Light Railways on the Western Front in WW1
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TECHNICAL ARTICLE AS PUBLISHED IN The Journal October 2018 Volume 136 Part 4 If you would like to reproduce this article, please contact: Alison Stansfield MARKETING DIRECTOR Permanent Way Institution [email protected] PLEASE NOTE THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED IN THIS JOURNAL ARE NOT NECESSARILY THOSE OF THE EDITOR OR OF THE INSTITUTION AS A BODY. TECHNICAL Making tracks to AUTHOR: Les Fox the front line BEng (Hons) C. Eng MPWI Light Railways on the Western Front in WW1 Appropriately for this centenary year of At their peak in 1917 the British light railways Learning from resounding defeats during the the 1918 Armistice, this article gives an on the battlefields were carrying over 210,000 Franco-Prussian War of 1870, by 1914 the overview of the battlefield railways on tonnes of goods per week, including general French were well prepared for war in Europe the western front in the Great War and stores, rations, munitions and transporting once more, famously building the Maginot commemorates the enormous sacrifices personnel and wounded casualties, hence Line as part of the defensive preparations. made by the railway men and women making an essential contribution to the war The French military took a keen interest in worldwide, who volunteered for service in effort. This paper will give an overview of the Decauville’s ideas and 60cm gauge light the Great War. In the limited space allowed background to the battlefield railways, the railway tracks were soon adopted as standard for this article, the content presented people who built and operated them, technical for moving supplies from standard gauge can only really skim the surface of this details of how they were constructed and rail heads to the various fixed fortresses and fascinating but vast subject area. a brief look at some of the typical types of defences being installed around the country traction and rolling stock employed. from 1888 onwards. More detail will be covered in a planned presentation to be given by the author to PREPARATIONS Arthur Koppel a German visitor to the 1878 the Manchester and Liverpool Section of World Exposition liked what he saw in the PWI on 15th November this year. In 1878 at the World Exposition in Paris, whilst Decauville’s portable railway system and the inauguration of the Eiffel Tower was taking by 1914 the German army had their own BACKGROUND place, an entrepreneur by the name of Paul comparable system ready for the big push Decauville showcased his portable railway across Western Europe. The British however had already decided that providing a solution During the ‘noughties’ whilst employed by WS system, comprising prefabricated panels to logistics for a flexible war of manoeuvre was Atkins, the author was fortunate enough to be of light weight steel rails secured to steel the way forward. By 1913 Army Regulations involved in the fascinating task of undertaking sleepers. The first Decauville railway used 400 stated that as such lorries and other road routine biannual track inspections on MOD mm (15 3⁄4 in) gauge; Decauville later refined vehicles were the approved method of moving owned and operated standard and narrow his invention and switched to 500 mm (1 ft 73⁄4 supplies from railheads to forward units on the gauge railways in England and Scotland. in) and 60cm (1 ft 11½ in) gauge. The art of modular track laying had been born. front lines. Images 1 and 2 are re-enactments of early war British road transport at ‘Tracks to This experience, coupled with the author’s the Trenches’ 2018, staged at Apedale Valley previous military service as a reservist during Light Railway. the twilight years of the Cold War piqued the interest in military railways. The final inspiration to prepare the presentation for the PWI this year is very much due to the outstanding series of ‘Tracks to the Trenches’ living history events staged by the Moseley Railway Trust at Apedale Valley Light Railway, which were held in the summers of 2014, 2016 and 2018. The colour photos of ‘living history’ recreations included in this paper were taken by the author at these events. INTRODUCTION The role of the War Department Light Railways on the Western Front battlefields of WW1 cannot be underestimated. Whilst by the end of the first two years of the war only 96 miles of railway were being operated on the battlefields of the Western Front, this had increased to over 2000 miles by the end of the war, with over 1300 miles being laid in 1918 alone. Image 1: Horse drawn General Service Wagon 51 TECHNICAL Image 3: WW1 Cavalry re-enactment by the 16th Lancers Display Troop. Cavalry were the first British Army units to see action during the Great War, but Image 2: Requisitioned London bus quickly became redundant in static trench warfare Image 5: The Railway Industry Memorial at the National Arboretum, Staffordshire Image 6: Reconstruction of a 60cm gauge field railway Image 4: LNWR Memorial at Manchester Piccadilly at the ‘Tracks to the Trenches’ event 2016, Apedale Station Valley Light Railway 52 TECHNICAL 1914 THE ROAD TO WAR Primary uses of the railways and tramways conditions allowed. It is fair to say that track comprised the following functions; alignment and quality of finish reflected the The Great War began in Sarajevo in August relatively temporary nature of these railways 1914 following the assassination of Archduke • Construction of the trenches, including and was by necessity a bit ‘rough and ready’ by Franz Ferdinand. This led to a complex train supplying materials and removal of spoil todays expectations. of events and the great empires of France, Britain and Tsarist Russia squared off against • Conveying troops to and from the front A key advantage with the 60cm gauge light the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires. line railway track system was the speed of track At the outset, the Germans implemented the laying, enabling shell damaged tracks to be Schlieffen Plan (which with typical German • Transportation of rations and munitions repaired with great speed. Where new track efficiency some believe was based around was to be laid, the ability to lay the narrow the principles of railway timetabling). The • Transportation of casualties from the front gauge lines to very tight radii enabled the track first major engagement being with the British line to rear echelon field hospitals and to be simply laid around larger shell craters and Expeditionary Force (BEF) and the French at dressing stations other obstructions, rather than waste valuable the First Battle of the Marne, September 1914, time and effort making good the ground. a vital engagement to defend the outer reaches Without the railways and tramways the fixed of Paris. From then on, this highly mobile form defences of the trenches could not have The tramways initially used 9lb/yard flat bottom of war quickly became a very static affair in been effectively constructed and meeting the rails, these subsequently being mixed with Europe, as both sides ‘dug in’ and the fixed logistics requirements of the war could not 16lb/yard rail and eventually 20lb/yard rail trench based fortified front line stretched from have been possible. becoming the standard on the British light the Belgian Coast to the Swiss Alps. Planning railways. The standard pattern of moveable on a new highly mobile form of warfare the PERMANENT WAY S&C by the end of the war was the 30m radius British soon found themselves ‘high and dry’ in turnout, comprising 3 panels, the switch panel the mud entrenched and cratered landscape, The military railway system leading from the being 9’ 3.5” long, belly panel 7’ 2.5” long and where the preference for road vehicles soon rear echelons to the front line consisted of the the crossing panel 8’ 1.25” long. See image 9. proved to be hopelessly inadequate. following hierarchy; Standard patterns of riveted fixed crossings RAILWAY VOLUNTEERS • Standard Gauge Railways – The main for light rail tracks and also for light rail track arteries: Trans continental railway system. crossing standard gauge track were also utilised. At the outbreak of the war the Royal Engineers Railheads often located no closer than See image 10 had 2 regular and 3 reserve Railway 5500yds from the front line. ‘Companies’ (a total strength on paper of 651 TRACTION AND ROLLING STOCK men). By the end of the war in 1918 this had • ‘Main’ Light Railways – 60cm Gauge: increased to 45 Royal Engineer Companies. Connecting main standard gauge railway After its misguided initial reliance on wheeled Through the course of the war there were to ‘Field Railways’ 4000yds or more from road transport in 1914, by 1916 the British a total of 180,000 enlistments from staff the front line. Army had really stepped up to the mark with employed with railway companies in the UK, its light railways and a vast fleet of locomotives 45,000 of these went to serve with the Royal • ‘Field’ Railways – 60cm Gauge RE Corps and rolling stock had been shipped to France Engineer Railway Companies. Approximately Tramways: Connecting the ‘Main’ Light from sources all over the empire. By the end half the officers for the new units were provided Railways to ‘Trench Railways’ Typically of the war there were many different types of by Britain’s civilian railway companies and 1200yds from the front line. steam loco and petrol tractor in use on the the other half were mainly men from overseas narrow-gauge lines, far too many types to even who had been employed on colonial and • ‘Trench’ Railways - RE Divisional Trolley give a passing mention in this paper. foreign railways. Some of the Companies Lines or Ropeways: Make shift temporary One of the more bizarre creations was from formed in 1915 drew upon a large contingent systems connecting the Light Railway LNWR’s Crewe Works, hence the name the of local men, forming the kind of unit seen in railhead right to the front line trenches.