. The track on the Chaulnes-Cambrai line had been thoroughly destroyed. About 70 per cent. of the rails were broken. All the road-bridges

and the bridges over the canal and the RiverSomme, near PBronne, were completely destroyed. The reconstruction of the Chemin Vert-Bray-Plateau-Maricourt line was taken in hand, and a start was made from Chemin Vert on the 12th August, but as the enemy was still shelling this line only slow progress was possible during the first fewdays. La Flaque was opened for traflic on the 26th August;Merignolles on the 31st August ; Froissy on the 3rd September; Plateau on the 5th September ; but full useof Plateau dep8t could not be made for some days later on account of the water-supply being cut off. The water for this station was pumped from the RiverSomme, a distance of 5 kilometres. The pipe-line as well as the pumping-station and water-tankshad been badlydamaged by theenemy before they retired. Plateau Station was used as a railhead for some time, but the advance wasso rapid that the other stations mentioned were all out of action within a few days, with the exception of La Flaque, which, being on the main Amiens-St. Quentin road, was of service for several weeks. Maricourt, at 24 kilometres, was reached on the 5th September. Canadian Railway Troops then took on the reconstruction of the MaricourkPBronne line, which WRS completed through to PQronne, a distance of 12 miles, onthe 1st October. Theline from M&ri- court toRocquigny was abandoned at that time,as the Miraumont- Rocquignyline was capable of supplyingthe front, whichwas rapidly receding. The reconstruction of the Chaulnes-Cambrai line was commenced on the 30th August. A very strong party was put on to this work, it being a most important line to supply the Fourth Army,which was continually attacking and requiring large supplies of ammunition. A single line was first constructed capable of carrying traffic, This line wa,s opened through to La Chapalette on the 9th September, includingthe railheads at Marchlepot,Brie and La Chapalette. The bridges over the Somme Canal and the Somme riverwere then rebuilt, and the railhead at PQronne was opened for traffic on the 16thSeptember. Tincourt railhead was opened onthe 21st Sep- temberand Roisel on the 1st October. Whenthe reconstruction reached Roisel there was a pause in the advance of the Army. The enemy were now holding the Hindenburg line, and supplies had to begot forward and other preparations made to break through. The Clhaulnes-Roisel linewas then being rapidly doubled, and double-line working was restored to Roisel on the 3rd October. The Fourth Armywere movingfar to thewest of the Roisel-Cambrai line. It then became necessary to reconstruct theRoisel-Vermand- [THE INST. C,E~WC, ccx.] I

Downloaded by [ UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA] on [12/09/16]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved. 114 LYELL ON WORK DONE BY RAILWAY TROOPS [Minutesof St. Quentin line, wl~ich hadbeen disused by both the enemy and the British since it was dismantled by the Germans when they retired in March, 1917. The French were not getting forward with the St. Qaentin line quick enough, and, in addition to this, they could not bring up snfficient trttins to supply the Fourth Army. The reconstruction of the Roisel-St. Quentinline was startedon the 21st September,1918, and completed throughto St. Quentin on the 23rd October,1918. Thisline was ody used for a shorttime hecmse the attack on the Hindenburg line was successful and the enemy rapidly retrented. The metre-gauge line from noise1 to Hargicourt, which had been reconstructed by the enemy during his occupationof 1918, was con- verted into a broad-gauge line fora distance of 4 miles ; I-largicourt being near one of the strongest positions in the Hindenburg line. A scheme was thenprepared toextend this line eastward. Immediately after the break through, this line was continued on n newalignment over the summit to the main Bellicourt-Cambrai road, and a railhead wasopened thereon 19th October,1918. This line WLS not carried any further as the enemy retreat was so rapid that the St. Quentin-Bohain-Busigny railway came into our Ilxnds and could be restored for traffic. Work on this reconstruction was commenced on the 13th October, and the double line was completed by the French, assisted by one British Hailway Construction Comptny, on the 13th December,1918. Work on this line was so seriously interfered with by delay action mines, wllich exploded on the 3nd, 4th and 7th Kovember, 1918, that it had to be entirely closed after being opened for single line working to Busigny. Simultaneouslywith this work, onthe 4th October, 1918, the reconstruction of the main lineILoisel-Mnrcoing-Ctnlbrxi was taken in hand. Demolition on this line had been severe and water from many craters hnd to be pumped out and the cratersfilled with hard material.The front line at this time was roughlyAwoignt- C!nudry-Uohain, andby the 12th October theenemy had been driven back to the line Le Gateau-Vaux Andigny-Crigney. On the 16th October, 1918, a single line WRS put through from Roisel to Marcoing where it joined the Achiet-le-(;r:tnd-Bap,zume- Havrincourtline which hadalready been constructed through to Marcoingand cont'inued on to Cambrai. Owing tothe rapidity of theadvance at thistime, new forward railheads were being constantly required and traffic was intense, causing delay in getting forward railway materials and reinforcements. The Cumbl.ai-Caudry-B3ubigrny line \vas commenced on the 14th October, 1918, and completed on the 06th October, 1918.

Downloaded by [ UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA] on [12/09/16]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved. Proceedings.] IN FRANCE DURISG 191-1-19. 115 The Cambrai-LeQuesnoy line was comnlenced onthe 16th October, 1918 and completed on the 25th November, 1918. TheWasigny-Le Cateau line wascommenced onthe 30th October, 1918 and completed on the 17th November,1918. The Le Cateau-Aulnoye line was commenced on the 9th Novem- ber, 1918 and completed on the 12th December, 1918. The Busigny-Le Cateauline was not taken in hand as there was a viaduct about 100 yards long and about 90 feet high which hadbeen entirely demolished and would have taken too long to reconstruct, and instead of doing this a raccordement was laid from the St. Quentin-Busignyline on to the Busigny-Wasigny line, andanother near Wasigny on to theWasigny-Le Cateau line. When these lines were reconstructed trainscould run direct through from St. Quentin to Le Cateau. TheLe Quesnoy-Aulnoyg linewas commenced onthe 12th Sovember and completed to Aulnoye on the 9th December, 1918. The Cambrai-Lourches-Valenciennes line was commenced on the 12th October,1918, andwas completed toValenciennes on the 21st November, 1918. FromAulnoye forward towards Charleroi the reconstruction became increasingly moredifficult, due to the contourof the country betweenAulnoye and La Buissihe; nine river and four road bridgeshad to be rebuilt. Work on thissection was suspended after the armistice, as the line mould not be required for purely militasy purposes, but later on, at the urgent requestof the French, Britishrailway construction troops were instructed to repairthe track, and to erect temporary bridgesin place of those destroyed by the enemy. On this section the permanent way was only destroyed in parts, so that the work outside the bridge reconstruction was easily carried out. The following list gives the dates on which the various temporary bridges were completed ready for traffic :-

Bridge. Completed. Hsumont ...... 31.1.19 Louveroil ...... 10.3.19 Solre River ...... 12.3.19 Jeumont ...... ‘24.2.19 CanalBasin ...... 24.1.19 Solre-sur-Sembre ...... 12.3.19 Hautes River ...... 13.3.19 La BuifisiBre ...... 7.4.19 Fontain Yalnlont ...... 4.3.19

This line was finally opened for through traffic on t,he 15th April, 1919. Much valuable captured mar material and rolling stock was l2

Downloaded by [ UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA] on [12/09/16]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved. 116 LTELL ON WORK DONE BY RAILWAY TROOPS [Minutes of found in this district, but, owing to the somewhat bclated effortsof the Army concerned in dealing with it, large quantities of material were stolen and destroyed by the civil population. The rolling stock, much of which had been partially destroyed, wasretrieved by the railway construction troops and placed in sidinRs, and was ultimately sold tothe Belgians nt a satisfactory price. While the Chanlnes-Cambrai line was being reconstructed, the enemy was driven back from Albert and Monchy Le Preux, and on the 26th August, 1918 the line between Amiens and Arras spin was in the hands of the British; on the 1st September, Albert station was opened for trafic, and strong parties of railway construction troops were working north from Albert and south from Arras to get this main line once moreopen for through traffic. The track and bridges on this line between Albert and Boisleux were totally destroyed, and in many cases the cuttings were pxrtially filled by debris from dugouts in the slopes of the cuttings, and the banks were honeycombed bydugouts, which had to be filled in before trafficcould be allowed over the line.The double line from Amiensto Arras wasopened for traffic onthe 20th September, 1918. Inthis district the Candas-Acheux andAuthie Valley railways were beingpushed forward towards Miraumont and Achiet-le-Grand,through Colincamps. Therailway between Colincampsand Achiet-le-Petit, was badly injured by shell fire, andhad to be entirely relaid withnew material. On the 27th August, the line through Colincamps was repaired into Achiet-le- Grand station. The enemy at that time was holding Bapaume. Onthe 28th August, 1918, whenBapaume was taken,the Boisleux-Cambrai, the Achiet-le-Grand-Marcoing andthe Colin- camps-Miraumont-Le Transloylines were pushed ahead. On the 31st August, the Boisleus-Cambrai linewas rebuilt asfar as Boyelles, and the station was readyto take two trains per day. The first train arrived at Boyelles on the 1st September, 1918. Bapaume station was ready for traffic on the 1st September, but no other than construction trains were taken into Bapaume until 4th September, on account of heavy enemy shell fire. Onthe 3rd September, the Miraumont-Bcaulencourt line was opened for traffic into Beaulencourt, very little damage having been done to this line beyond Miraumont. Onthe 2nd September the First Army broke through the Drocourt-&&ant defences and cleared the enemy from Ecoust and Qukant, apd QQ the 3rd September the enemy retiredfrom Vraucourt,

Ueugny,Frbmicourt and Lesboeufs, and took up a positionon a line between Ytres-Hermies and Vichy-en-Artois. The Boyelles-QuBant line was found to be in a very bad condition, thetrack having beenremoved bythe enemy and the cuttings badlydamaged by defence works. It wasthen decided torepair the old gun line from Fremicourt to Vaulx and continue it on to Qu8ant so as to push on the Boisleux-Cambrai line as quickly as possible, Thoroughdemolition of railshad been carried out between Rapaume and Velu, but little damage hadbeen done to the bridges or sleepersand no craters were made in the formation. Vaulx .Junction was reached on the 4th September, and the cut-off from Vaulx Junction to Qui-ant completed on the 9th September. The Wapaume-Marcoing singleline reached Frbmicourt on the 5th September and the Summit on the 7th September, and the double line between Achiet-le-Grand and Summit was opened for traffic on the 19th September. On the 8th September the enemy wereforced back to the Havriu- court-Epbhy defence lineeast of the Eord Canal; it was then possible advanceto the Bapaume-Marcoing linealong the Labouoquier East diversion and the Velu-Ytres-Fins-Epbhy line, which was littledamaged, except that the bridge over the Nord Canal had t,o be entirely rebuilt and the part of the line between Etricourt and Equancourt had to be relaid with new material. The Miraumont-Le Transloy line joined up with the TronesWood- Etricourt line on the 12th September, and the reconstructionof the Le Transloy-Etricourt line m;ts proceeded with and opened for traffic on the 20th September. The capture of Havrincourt on the 12th September enabled the reconstxuction of the Lnboucquier Diversion to be carried on to the Nord Canal and the briclge over the Nord Canal near Hermies to berebtlilt. Upto this time verylittle progress could be made witht8he reconstruction of the Arras-Douai line,the enemy still holding ilfonchy le Preux. From the 12th September till the battle of Cambrai, on the 27th September,the three railways :-(l) Arras-Douai; (2) Boisleux- Cambrai ; (3) Achiet-le-Grand-~~arcoingwere notextended, the railheads being RS far forward as it was practicable to work. The railwayconstruction troops during that time wereemployed in improving and enlarging the stations behind. On the first dayof the battleof Cambrai, the 27th September,1918, the Army adntncedto a line-Beauckxmp-Ribecourt-Fontaine Notre I)nme--II:rS.necoul.t-Oisy leVerger, on tlld 20th to n lineTillers

~~Luisluin-nIarcoin:r-Aubigrley au Bac, and 011 October 1st btlck to theline Crevecoeu~-Run~ill~-A~tbigne~:LU Bac. Thisretreat permitted the pushing on with theUoisleux-Ca,mblai and the Bapiurlle- Marcoing railways. On the Boisleux-C;rmbrai line beyond Quh:*Ilt the mils had bee11 drawn together by the enemy to form a 60-centimetregauge line and fourbridges had been destroyed. l!he Boisleux-Cambriti line was reconstructedto Bfarqnion onthe 30th September, but as the Army at this tilue did not expect to move the enemy from Hanlel and Arleux, it was decided to construct a new line to eliminate the Sauchy loop, and in this way be ableto serve the troops tow:rrds Bourlonand Cambrai. Con- struction of this deviation, 3 miles in length, was commenced on the29th September and completed onthe 8th October, andthe railhead nt Contimpre Station, Cambrai, was opened for traffic on the 18th October. The Bapaume-Marcoing line was completed to Havrincourt on the1st October and to Marcoing Junction on the 4th October. The party reconstructing the Bapaume-Marcoing line then took in hand the reconstruction of the Marcoing-Cnmbrai line and opened Marcoing Station for traEc on the 7th October, The enemy had removed the rails from theMarcoing-Cambrai line, leming only one siding in Marcoing yard and one lineof rails from Nnrcoing towards Cambrai,partially destroyed by shell fire to within a mile of Cambrui, when every second joint was blown. The bridge over the Escault Canal, which had been repaired on the 6th October,was, unfortunately, badly damaged by enemyshell fire on the nightof the 7th October, and it was not until the 10thOctober that repairs were completed and the trackconnected up again. On the 10thOctober the line to, and the yardat Masnikres were ready fortrafiic, and a single line was completed through to Cambrai annexe station on the. 14th October.This station had to be remade as .allthe switches and crossings and every second joint in the sidings had been blown. 13y this time the party reconstructing the Chaulnes-Phronne-Cimbrai line had joined up at Marcoing Junction. It was thenevident that the enemy would be compelled to retirefrom the Arras front. Railway construction troops were moved toArras to push on withthe reconstruction of the Arras-Douai-Valenciennes line.On the 15th October, when the evacuation of theLille salient began, the Scarp River Bridge was complete and the track was laid as far as Xoux. Immediately after the withdruwal on the Lille front the enemy retired behind Douai on the Arras front, and Douai was occupied by the British on the 17t'h October, 1018.

From Farnpoux to Vitry the permanent way for both lines had been removed and the formation was badly damaged by shell-fire. FromBrebihres to Douai all the rails weredestroyed. In the sectionFampoux to Douai there were ten bridges all destroyed. From Douai to Montigny all points and crossings were destroyed. From Montigny to Somain the entire track was pulled up by track destroyers.These track destroyers tore therails away from the sleepersand in many cases splitthe sleepers and alwayspulled them out of place. In someplaces the rails were bent, but these could generally be straightenedby a jimcrow. To reinstatethis track the ballast hadto be removed to the undersideof the sleepers ; the serviceable sleepers were laid on this formation, and the rails were spiked orscrewed to them in the usual way. Generallysufticient sleepers could be got from a double line to complete a single track. The Arras-Douai-Valenciennes line vas completed throughto Somain on the 1stNovember, 1918, but trsflic was run into Somain previous to this date over theBoisleux-Marquion-Aubigny-Somaiu single line, which was opened for traffic on the 29th October. On the 1st Xovember the First Army agnin attacked, and on the 11th Mons was taken. From Somain right through to Mons the track was destroyed. Everyother rail-joint was blown, craterswere formed at about 100-yardintervals, and all bridges were destroyed. On this section of theline there were several large groups of sidings undamaged. Construction parties were distributed to pull up these sidings and relay the rails in the main line ; by doing this a single line WSLSlaid through ancl connected up to the undamaged Belgium track east of Rlons on the 26th Kovember ; six supply trains and four trains with traffic personnel were sent through to the east of Mons on the 26th November. Thewater-stations on theArras-Mons line were very badly damaged,and temporary water-stations were brought into use where water was available. These were in use until the permanent water--suppliesat stations were reinstated. The width of this gap, Arras to Mons, is 55-62 miles. The work was started on the 15th October, and a single line was linked up at Monson the 26th November and the double line wascompleted with permanent water-supplies and signals on the 13th December, 1918. To carry out this work 62 miles of new rails were required. On the BBthune-Lille front early in Septemberit was anticipated that the enemy would have to retire from the Merville salient, and preparations were made to push forward the reconstruction of the BethuneLilleand the Hazebrouck-Lille doublelines as soon as

the enemy retired. On the Bbthune-Lille line Beuvry station was ready for traffic on the 18th September. But the line could not be repaired beyond that point nor that stationbe brought intoservice as the enemy had not withdrawn.At thebeginning of October, however, theenemy commenced theirretreat on thatfront and Guinchy station was opened for traffic on the 6th October, 1918. The formationbetween Guinchy andLa Bt~ssl?ethrough " No Man's Land " was practically obliterated,as the frontiLt this point hadbeen statiormry for nearly four years. Beyond LaBassbe to Fives Station, Lille,all the bridges had been destroyed,and the switches and crossingsblown. There were sorlle very large mine craters in the formation near Haubonrdin,nnd at several points rail-jointshad been blown, but suficient rails were undtLmagetl to complete the single track. On the 21st October, Ln. Bassbe Station was open for traffic. A single line was completed to Fives Junction on the 31st October, 1918, and this line was opened for double line working into Fives Station,Lille, on the 30th November, 1918. Theroute mileage reconstructed was 25% miles of double line,eleven double-line bridges and ten stations. Instructions were given on the 1st November to reconstruct the Ljlle-Valenciennes line. This was done in order that the army on theMons front could befed from Dunkerque. The work was commenced on the 2nd November and completed ready for double- lineworking, including locomotive wnter-stations at Orchies and St. Amand, 011 the6th December, 1918. Theroute mileage is 27& miles. The Haubourdin-Kt. Andre line was reconstructedas a single line. This was required as the single line builtbetween St. Andre Station and Fives Station could not carry all the trsfic coming from the Armentihresline to Fives and beyond. Themain double line from St. Andri. toFives was badlydamaged and could not \It> repaired in time to be of any military use :LS the British Army at this time was making a quick advance. The reconstruction of the Haubourdin-St. Andr6 line was commenced on the 10th November andcompleted 0x1 the30th November.All the switchesand crossings and about 50 per cent. of the rails on this line had been destroyed ; one bridge had to be rebuilt. The total length reconstructed was 6% miles. Inthis area the BEthune-Lens andthe Mareuil-Rocklincourt lines were also rebuilt for traffic, but were of very*little use, as the enemy had retired beyond their limit soon after they were opened for trattic. The reconstruction of the Hazebrouck-Armentihres-Lille line was

Downloaded by [ UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA] on [12/09/16]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved. taken in hand at the end of September, 1918. The line had been thoroughlydestroyed, first by our own troops during the enemy advancein April, and again by theenemy during the German retreatin October. This line was firstreconstructed as a single line, Bailleul was reached on the 4th October, and the Lys river onthe 6th October, 1918. Theenemy then being just east of ArmentiAres and preventing any forward work, the railway troops were engaged on doublingthe line. On the15th October tho enemywithdrew and the double line was laidinto Armentieres Station with single line trafiic over the reconstructed Lys Bridge. At the same time xs the Bailleul-ArmentiBres line was being built thereconstruction of theDouve Valley Railway was also being pushedahead. This line was requiredto feed theArmy on the ”kin front, and also to give a direct route between Hazebrouck andCourtrai. The line from Armentiirres through Houplines to Menin having been very badly damaged, it was considered easier to extend the Douve Valley line and to abandon the reconstruction of the Houplines bridge. On the 16th October the enemy retired from Warneton and the Douve Valley line was connected through to the Belgian line at Menin on the 26th October, 1918. Lille was evacuatedby the enemy on the 17th October,1918, andrailway construction troops were sent ahead to prepare the stations at St.Andre and La Madeline, so that traffic should commence immediatelythe line waslaid through.The line between Armentihres and St. Andre was very badly damaged and thepart through “KO Man’s Land ” wasentirely obliterated. However,there were no importantbridges to rebuild on this section. St. Andr6Station was opened for traffic onthe 23rd October. Twovery important bridges between St. Andreand La Madelainehad been partially destroyed. Fortunatelythe charges under the girders of the bridge over the Lille Canal had not been exploded, though both abutments had been blown in and the steel superstructure had fallen down about 6 feet. This super- structurewas jacked up and supported on sleepercribs, and La Madelaine Station was opened for traffic on the 31st October, the double linehaving been completed fromArmentiares to La Madelaine Station on the same day. FromLille the railways joined, oneline going east towards Tournai and the other north through Roubaix. As there were several demolished bridges over main thorough- farescarrying the main line round the east of Lille, thereconstruction of which would seriouslydelay the advance towards Tournai, it was decided thatthe old Abbatoirline should be

Downloaded by [ UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA] on [12/09/16]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved. 122 LYELL ON WORK DOXE BY RAILWAY TROOPS [xinuta Of relaidand extended to the main line at FivesStation, thus providing a short cut-off from St. And& to the latter place. As there was only one bridge of any size to be built, and the earth- workwas light, this work was pushed throughrapidly, and the connection was given to the main line east of Lille by the 26th October,1918. It was at thistime of theutmost importance thatthe Lille-Tournailine should be pushed ahead. On this linedepended the supply of theFifth Army, which became more difficult everyday as theroads mere in s verybad condition,and in addition to this the civil populationhad toget supplies forward. The armies in this area had swept forward very rapidly, leaving their railheads far behind. On Armistice Day the forward railhead on this line wasat Blandain. As the enemy swept back he became, through constant practice, more efficient in the art of demolition, and explosives were used in a very lavish manner. On this railway the underline bridges and culverts were entirely destroyed, and large craters were left where theyhad been. The overlinebridges had theabutments blown away and the steel superstructure was lying across the rails. The rails were blown at the ends and also at the centre, making it very difficult to recut and drill them. Craters were blown in the formation, small ones of about 30 feet diameter and 10 feet deep, 25 yards apart, and large craters about 40 feet in diameter and 15 feet deep, 100 yards apart. All water- supply systems were completely demolished. A single line was completed through from Lille to the undamaged Belgiantrack and opened for traffic on the 4th December, 1918. The double line was completed with water-supplies and signalling on the22nd January, 1919. Theprincipnl diEculty experienced in reconstructingthis line was gettingmaterial forward. There was practically nothing of any value left on the ground. At this timethe timber-carrying lorries came inmost useful in getting heavytimbers forward for reconstructingthe bridges between Tournai and Ath. In this section alone twenty double-line bridges had to be rebuilt. While the Lille-Tournai-Ath linewas being reconstructed the Mouscron-Tournsi line was also asked for by the Railway Operating Department, as being of primary importance so that supplies could be brought direct from Dunkerque Over the Berg-Proven line and throughRoulers and Courtrai. This work was sanctioned on the 5th November, 1918, and a commencement was madeto lay a singletrack on the 7th November. There were only three minor bridges to rebuild on this line, but every other rail-joint wasblown

in bothtracks. Asingle line was connectedthrough from Mouscron to Tournai on the 4th December,1918, and the double line wascompleted withsignals and water-supplies on the 12th January, 1919. But this line was practicallynever used by theRailway Operating Department, supplies being taken from Boulogne and not from Dunkerque. The Lille-Courtrai linewas also reconstructedas a single line from Lille toMouscron, and asa double line from Mouscron to Courtrai; it was urgently required as a means of feeding the densely populated districts round Iloubaix and Tourooing, and every effort was made to push it ahead with all speed. Owing, however, to the thorough nature of the demolition effected by the enemy, and the large number of bridges which had to be reconstructed, progress was necessarily slow. The stations at Roubaix and Tourcoing were completed, and a singleline was openedthrough from Courtrai to Lille on the 22nd November, 1918. In thisdistrict the Warneton-Courtrai line was also requisi- tioned ; this being an extension of the Douve Valley line, which was originally built for purely military purposes. Thisline escaped heavydemolitions, only the switches and crossings in thestation yards at Warneton and Menin being destroyed. It was opened for traffic throughfrom Hazebrouck to Courtrai on the 11th Xovember, 1918. At the end of August, 1918,before theGerman retirement In the most northern section of the British front began, the position as far as the railways were concerned was as follows :- The Proven-Boesinghe linewas in working order as a double track as far as Waanabek spurs, but was very seldom used beyond lnternationalCorner station. On the 1Gth September,1918, the International Corner-Boesinghe line was handed over tothe Belgiansto serve as their main supply line for the southern portion of their Army, and fromBoesinghe onwards towards Staden the reconstruction of this line was taken in hand by the Belgian Railway Engineers. The Midland Railway had been salved as far back as Trois Tours Sidings. ThePoperinghe avoiding Iine was intactand the Poperinghe- Ypres line was kept in repair as far as Brandhoek. During the last days of August, 1918, it became evident that the Germans contemplated a retirement, and t,he British railway troops in this district prepared for an advance. The shell-breaks on the Poperinghe-Ypres line n;ere repaired, and the linebetween Boesinghe and Ypres was put in running order.

On the 14th September the bridge over the Tpres Canal on the East Midland Railway had been repaired as well as the sidings in St. Jean Station, and the connection made with the Boesinghe- Ypresline. On the 15th September St. Jean Station was opened for limited traffic only, as the enemy were still holding the line about 5,000 yards to the eastof this station. Onthe 28th September, the British and Belgians launched their combinedattn.ck, which proved successful, and theBritish ~.dwaytroops then concentrated their force on repairingthe Ypres-Ii.uders line. On the night of the 28th Septelnher a single line was Itaid through Ypres yard and one siding w-ns made fit for traffic. The singleline 11x1 nlso been continued from Ypres yard on through Iiell Fire Corner cutting. This work vas done nnder very trying cvmditions as the enemy kept :L co11st:tllt sllell-fire 011 therailway line as f:w back its Brandhoek, breakirlgtlle linein several pl:tces, Ypres y;~r(l coming in, as usual, for ;L good den1 of attention. On the 11th of October the track was joined up with the existing track left by tllr Crernlans :at Passchendaele htion. Yprw St,;Ltion yard had been repxired, while sidings at Zillebeke Lake nnd " NO Man'sLand " had beenrelnid and opened fur traffic, andtwo undnnlaged si(1ings at Passchendaele were ready for use. By the 13th of October the m:~in line was laid to Vierlrnrenlloek, where a halt had to be called 21s the infantry did not t,ake Roulers till the 14th October. On the17th October the line WRS laid intoRoulers Station, wllich had been entirelydestroyed by theenemy. The railway construction t~,oopswere then divided into two grol~ps,one to repair tile Roulers 1ngrelulunstt.r-Collrtrai line and the other the Roulers- Menin line. On the 31st October, 1918, the track was rep:hd into Iseghern Station, and from this point towards Courtrai the rail was found to be little d:xmaged as far as the junction of the line from Menin near the Lys bridge. On the 22nd October the Roulers-Menin line Il:d been repnired to Ledeghem St;ttion, :tnd on the 26th October the rail was completed to Menin, and four unloading lines 11xd been laid in Menin Station ready for traffic. This station proved to be of great value in feeding the troops and also tlre civil population in the Rouba.ix and Tourcoing districts. The restoration of the stations at Iseghem &ncl Ingelnlunster was completed, with a triangle into the Menin- Courtrttiline, the formation for wllich had been prepared by the Gerrnms. !L'his enabled the s~~pplysiding and theammunition

sidings at Bisseghem to be opened for traffic by the beginning of November.Until the line from the Douve Valley line to Menin and Bisseghem was opened for use, the whole of thetrafic for these stations had to be brought over the Ypres-Roulers line. This caused a heavy strain and somecongestion on that line, but this wasrelieved whenthe Douve Valley-Menin line was opened for traffic. The double line bridge over the Lys near Courtrai, which consisted of threearch spans had beencompletely destroyedby the enemy and the debris lay on the bottom of the river. In addition a covering of rds side by side had apparently been laid over the bridge as a protection against bombs, and these were all scattered overthe masonry. It was decided to lay n deviation a little down-stream from the original crossing and to erect a temporary pilebridge. This was put in hand immediately the track reached the bridge site. The new bridge consisted of ten spans. The work W;LS commenced on the 28th October, a.nd the deviation was opened for single-linetraftic onthe 6th November, 1918. Meanwhilethe line had been doubled through from Roulers to the Lysbridge. The bridge over the Bossingth Canal, just east of Courtrai Station, had been taken in hand, andwas opened for traffic on the 7thNovember, 1918, and this allowed theCourtrai-Oudenard line to be pushed ahead. It hadbeen very thoroughly destroyed by blowing every alternate rail-joint, and large craters had been blown in the formation about 100 yards apart. Onthe 17th November a singleline was laid through to Anseghem Station and thedouble line to Vicht. Onthe 18th November the double line wasopened fortraffic overthe Lys Bridgethrough Courtrai Station and on as far as AnseghemStation, and single-line working was possible from Anseghem to Oudenard. The opening of the line beyond Oudenard was delayed on accoullt of the bridge over the Scheldt, which had been destroyed by the enemy. This bridge was repaired and trains were run through to Sotteghem Station on the 24th Kovember. From Sotteghem to Herzeele the line was partially destroyed and the French repaired it. The British took in hand the repair of the Sotteghen-Engheimline and the withdrawal of the unexploded demolition charges which had been laid. The Courtrai-Sotteghem- Engheiln line was never used for through tragic by the British, and onthe 3rd January, 1919, thesection between Courtraiand Sotteghem was handed over to the French for maintenance, and the section?Sotteghem to Grammont, was taken over by tlle Belgian

Downloaded by [ UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA] on [12/09/16]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved. 126 LYELL ON WORK DONE BY RAILWAY TROOPS [Minutes of railways. Britishrailway troops mere thenwithdrawn from this district. after theArmistice, when British troopsnloretl forward tooccupy the Rhine provinces, owing to the great distance supplies had to be run forward by lorries from railheatls to troopsat the front, and the bad condition intowhich the roads got under the heavytraflic, recon- naissanceparties of railwayconstruction troops were sentahead into Belgium to get into touch with t,he Belgian railway officials, and to give all assistancepossible to get the rolling stock, abandoned by the retreating enemy, cleared off the main lines. When the Author went through toNamur, immediately after the Armistice, he found the Belgian station-masters returning to their stationsand collecting allthe Belgian State railway staff and personnel available. Twelve locomotives were put under steam and sentto clear awaythe abandoned rolling stock from the main Mons-Menage-Cl~arleroi line, and the Engheim-Eaine-St. Pierre- Charleroi line. This rolling stock was shunted into the coal-mine lines round Bianche, so as not to block any siding that would be required for working tllrough trafic. Passenger traflic was opened between Kamur and Mons on the 30th November, to evacuate British and French prisoners of war, who were congregating at Kamur, where there was very little food available for them. Belgiangangs were also puton to reptir the main line at Nenage andKamur, which had been damaged owing to tra,insloaded with ammunition set on fire by the enemy. By the 26th Sovember, when the Arras-Mons line was joined up with the Belgian system at Mons, the Belgian railways mere ready to take the tra&c on aheadt3 the German frontier, andbeyond there to the Rhine the lines mere in first-class condition and were run byGerman personnel. On the1st December, 1918,the Railway Operating Department took over from the construction troops tlre control of the traffic as farforward as Kamur,and on the8th December, 1918, as far as the German border. Some idea of the amount of work carried out by the Broad Gauge Railway Construction Troops may be obtained from the following Tables which give the actual number of miles of track laid during 1014-1910, ancl the length of temporary bridging erected. During the period from August to the end of December, 1918, 1,518 miles of line were restored, and to carry out this restorat' Ion 589 miles of new British track was used, the remainder being got by recutting and drilling damaged rails,or by taking material from sidings which had not been destroyed.

Xaterial Laid in New Xaterial Used in Year. h'ew Lines and ReconstructingDestroyed Total. Sidings. Lines. Miles. Miles. 1914 1 .. 1916 104 .. 104 1916 417 417 1917 652 137 is9

1018 iO9 559 1,298 191 9 0 21 30 __ -- 1,S92 747 2,639

Drwing 1917-1918, 339 miles of single line were dismantled and returned to stores. The following quantities of permanent way material were received in France during 1914-1919. Jliles of Track. i5-1b. Eritish new railswithfastenings 2,063 ... SO-lb. secondhandCanadian rails with fastenings 469 Secondhand rails from British railwaycomlmnicq xith fastenings...... 206.5 2,725.5 Issued to Allies to Issued ...... 106.5 2,622 Ilails andfsstenings in atorc unused .... 323 -- Britishmaterial laid by Britishtroops 2,300 ... Dismantledtrack relaid ...... - 339 Total .....2,639 At the end of January,1919, approximately the following quantities of rails and fastenings could be accounted for :- Xiles of Single Line. JII quadruldings ...... 18 III doubling...... 113 In nem British nlilititry lines ...... 350 Tn dcpGts andregulating stations ..... 276 In gun spurs ...... 48 In Ieconstruction of pre-warlines .... 600 Nateriallring in minordumps ..... 45 Materiallying in main stores ...... 490 Material insitu in ammunition and other depbts 360 Nnterialdestroyed and unaccounted for ... 438.5 -.. 2,726.5

WJ m I. ,- K 3

'. l

Thismeans that 54,000 tons of rails and fastenings have been either lost or destroyed. Againstthis there is a set-off of 26,500 tons of railsand fastenings captured from the enemy and sold to the French. Cost of Work.-The cost of work can only be given approximately as it varied very considerably according to the quality of unskilled labour supplied. The average cost per mile of new line on the linesof communications worked out at the following approximate figures:-

Per Nile oj Track.

e 8. d.

Plate-layingsingle line . . ~ 600 man-days at 10s. perday 300 0 0

Ballast . , . . . 3,000 cu. yds. at 29.7d.per cu. yd. 387 10 0 Labour in ballasting . . . 1,500 man-days at 103. per day 750 0 0 Earthworks,cut and fill . 3,570 ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, 1,785 0 0 Turnouts average 4 per mile 64 0 0 at 32 man-daysper turnout) 128 ,, >, I, ,, ,,

hilway material, 75-lb. rails 3,447 0 0 delivered on the ground . ) price, E3,447 per mile . . . . , perL146 setsets4 turnouts 584 0 0

The cost of laying the ballast under the sleepers waB always very high, due to the delays in getting delivery of the material, and to the need of having to keep men waiting for its arrival. Trestle and Pile Bridges.-The quantity of materialsin these bridgesvaried according tothe height of theviaduct, but the average throughout is approximately per lineal footof viaduct :-

Per Lined Foot. E a. d. Timber, 21'5 cubic feetat 7s. 6d. . . . . 8 1 0 Ironwork, 12.3 lbs. at 32d...... 3 10 Labour,2.25 man-days at 10s...... 1 2 6 974

Plant Used.-Early in 1915 special plant was designed and built in England for driving piles, with an over-reach of 68 feet, and one for launchinggirders over a clear span of 60 feet.Both these plants worked very well in places, when it was possible to get them [TEE INST. O-E VOL. ccx.] K Downloaded by [ UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA] on [12/09/16]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved. 130 LYELL os WORK DONE BY RAILWAY nwors [Minutes of

forward to the work, but they bothllad the seriousobjection of being veryliable to derailment. This put them out of therunning duringthe advance of 1918, wherethe bridging plant had to be sent right up to the endof steel, over a rough unballasted line. To keep pace with the ever-increasing programme of construction the greater quantityof the plant used had to be procured at a time when it was becoming more difficult to get delivery, and had to be regulated by the supplies available. The principal items in use were steam cranes, pile-driving plants, steam shovels, while certain transport vehicles such as 5-ton mot,or rail lorries,motor inspection trollies, motor roild lorries, specially designed to carry heavy timber, proved to be of grezt value. Oxy-acetylenecutting plant was extensively used in removing the debris from bridges destroyed by the enemy. A large proportion of the earthwork on the newly constructed lines was carriedout by drag and wheeled scrapers(American pattern).These, when worked bythe Canadian troops, effected a great saving of labour. The work of maintaining and repairing all this plant was heavy. The minor repairs were carried out by the workshop train detachments with each railway construction engineer, but for big repairs the plant was sent to the railway construction base workshops at Audruicq.Pioneer track-laying cims were also use.cl onlong sections, wit11 a considerable saving of labour. Thedistribution of plant between therailway construction engineers was controlled from General Headquarters. Each railway construction engineerwas at liberty to use the plant allotted to him at any point within hisown area, but no transfer of plant from one railway construction engineerto another was allowed totake place withoutthe chief railway Constructionengineer's authority, and, when such transferhad been arranged, advices of despatch and of receipt of the plant were wired to Headquarters by the rai1w:t-y constructionengincers concerned. This XIS especially important in the cuse of those machines n-llicl~ ere linlitedin number, as it vas most necessnry tl1:rt :dlotnlent sl~onldLe mde to the most urgent \\-oL.~s,viewing the situation as a wllok. B~liast.--'rhe13rodG:tuge 1Ldtv:ty Construction Department was responsible forsupplying bal1;Lxt for ro:rtls n~dlight ridway construction and maintemrnce, as well as for tlle broacl- and metre gauge lines.The only ballastavailable in the north of France is sand from the dunes at Cdais, as also between Dunkeque and the Belgian frontier, and nhle earth from the cod pit.s round Bbthune. Chlk wa,s also usrd ns l)ot8tjomb:tllast,. 'h Prezcll very kindly

allottedto the British mine-dumps which came well withinthe range of the enemy &e. In several places steam shovels could not be used by day as these attracted enemy fire. In fact, one shovel was knocked out by a direct hit, and another was badly damaged. However, the enemy only shelled these dumps now and again, and bnllast was taken out between" strafes." Steam shovels were usecl for loading the ballast, and some of the large shovels were loading over 1,300 cubic yards per day of mine earth, ancl over 2,300 cubic yards of sand.The most suitable shovels forthis work were found to be ,theAtlantic, Marion, Cont.hon and Ruston types. All the railway construction that hasbeen undertaken in France and Belgium during the war has had to be carried out as quickly as possible, while the heaviest traffic was thyown on the line before the roadbed had become consolidated, in fact, the maximum traffic was usually carried immediately after the line was opened for traflic. Nine earth (red) is the best ballast to be obtmined in northern France (apart from stone). It is very hard, but rather brittle, and is not affected bythe weather. It givesexcellent drainage,holds up the road well, and is not expensive to load. Mine earth (black) is not satisfactory, and could only be used on temporary lines ; owing to the efl'ect of the weather, it finally turns into mud. Its greatestadvantages are the cheapness of loading, this being direct from the mine cars into railwaywagons at the pit- head, and the large quantities available. It is most useful to spread over chalk-ballasted lines as camouflage. Sand cm only be said to be a fair ballast for sidings, so long as it is covered by some other material which is not liable to be blown or washed away ; it will not hold up against heavy traffic. Chalk is a very inferior ballast and was only used where nothing better was available. It heldup fairly well when covered with ashes. The total quantity of ballast loaded during 1915-1919 was 94 million cubic yards. DenloZitions.--Demolitions are a most important item to be fully considered by the railway construction engineer, and the manner in which instructions are delivered to the engineer told off to fire the chargesshould be made as simple as possible. When the German offensive started on the 21st March, 1918, the procedure arranged bythe Third ancl FifthArmies was too complicated and broke downentirely. TWO bridges hncl tobe abandoned undestroyed simply because the instructions or permission to destroy were not K2

Downloaded by [ UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA] on [12/09/16]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved. 132 LYELL ON WORK DOKE BY RAILWAY TROOPS [Minutes of sent out by the Army concerned till too late, and when the permission didarrive it stipulatedthat the railway construction engineer must first get consent from the corps, who, in their turn, hadto consult the divisions, and the divisions, intheir turn, wished toconsult the brigades. This circle was never completed, ns the railway construction engineers were unable to locate the new headquarters of the corps,divisions, orbrigades. The railway construction engineer telephoned to the chief railway construction engineer at General Headquarters informing him that no definite orders could be gotfrom the armies, and that the bridges near Havrincourt and Velu hadbeen abandoned without being destroyed. The chief railwayconstruction engineer gave authorityfor the trackand structures to be destroyed immediately the field guns had passed, except in cases wherethe destruction of a struc- ture wouldhinder the retirement of theinfantry. These latter structureswere tobe destroyed only on the orders of the infantry brigadier, or, failing that, after the infantry had passed. Theseinstructions were confirmed by wireand letter. It soon became apparent that the retirement was to be greater than had been anticipated,and fresh supplies of explosives werehurried forward from the base by lorries. The demolitions carried out in the railway construction engineer V’s area alone amounted to 110 miles of track, twenty-two bridges, and four main water-supplies. There can be little doubt but that the German advance in March, 1918, was brought to a stand owing to the railways having been destroyed,rendering it impossible for theenemy to get their suppliesforward by rail.They were thrown back ontheir road transport which was not capable of supplyingtheir Army so far from their railheads and over the devasted area, where only a few of the main roads had been repaired. Track-destroyers wereused, but were not found to be,very effective; they pulled the sleepers out of position and tore the rails awayfrom the sleepers, butthe rails could be straightenedand used again. The most effective demolition was to use the track-destroyer and then break the rails in the centre by exploding a charge under the bottom flange, thus bending the fractured endsof the rails upwards. Exploding the charge under the rail without using a destroyer, was also a very effective method. In demolishicg bridges, whilstit is necessary totreat each according toits surroundings, the methods employed may be divided into four classes :-

1. In thecase of long steel spans, a very effective obstacle is made by simply cutting the girders and allowing the superstructure to fall into the river, as it takes longer to remove the debris than to build a deviation. 2. In the case of snlall steel SF ~y cuttingthe girders and blowing out abutments. 3. Timber bridges, by blowing charges against the posts in the bents, and exploding mines behind the ballast walls. (The Germans usually set fire to the timber after covering it with pmaffin. This w:ts most effective.) 4. Brick or concrete bridges, by explodingmines behinh the abutments. TheGermans, during their retirement in 1917 and 1918, left delayed-action mines behind abutmentsof bridges and in high banks. These mines exploded from three weelrs to a month after the enemy had evacuated, and usually when the Britishtraffic was at its heaviest, causingconsiderable delay in gettingsupplies forward. A very effective manner of laying delayed-action mines was first to blow a deep crater in a bank and then place a delayed-action mine at the bottom of the crater and carefully cover it over. When the British construction troops came forward they filled it in, and had to do the same again about three weeks after. The delayed-action mines behindbridge abutments were easilyfound. If an abutment was left standing it was pretty certain X mine was also left behind it. The ]nines could generally be found after wet weather, due to the ground subsiding, and they were then dng out. The action of the fuzes depends upon the eatingammy of a wire by a corrosive solution. The ‘‘ delay ” may be any time up to a month or more. The charges were generally composed of “ Perdite ” or “ TT.’estphalit,” laid on top of high explosive shell, the fuze caps on the shell having first been removed. Guns on Railway .Ji?ountings.-The chief railwayconstrnction engineer was responsible for the repair of the mountings of guns and howitzers on railway carriages, and also for the remounting of retnbedgun-barrels. During 1915 and 1916, as there were only a few gunsof this nature in France, the workwas comparatively light, but,during 1917 and 1918 the work became veryheavy. The following figures give some idea of the work performed on 9 2 and 12-inch naval guns, and 12-inch howitzers:-

Newbarrels mounted ...... 45 Heavy repairs to mountingsafter direct hits . . . . 28 Minor repairs ...... , . . 27

Downloaded by [ UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA] on [12/09/16]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved. 134 LYELL ox WIRK TIONE RY RAILWAY TROOPS [liinutez-of During 1917 and the first half of 1918, work on gnns approxi- mated 20 per cent. of the base shop working-hours. The number of British pieces in France on the 31st March,1918, were as follows :- 12-inch howitzers ...... 35 9.2 guns ...... 14 12-inch guns ...... 2 14-inchguns ...... 2 A further thirty pieces were on order and most of these arrived in France before Armistice Day. Each type of gun or honTitzer had certain characteristics which had to becarefully considered whenpreparing firing spurs. The 12-inch howitzers travel on two four-wheel bogies, and before firing the frames are lowered on to the sleepers to take the weightoff the bogies. These pieces have an all-round field of fire, but if the gun fires to one side of the centre line, it is apt to be displaced. Spurs should therefore, if possible, be sited to face in the direction of the average fire. Thesetrucks will travel round a 200-footradius curve, and the gun bed should have no superelevation. The recoil is taken by means of anchorage and holdfasts bound in frontof the piece. The original 9.2 guns were mounted on well trucks running ontwo four-wheel bogies. Beforefiring, brakes were applied to all wheels, and the recoil was taken up by the truck running back alongthe track. It was thereforeessential to these guns, whlch hadonly a 10" switch to eitherside of the centre line, that the firing curves should be laid out to cover all possible targets, and the guns could not be firedsafely off any curve sl~arper than one of 460 feet radius. A latertype of 9 2 gunwas sent out, Mark IX to SIV, in which the bogies were carrid on hydraulic jacks, and before firing the frame was let clown uponthe track like n. 12-inch howitzer. These guns were fitted with outriggers, and had an all round field of fire which greatly simplified the construction of spurs, as the gun could be placed anywhere witllin range of the target, irrespective of the orientation of the railway track. The12-inch naval guns were very different things to handle comparedwith the '3- 2 gunsand lz-inch howitzers. In the first place, the two types weighed respectively 156 and 183 tons,and therefore had to be treated with considerable care on new lines. The Vickers guns were more severeon bridges, but behaved much better when running than the Armstrong-Whitworth, which latter bad fourteen axles and derailed very easily on badly aligned curves.

These gunswere fired from the running position, with brakes hard on and recoiledalong thetrack. With a fullcharge the guns recoiled about 10 feet. They had only 1” of switch to either side of the centre line, and consequently spurs had to be aligned very accurately with reference to the bearings of the various targets to be engaged. The general practice in laying out, spurs for these guns was to calculate carefully the points on the firing curve where the curve was tangential to each target, and to mark these positions by pegs and by painted marks on the rails, so that the gun could be sited quickly after each shot, the final adjustments being obtained by means of the traversing gear. Towards the close of 1917 information was received that 14-inch guns were bemgsent overseas, and it became apparent at once that there would be many difhulties to solve in connection with these, as their weight (243 tons) far exceeded anything ever contemplated. Diagrams were at once prepared to ascertain the effect of the axle-loads and were circulated to the railwayconstruction engineers in order that bridges mightbe strengthened if necessary. As a further guide they were informed that the guns would always travel under a speed restriction, and that the stress per square inch in pitch-pine should be taken at 2,000 lbs. and in steel at 9 tons per square inch, and that impact might be neglected. Copies of the diagramswere sent to the French, with maps showing the lines over which theGeneral Staff considered the guns would have to travel, and as a result of the French reports, several of the bridges on the Fiord main lines had to be strengthened by British rdway construction troops. These 14-inch guns were brought to Calais by the Channel Ferry quite successfully, and as regards running, they h:Lve given no trouble of any kind. The railway construction engineers carried out the construction of gun spurs on the request of the Army, and afterwards reported thelocation to General Headquarters. The movement of railway guns as effected by the railwayconstruction engineers, who detailedliaison officers specially forthis work, andalso to have ammunitionsent forward as required. These liaison officers also arranged, in the event of a gun being damaged, for the necessary repairs or renewalsto be carried out locally at therailway construction engineers’ workshop train if possible ; these workshops held a small number of spare parts to suit the guns.in their area. Broad- and IVetre-Guuge Trufic.-Some idea of the traffic to supplythe British Army during 1917 and1918 is given by the

Downloaded by [ UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA] on [12/09/16]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved. 136 LE’ELT, OS WORK DOSE RT RATLWAi’ wmrs [hritlutes (If following Table which shows the number of trains run t,o railheads and to depdts on the lines of communication :-

Total.

1917 l i January-March . . . . . NJO figures availah Le l April--June ...... 11,573 I 7,986 19,659 July-September . . 22,257 . . 13,474 , 8,513 ~ October-December . . . . 13,019 I 8.440 21.469

1918 January-March . . . . . 11,8058,240 20,045 April-June ...... ’ 11,451 10,323 21,774 1 July-September . . . . 13,116 1 10,301 23,417 October-December . . . . , 8,993 1 9,451 I 18,444

During 1917-1918 the operations of theBritish Railway OperatingDepartment weredeveloped considerably. At the 31st December,1916, the RailwayOperating Department worked altogether 160 kilometres of broad-gaugeline. During 1917 the length of lineoperated rose considerably, amounting at the31st December, 1917, to 534 kilometres., After the enemy offensive in March and April, 1918, a considerable number of lines had to be abandoned, and at the commencement of May 334 kilometres were operated. Subsequently the figure rose rapidly, amounting at the 31st December, 1918, to 1,313 kilometres. The loaded-wagon kilometres on these lines during the past two years have been as follows :- 1917. 1918. 1917. January-Narch ...... 3,208,980 7,648,315 April-June . . . . , . . 4,496,979 6,771,466 July-September ...... 7,542,275 23,365,908 October-December . . , , . 9,775,791 24,064,469 ______~ Total ...... 26,321,025--61,853,163 -- The resumption of civil traffic in France shortly before and after Armistice Day greatly increased the difficulties of circulation, at a timewhen there was an abnormal traffic in railway construction

Downloaded by [ UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA] on [12/09/16]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved. Proceedings.1 IS FRANCE DURING 1913-19. 137 materia,l, to enable the necessa>ryconnection to be made across the gapbetween France and Belgium. The difficulties of keeping locomotives and wagons under repair and the long hours that had to be worked during the stress of the operations of 1918 heavily strained the railway operating personnel. Broad- and Metre-Gatcge Rolling Stock.-Towards the end of 1916 andthe beginning of 1917the French railu-ay authoritiesput forward demands for broad-gauge rollingstock far beyond anything that had previously heen contemplat,ed and provided for. Extensive orders for locomotives and wagons were placed, and the assistance rendered to the French railways may be ganged by the following figures showing the number of locomotives and wagons provided by the British at the 31st December, 1916-17-18 :-

~ At 31/12/16. At 31/12/17, I At 31/12/18.

Broud-Ga?Lye Loaomotiveo: Imported ...... 62 , 753 j 1,206 Hired ...... 215 198 1 229 l Captured ...... 6 .. l Total...... 260 , 968 1 1,440 --,--,-- --,--,-- Wagons : Imported ...... 34,8453,840 52,597

A total of thirtyBritish ambulance trains had been imported into France and, in addition to this,eleven trains were supplied by the French for British service. Out of the imported locomotives and wagons 389 locomotives and 14,550 wagons wereerected at theshops of theBritish chief mechanicalengineer. The upkeep of thislarge amount of rolling stock will beappreciated by the followingfigures, showingthe output of the various repair shops during 1918 :-

Locomotives : Erected ...... 246 Repairs, heavy and heavy Repairs, light ...... 809 Repairsshed ...... 5,487 Washingout ...... 26,813

Wagons : Erected ...... 3,434 Repairs,heavy tmJ light ...... 22,639

Addawe Trains : Repairs ...... 104

Downloaded by [ UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA] on [12/09/16]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved. 138 LYELL ON WORK DOSE BT RAILWAY TROOPS [hlinuten of During the enemy advance in April, 1018, the locomotive repair shops at Borre had to be evacuated. New locomotive shops were erected at Rang du Fliersand a wagon-repairdep8t at Oissel, near Rouen, but these depBts were built too late to be of any real service. Docks.-The magnitude of thework at thebase ports may be appreciated by the fact that the importsfor the armies during 1918 amounted to roundly 2,260,000 dead weight tons per quarter. The considerable advance of the enemy in March and April 1918 and the military situation which arose in consequence, caused some dislocation of port working, as a large proportion of the imports to the southern ports had to be transferred to the north. The total imports for the years 1917 and 1918 were as follows:- 1917. 1918. Dead Weight Dead Weight Tons. Tolls. January-March ...... 2,120,165 2,225,:m April-June ...... 2,748,050 2,317,580 July-September ...... 2,370,452 2,255,614 October-December .....2.159,350 2,070,943 ~-- Total .....9,398,020 --S, 869,492 Thetotal imports of ammunition alo~~e,included inthe above figures, amounted in 1917 to 3,109,735 tons,and in 1918 to 2,068,314 tons. Everyeffort was madeto ship salved materialto the United Kingdom, the totals d~~ring191 7 artd 1918 being as follows :-- 1917. l)td Weight TOIlS. January-3Iarch...... 22,225 April-June ...... 89,999 July-September ...... 126,491 Uctober-December ...... S7,44:3 -__- Total ...... --:m,155 In order, therefore, to deal with this quantity of .imports and exports the dock equipment and facilities had tobe 1:rrgely increased andthe whole portworking reorganized Some ide:rof this expansionmay be conveyed bythe fact that, whereas atthe 31st December,1916, thenumber of cranesworking for the British at the ports was 126, the number at the 31st December, 1917, had risen to 290, and at the 31stDecember, 1918, to 369. Theimprovement in theport working wasreflected inthe

Downloaded by [ UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA] on [12/09/16]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved. Proceeding6,] l?: FRANCE DURIKG 1914-14. 139 decrease inthe number of ship-dayslost awaiting berths. The averagenumber of ship-dayslost during the opening months of 1917 were :- January...... 57 perweek February ...... 100 ,, March ...... 87 ,, During the rest of the year 1917 a considerable reduction was effected. In 1918during the early part of theyear the average W~W 5 8 per week. Stores.-The main broad- and metre-gauge railway construction stores depBt was at Audruicq.This point waschosen as being most convenient for Dunkerque and Calais, and through these two ports all the railway material was imported. There was also a store at Borre for locomotive spzres. The light railways had their main repairshops and light railway stores at Berguette.When the Germansadvanced during April, 1918, the stores at Borreand Bergnette had to be evacuated to Beaurenville and Rang du Fliers. 60-Centimetre Gauge Railways.-Except in the Somme and Ancre valleys,very few light railways were built before 1917, when a directorate of light railways was formed. Thefollowing Table gives the mileage of new linesconstructed cltwing 1917 and 1918. 1917. 1918. Miles. Miles. .January-1IIarcll ...... 135 214 April-June ...... 202 364 July-Septemhr ...... 328 297 October-December ...... 195 73 ~- -_ Total ...... --1,022 780 In addition to this, from July to December, 1918, 580 miles of 60-centimetre line were reconstructed. The demolition, in 60-centimetre gauge German lines was not heavy: with the exception of a few bridges destroyed, the lines were practically undamaged, so that they couldbe used soon after they wereconnected with the Britishsystem, and supplieswere at firstable to follow closely on theadvancing troops. Ammunition supplies were sent to Passchendaele, andwounded men were brought back within 60 hours after the occupation of that place. Light railways are far from being an economical means of transport ; the maintenance during 1917 requiring on an average fifteen menper mile. When the lines becameconsolidated in 1918, the number of men on maiutenanceaveraged approximately five per mile of track.

Just, hefore theenemy offensive inhfa~rch, II rworrl t,raffir: was being l-mdled,but in the course of theenemy's ndnnm. :I. large portion of the light rdw;3,y system fell into German hmtls, together with a considerable qmntity of rolling stock and power, thus completely depleting reserves, and throwing n great straln on t.he organization. An dmostentire rwrrangement of thesystem became necessary, butlittle was don^ till J~mr,1918, when :I, reorgnnizntion of psisting f;t.cilities ant1 the construction of :L ~BTY system WV:I.S mooted, b11t IIPV~~actl1ally mine into being. Owing t,o theenemy otfensive nortll of B6tl1nne, the centd light-ra,ilwny workshops at Berguette were evacuatedin April. !L'his ctausetl great disorganization to repair work, ant1 a large quantity of rolling stockand 1)l:Lnt was evacuatedto England. The erection of new shops at Beaurenville wa,s put in 11:1.nd,and these ciame into llse in December,1918, when light railm:r.ys were practically ont of com- ~nission. Between the 21st March, and the end of April, 1918, the rout't: miles operated fell from920 to 380, hut when the British again :Ldvanced it increased to 800 miles. In the later months of 1918, as the armies continued to advance across Belgium, the light-rai1wa.y sSstems were left far behind. Inland Water Tralzs~ol.t.-Consitlel.nble use w:~s made of the canalsin France behind the defence line.The length of the waterways operated at the31st December, 1916, KRS 299 miles, this increasedto 345 miles at, the31st Deceml)er,1917. Afterthe German advnnce in 1918, a large portion of the wnterwa.ps operated by the British wa,s lost, ant1 at the end of April, 1918, the mileage being opera.ted had fallen to 247. This rose again towards the end of 1918 to 474 miles. These waterwnys were of very little use in the finaladvance, as the canalsthrough the devastated area were blocked by destroyed bridges, and in many places the locks were blown away andthe canals were dry. The traffic carriedduring 1917-18, including cross-channel barge traffic, was as follows :- 1917. 1918. 1917. Tonnageconveyed, dead weight Tons 2,367,424 2,842,428 Sick and woundedcarried in ambulanceharges. . . . Sum'uer 13,270 25,515 Troopscarried . . . . . do. li1,861 4.4, 45.1 Horses and mules carried . . do, 8,366 11,614

Roads.-Before 1917 theconstruction and repair of roads WRS under the control of the Engineer-in-Chief for the British Army in France. At theend of 1916 thisduty was handedover to the Director-General of Transport.

Downloaded by [ UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA] on [12/09/16]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved. Proceedings. J IN FRAYCE DURING 1911-19. 141 In June, 1917, the length of the roads maintained by the British was 1,640 miles, whereas, at thecommencement of 1918, it had risen to 3,267 and in October, 1918, to 4,412 miles. In addition to maintenance work the following construction work had been carried out during 1917-18 :- 1917. 1918. 1917. Square Yards.Square Yards. Newroads and station yards . . . . 901,8471,481,403 Reconstructedroads ...... 2,007,4571,325,662 Resurfacedroads ...... 9,917,6644,721,337 ~- -___ Total ...... 12,826,963--7,528,402 The quantity of material used in repairing these roads during 1917-18 was as follows :- 1917. 1918. 1917. Road stone...... ' . Tons 2,340,000 3,021,000 Sleepersand pit-props . . Numbers 1 ,169,000 1, 404,000

During 1917-18, over 2,000,000 tons of stone were taken out of the Marquise quarries near Boulogne by the British. At the time of the German advance in the spring of 1918, the General Staff asked for a scheme to be prepared to evacuate from the North of France to South of the Somme. As very few through roads ran in the directions required, it was necessary to make new roads so as tolink up existing ones. Fortwo months the roads Organization,was concentrated on this work. In order that these roads nlight be properly sign-posted, some 2,500 illuminated road- signs were distributed at convenientplaces. Arrangements were made that these sign-posts were to be erected within 3 days of the date on which the scheme was to come into force. Organization.-The organization under which transportation has beencarried out has undergone various changes. During 1914-16 both railway construction and railway traffic in France was carried outunder the orders of a director of railway@,who was directly responsible to the Quartermaster-General. Thedirector of railwayshad under him two deputies : (1)the chief railwayconstruction engineer, who was responsible for the construction of allfacilities required for thetransportation of supplies from the ships to the railheads ; (2) a deputy director who kept in close touch with the traffic officials on the French railways and advised the director of railways on all traffic questions. The chief railway construction engineer had under him at first fourrailway construction engineers ; eachrailway construction eugineer was supposed bo be attached to an army, to carry out any

Downloaded by [ UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA] on [12/09/16]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved. 142 LYELL ON WORK DONE BY RAILWAY TROOPS ChIinutes of railway work required in his army area. In the early days of the war the army commanders did notlook with favour on the building of railways near to the front and generally regarded them as being an evil thing calculated to attract enemyfire. During 1915 and earlyin 1916 the railway construction engineers were engaged in laying sidings and dep6ts on the linesof communication. Towards the middle of 1916, when the value of railways began to be recognized, the front was divided into five areas, approximately the areas of the five armies, and to each of these areas a railway construction engineer was sent. And in addition to this a railway construction engineer was appointed to take charge of all works on thelines of communications. ,4t thistime there were sixteen railwayconstrnction companies in France. Each colnprny consisted of six officers and 250 other ranks. The personnel in these companies was made upof men of various trades witha proportion of railway operating staff. From these construction companies all the operating and traflic men werepicked out, and handed over to a newly formed operating department. The personnel of the mi1wa.y construction companies lived in trains, and held 5 days' rations on board, in orderthat they could be moved on veryshort notice. These companieswere under the orders of the chief railway constructionengineer, who distributedthem amongst the railway construction engineers as required. The traffic arrangements were carried out by assistant directors of railways, who were stationedat the base posts, and at" the forward stations of Hazebrouck, St. Pol, and Amiens. Under these assistant directors of railways there were railway transport officers, who were placed at all stations where there was British traffic, and they acted asintermediaries between the military and the French railwtty traflic staff. There was also a director of inlandwater-tlansport. He, like thedirector of railways,took his orders from the Quartermaster General, and was responsible for all transport by canals and other inland waterways in France and Belgium. In 1916, as a result of the Somme battle,and also due to the breaking down of roads, demands were made by the armies for furtherrailway facilities. Thesewere supplied, but under great difficulties, dueto shortage of railwaymaterial. Atthat time there were 250 miles of permanent-way material and 300,000 cubic feet of timber on order in England. The timber arrived but the railsand fastenings were heldback, owingto priority for steel having been given for the manufacture of shell.

Downloaded by [ UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA] on [12/09/16]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved. Proceedings.] IN PRANCE DURING 1914-19. 143 Latein 1916 therewas a rearrangement of the whole of the transportation organization, which had existed since the beginning of the war. SirEric Geddes came toFrance as Director-General of Transportation. The Director-General of Transportation came directly under the Commander-in-Chief and was responsible to him only. TheDirector-General of Transportationformed under him several new directorates:- l. Director of docks who was responsible for unloading ships and clearing the dock areas. 2. Director of roads who was responsible for the building and maintenance of roads in the forward areas. 3. Director of lightrailways who wasresponsible for the operationand construction of 60-centimetregauge railways. 4. The chief engineer of portconstruction, who was tobe responsible for the reconstructionof the ports of Ostend andZeebrugge, when they were retaken from the enemy.

The old directorate of railways was split up into :- l. A director of traffic, whowas responsiblefor moving the supplies from the docks to the railheads. 2. Chief railway construction engineer, who was responsible for the supply of railway material and construction plant, and for theconstruction of all standardand metre- gauge railways required by the British Army. 3. Chief mechanical engineer, who was responsible for the assembling and repair of British-owned rolling stock in France and Belgium. The Director of Inland Water Transport remained as before, but he now took his orders from the Director-Generalof Transportation, instead of theQuartermaster-General. These werethe executive heads of thedifferent. departments. In additionto these the Director-General of Transportation appointed five deputies, two to be at General Headquarters, and three to be in the Army areas. These deputies were not supposed to be technical men and were allowed no executive authority. In each Army area there was an Assistant Director-General of Transportation, who also was a non- technical officer ; he kept in close touch with the requirements of his Army, andpassed on any information to the executive transpor-

Downloaded by [ UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA] on [12/09/16]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved. 144 LYELL ON WORK DONE BY RAILWAY TROOPS [Minutes of tation officers of the district where the facility was required. The railwayconstruction engineer of thedistrict would thenprepare a scheme, in conjunctionwith the heads of theother executive departments concerned. This scheme, afterbeing approved in the Armyarea, was submittedto General Headquarters for final approval, and instructions were given to proceed with the execution if it worked in with the general scheme ; moreover an order of priority was given toit. For railwayconstruction purposes the front was dividedinto five districts, each district had a railway construction engineer in charge of all broad- and metre-gauge railway construction in that district. This officer took his orders direct from the chief railway constructionengineer at GeneralHeadquarters and he was also commanding ofticer of allBritish railway construction troops in his area. The British railway construction troops were units of companies commanded by a major. TheCanadian railway troops were inunits of battalions commanded by a lieutenant-colonel under a general oEcer commanding Canadian railway troops. The British railway companies were divided into three classes :- l. Platelaying companies. These were composed of platelayers, with a few carpenters, blacksmiths and pipe fitters. 2. Bridging companies, which were made up of timbermen, bridge-erectors, fitters and mechanics, trained to work the pile-drivers and bridge-launching gear. 3. Mechanical companies, which were composed of machinists, fitters, moulders, engine, crane and steam-shovel drivers, electricians and carpenters. The allocation of therailway construction companies totlle differentrailway construction engineers was done by the chief railway construction engineer, according to the amount of work to be carried out in the different areas, and the priority givenit from to General Headquarters. In thisway railway construction companies were not kept in districts where there was no work in hand, such as would havehappened if theyhad beenallocated toarmies. Un- skilledlabour came directlyunder a controller of labour,' who allocated a certain proportion of it to each Army, and the remainder was held as a General Headquarters' reserve. When a railway work was sanctioned a requisition for unskilled labour was sent to theQ. of the Army inwhose area the facilitywas required,and labour was supplied by $be assistant corltroller of

hbour for. the Army concerned. Very often the 1:Lbotir given was quite unused to railway work, and the men took no interest in it; consequently they did very little work, and in very few cases did a man shift more than a cubic yard of muck per day; more often it was less than hdf that quantity, whereas the small number of railwaylabour companies permanentlyallotted to railway work loaded 3 to 5 cubic yards per man per day. Railways usually run more or less to the contour of the country, whileArmy boundaries were straightlines drawn back fromthe frontline, and consequently railways very often crossed andre- crossed Armyboundaries several times. This caused noend of trouble, as armies are usually very jealous, and would not allow their labour to move into another Army area,so that this generally meant loss of time, until an order was sent through General Head- quarters that the labour was to move across the Army boundary and continue the work along the railway. Eachrailway construction engineer had attached to his headquarters :.- . 1. A survey and reconnaissance section, 2. A telegraph section. 3. A mechanical section. 4. A railway signalling and interlocking subsection, The survey and reconnaissance sectionwas commanded by a major, andwas capable of beingdivided into three independent survey parties.The officer commandingthis section wasresponsible for makingsurveys and preparing plans of layouts. He wasalso responsibleduring an advance for supplying the railway construction engineer with full information as to the state of captured lines. Thetelegraph section was commanded by a captain, who was responsible for erecting and repairing telegraph- andtelephone-lines. These sections were provided by the director of signals, but they took their orders from the railway construction engineer. The railway signal and interlocking section was commanded by a major, who had his headquarters andworkshops at the main railway supplydepth at Audruicq.Detachments were sentfrom this section to each railway construction engineer as required. A railway construction engineer’s district wa fixed according to thecontour of thecountry, and had one of themain existing lines of railway as near the centreof the section as possible. Should a railway construction engineer be building a line, which crossed from his into another district, hewould continue to build it outside [rnc Iwr. C.E. YOL. CCS.] L

Downloaded by [ UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA] on [12/09/16]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved. 146 LYELL ON WORK DONE BY RAILWAY TRDOPS of hisarea till hejoined up with the other railway construction engineer in whose district it was, and hand it over to him. In addition to the railway construction engineers in the Army areasthere was a railwayconstruction engineer communications (R.C.E. Comms.)who was responsible for all work carried out at the base ports, or on the lines of communication behind the Army areas. Therailway construction engineer communications area was dividedinto two sections,each sectionbeing under an assistant railway construction engineer, and in addition to this the railway construction engineer communications had several senior officers on his staff' who were capable of takingthe position of a resident engineer on a line under construction. This resident engineer would take his instructions direct from the railway construction engineer, and the officers commanding the railway construction companies would take their instructions from him. A residentengineer was onlysent where several railway construction companies were working on one line. Materialand tools were supplied to the railway construction engineer by requisition on the chief storekeeper at Audruicq. The officer commanding a construction company was responsible for the tools issued to his company. Any worn out or broken tools were written off by the railway construction engineer, but lost or missingtools could only be written oft' bythe chief railway constrnction engineer. All materials issued for an installation were issued to the officer in charge of the work, and he signed a duplicate vouchcr giving the details, one copy being returned to the chief storekeeper. When any particular work was finished a compIetion repel-t was prepared by the engineer who was in charge. This report gave a list of the material used and the number of men, and the time they were employed. The Traffic Organization,under the Director of Trafic, was dividedinto two sections, One wasfor trafiic only and was carried out under assistant directors of railway traffic in Army and lines of communicationareas; these officers hadrailway traffic oficers under them, who were responsible for making all arrangements for forwarding supplies, issuingtravelling warrants, and generally acting as intermediaries between the military and the civil railway oficials. The other was purely an operating section- which was supervised by the officer commanding the Railway Operating Department wkio hadhis assistants placed alongsidethe railway trafjic officers in thedifferent areas, The railway traffic officers

ordered the moves and the Railway Operating Department officers carried them out, The officer commanding the Railway Operating Department was responsible for moving'traffic from the base ports tothe Army railheads. Any supply train going ahead of opened railheads was handed over to the railway construction engineer,who had it pulled forwardto its destinationby engines allotted for construction purposes. TheLight Railway Organization came underthe Director of LightRailways. In eachArmy area there was an assistant director of lightrailways who was responsible both for the construction and operatingof light railways in his Army area. At first theDirector-General of Transport decided where.light railways were to be built, but later on this was handed over to the Army commandersto decide. Lightrailways were 60-centimetre-gauge railways laid on ballasted formations. In addition to light railways there was an organization known as " Foreways " for dealing with forward 60-centimetre-gauge lines laid on unballasted formations, where light trollies only were pushed up to the trenches or forward gunpositions by man-power. These foreways came underthe Engineer-in-Chief and were not in reality a part of the Director- General of Transport's organization. Thelight railways were builtwith flat-bottomed steel rails weighing 20 Ibs. to the yard, laid on steel sleepers weighing 214 lbs. each. Wooden sleepers; 4 feet 6 inchesby 5 inchesby 4 inches, were also used. Where the ground was verysoft wooden sleepers were veryoften spaced betweenthe steel sleepers, thesteel sleeper's being on an average of 2 feet 6 inches apart from centre to centre. Themaintenance charges of these60-centimetre light railways were very high, being about four and a half times the cost of maintaining a broad-gauge track. The forward 60-centimetre lines were formed with flat-bottomed steel rails weighing9 lbs. to the yard,laid on steel sleepers weighing 11 lbs. each. Late in 1918 a proposal was madeto form a diroctorate of construction, to bring under onehead all broad gauge, light railway, and dock construction,and an establishment for this was sent forward to the War Oflice for sanction, but it was not sanctioned till April, 1919, when it was no longer required.