Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Railway Wargaming => Topic started by: Hermann on February 01, 2025, 01:22:45 PM
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Hello,
Decauville field railway at 1916, how fast did these trains travel, how long was such a train and how heavy we're these loaded?
Hermann
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The Cobozat estate decauville railway was layed at 300 metres per day(not easy terrain). Trains consisted of locomotive,5 tipper wagons, 2 goods wagons and a bogey.
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Hello,
Decauville field railway at 1916, how fast did these trains travel, how long was such a train and how heavy we're these loaded?
Hermann
To a large degree the answer depends on what purpose you are asking for.
You could download Decauville catalogue from the internet and read the specifications.
How fast a train could go would depend on the state of the trackbed beneath the line. ten miles behind the lines on well maintained track bed you might hit fifteen to twenty mile an hour. Closer to the front line on poor shelled track you might make five to ten mile an hour. The faster you go the more likely that noise and smoke will bring you to the attention of an enemy artillery observer who can send you some high explosive calling cards.
As to the length of train again it varies. In a rear area safe from shelling. Locomotive might pull a couple of dozen wagons depends on the load. Closer to the front, trains get smaller - less easily spotted and less loss to enemy fire. Closer to the frontline still they switched to diesel locomotives and one or two wagons, easier to sneak in to forward artillery batteries without retaliation.
As to how much a train might carry, that depends on the type of wagon being used. A War Department "A" class wagon is significantly smaller than a "D" or "E" class wagon.
Also the type of load carried matters. Artillery shells are far denser and heavier than people. The War Department had loading schedules for each of its wagons. I am sure the French War Office had similar for its rolling stock.
Couple of sample images for you on ECPAD plenty more
https://imagesdefense.gouv.fr/fr/dans-la-somme-une-gare-de-ravitaillement-en-munition-d-artillerie-legende-d-origine.html
https://imagesdefense.gouv.fr/fr/janis-le-decauville-faisant-le-ravitaillement-aux-positions-de-1ere-ligne-legende-d-origine.html
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This one also
https://imagesdefense.gouv.fr/fr/proyart-somme-decauville-transportant-des-obus-de-370-et-293-legende-d-origine-1.html
Interestingly, Decauville lines were also built in French Western Soudan (today Senegal and Mali, etc.) in the late 19th century.