War Department Light Railways

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A Baldwin Class 10-12-D in Michigan in 1921 after the end of the war.

Light railways made an important contribution to the Allied war effort in World War I. They were used for the supply of ammunition and stores, the transport of troops and the evacuation of the wounded.

Different track gauges were used in different parts of the world including 60 cm, 76 cm (2 ft 6 in), 1 metre and 1.05 metre.

The military light railways in France were of 60 cm. gauge and used a variety of steam and petrol locomotives from French, British and American builders. The Germans perfected and installed their Feldbahn system early in the war.

Britain came to the belated realization that it needed a reliable but flexible method of supplying the front lines. It needed a way to bring up shells, timber, and fodder from the rear areas and their standard gauge supply points. From this 2 foot gauge light railways evolved. By 1916, the wholesale failure of animal, truck, and human methods left one option-narrow gauge. It was the chaos, and the charnel house of the Somme battlefields, which drove the need for easier ways to bring up shells.

Thus hundreds of light engines of Hunslet, Kerr-Stuart, ALCO, Davenport and Baldwin engines were put to work. Also, Model T conversions and gas powered Simplex shunters also served. Thirty or so Companies were formed within the Royal Engineers to staff the rail lines. These were mostly British ex-railwaymen pressed into service, though Australian, South African and Canadian gangs served with Distinction. An American unit also served under the British flag.

Each area of the front would have its own, light rail to bring up materiel. The British perfected Roll on Roll off trains to bring fodder and supplies direct from England via train ferries to France. Northern French rail lines were under direct military control of the Army serving in the area.

By 1917, the Canadians led the way in showing the utility of light railways. Having built thousands of miles of new frontier track in Western Canada in the previous decades, these "colonials", led by J. Stewart, supply the Canadian Corps who went on to victory at Vimy.

Probably the most famous of these was class 10-12-D built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works, U.S.A. Nearly 500 were built and those that survived the war found new homes around the world. Many went to India and a few to railways in Britain including:

War Department Light Railways

See also