Decauville in a field

Amazing what you find on a country stroll: near the house of some friends, we wandered round a barn and found this:



and this:



and inside the open barn was this:



and even a four wheel truck thingy - been there so long that the tree has grown through it:




Our friends don't know the farmer well even though they have had their holiday home in the same village for 20 years. What is it doing in a field? Looks like WW1 vintage - could have been used for harvesting? We haven't enough land to rescue it, but I would be happy to make inquiries next year. Seems a shame to let it rust to nothing...

Phil

What a find Phil!! Mind you I was a bit disappointed after reading your title; I was expecting to see a freshly painted decauville 030 with a tree growing up through it!!

mikey

mikeyh wrote:

What a find Phil!! Mind you I was a bit disappointed after reading your title; I was expecting to see a freshly painted decauville 030 with a tree growing up through it!!

mikey

One day, Mikey, one day...always been my dream to find an NG coach converted to a shed...

Seriously Phil if you don't want it and noone else does of course....
I could possibly give a new home and future in Normandy.

My wife will be soooo pleased ( ). Could be the start of modelling a new scale for me.

Carl:

I'll get our friends down there to see if they can locate the landowner and sound him out...

Phil

they look to be very light rails. Love to know their history~!!

Mikey

Thanks Phil. Did you check the gauge?

It looks like 60cm but there were 50cm and 40cm lines and equipment.

No tape measure with me but pretty sure it's 60cm. The sections were meant to be light and portable - Decauville designed them for agricultural use (and used them on his family's farm I think). In WW1, track sections could be carried by 4 men and laid at the end to move the railhead forward as the Army advanced..when it did...

what sort of traction power Phil?

Mikey

Mikey: you've sent me back to look at "The 60 cm Military Railways of France" by Christian Cenac.

Quote: "The track was made with steel rails of 9.5kg per metre rivetted on steel inverse-U- shaped ties..The ties were 1094 mm long 140 mm wide and 29 mm high.. Every element of track could be easily transportable. Evey length was 5 m and comprised 8 ties. These track sections wighed 167 kg..carried by four men it was a load of 42 kg for each one...This track allowed a 3.5 tonne live weight per axle, which permitted locomotives of 14 tonnes with eight wheels or 10.5 tonnes with six wheels..."

I think the bits I found are shorter, but Decauville also produced similar track for farm and quarry use. Dr Cenac's book has track drawings that look not dissimilar to an LGB catalogue - including points and curves of varying radius!

Most 60 cm locos were suitable for use (slowly) on portable track: Decauville, Pechot, German DFB, Kerr Stuart Joffre, Hunslet, Baldwin, Alco-Cooke and petrol locos including Crochat, Simplex, Baldwin, Schneider.

Heavy loads - including whole gun barrels - were suspended across two or more four or six-wheel trucks.

A lot of ex Army portable track and locos were used on farm railways - mostly sugar beet lines - after WW1. It was used in the early days by the Chemin de Fer Froissy-Cappy-Dompierre - the finest preserved 60 cm operation - but has been replaced by heavier "proper" track on wooden sleepers - for safety reasons and because it runs far heavier and longer trains than the portable track was designed for. Derailments were common on portable track - but not really acceptable on a tourist line!

Near the front, horses and mules (and squaddies) were used to move individual wagons.

Oh and happy birthday --- 62 is not problem - I spent a year being 62 ---

thanks for that Phil. seriously interesting. i love all these facts and figures! I was aware of all the 're-use' after WW1 but it makes me wonder how much other stuff is yet to be discovered!!

Mikey (62 and counting)