WWI Footage: Narrow Gauge Train Lines in France - Historic Trains & Railways - CharlieDeanArchives

[@jamesswanson7213]

I can't believe this is over 100 years old. When this was filmed I bet they didn't know I'd be watching it on my cell phone. Brilliant job!

[@adriaansmit81]

Hello I’m from 100 years ago. What is a cell phone please

[@jamesswanson7213]

@@adriaansmit81 It's a lot like a "Tricorder" but with a much shorter range of transmission.

[@adriaansmit81]

I don’t understand, is it attached to a pigeon?

[@herrpokemon9929]

@@adriaansmit81 some sort of

[@oghekapung]

@@herrpokemon9929 please attach the info on this pigeon's leg.

[@trueopsimath]

Very glad I ran across this video. My grandfather was in the 21st Engineers Light Railway Regiment from 1917 to 1919 in WWI. I have his diary and a copy of the regimental history. Both books are fascinating.

[@alupton672]

Ahh I would love to read that! I’m trying to write a short story about a railway engineer I found out about at the Library of Congress.

[@s.leemccauley7302]

It was terribly muddy a lot of the time over there. One if my grandfathers and several of my neighbors when I was young all remembered the mud. These railroads were a huge aid in supplying the front.

[@markmccummins8049]

Well done, Charlie. It is something to see this from over 100 years ago. I like the digital remastering that allows for normal speeds.

[@JohnDavies-cn3ro]

Brilliant film, Charlie. My late grandfather, who was Royal Engineers, Railway Operating Division in the Great War would have been familiar with these. It's interesting that all your shots show the 2-6-2 Baldwin tank locos, rather than the 4-6-0 variety (I believe more common) which were built for the British. (And rode rather roughly. Anything would have rode roughly on that track!) A number of these little engines stayed in Flanders, working sugar beet railways until the early 1970s, and then went into preservation. An Alco runs on the Ffestiniog, as does one of the Baldwin petrol - mechanicals, and a couple of the 4-6-0s survive in Britain too, one of which is in full working condition.

[@nameless5512]

I suppose you could say they’re Rough Riders. Though, this time they ain’t storming up San Juan Hill.

[@paullangford8179]

The 2-6-2 were Alco locomotives. The 4-6-0 were Baldwin. Because they were so small it didn't matter that the fireboxes were aove the drivers on the Baldwin.

[@brycekitchens6301]

I’ve been looking for this kind of footage since I got into light railways a couple years ago. This is absolutely superb.

[@pomponopete]

I live in wardensville west Virginia back in the 1920s these Vulcan iron works 2 6 2 T locomotives were bought by the lost river r.r.and Winchester lumber company Portable sawmills were set up in the mountains and the trench train would haul it to wardensville lumber yard and loaded onto regular line to haul to Winchester These little engines were called dinkys and rain on a 60cm wide track dinkys could run on the mainline by adding an additional third rail On Saturday nights they would hot rod the dinky back and forth thru town until they derailed it

[@spearmintpony7105]

The ones in this video were built by Baldwin, not Vulcan.

[@raylrodr]

@@spearmintpony7105 pretty sure they were Davenports.

[@smalllocoguy770]

@@raylrodr could be Baldwin or Davenport but definitely not Vulcan

[@masterbower6083]

it is a true shame that people do not appreciate these things any more. It is truly a lost art. very glad you were able to share this

[@martynwalker1026]

Thanks for this. Tremendous capture of WW1 railway engineering.

[@zacharyrollick6169]

Pre-made track sections? Genius.

[@UP4014]

I know!

[@ctwentysevenj6531]

I wonder how many kilometers of track they laid?

[@blondeguy08]

@@ctwentysevenj6531 they didn’t lay kms the laid miles lol jk

[@ctwentysevenj6531]

@@blondeguy08 Well they are in France, so they use the metric system 😊

[@dasboot5903]

@@blondeguy08 Hello .... in Europe (except UK) everybody is using the METRIC SYSTEMS .... so they were kilometers of narrow gauge tracks !!!! Pre-made tracks sections, they were faster for installing, but they were only for temporarily usage, because they were not that strong enough for a long run on it !!!!

[@IronWarhorses]

the trench trains really did makes the insane scope of fortifications in ww1 possible. Without them it would have been impossible to move all that dirt, men and supplies.

[@thomasdupee1440]

4:45 no fewer than two dozen men riding the locomotive being unloaded. They must be proud of it!

[@dasboot5903]

Quick building of the narrow gauge (usually 2 feet=600 mm) railway in the Western Front during the time of the Great War, it was so vital and crucial to the Allies war effort !!!! A huge part of the war logistics were based on the narrow gauge railways, because it was the most efficient system to deliver military equipment, ammunition and soldiers to the front lines !!!! Just in case of any bombardment or any other demolition, the narrow gauge tracks were simple and fast to fix them up, which allowed to put back again the trains on the track !!!! Thank you so much for posting this wonderful video from the Great War time.

[@johnhirtle4300]

Priceless Archive! Thank you for posting!

[@rottenroads1982]

5 of my Thomas & Friends OC’s are trench railway engines. Dylan & Dexter are the Baldwin-10-12-D twins, Claude is a Decauville Progres 0-6-0T, Axel is a Henschel Brigadelok 0-8-0T, and Helmut is an Orenstein & Koppel 0-4-0T. Axel and Helmut fought against Dylan & Dexter and Claude.

[@MWM-dj6dn]

A wonderful and distinctive channel that deserves admiration and appreciation. You provide accurate, wonderful, and very useful information. A thousand greetings, great respect and great pride for these wonderful publications and distinguished efforts. I wish you lasting success. The utmost respect and appreciation.

[@stuc734]

Excellent footage which gives some insight by tge work done by these troops. My great grandfather served with the Waterways and Railways troops Royal Engineers from 1917 till 1919 after previously been posted to the King's own scottish borderers from 1915 to 1917. He had prior to enlistment been a colliery engine man in the Fife coalfields and this trade was I assume one of tge reasons for his transfer in 1917. Well done and thank you for posting this footage.

[@devinpaul9026]

The silence against the projector chattering is kinda weirdin' me out.

[@MWM-dj6dn]

A wonderful channel that deserves the best regards, appreciation, admiration and pride. It provides accurate and useful information. I thank you for all the beautiful words and sincere feelings for your distinguished posts. I wish you continued success and all the best. My utmost respect and appreciation

[@kevsmiththai]

Fantastic. So much detail for a modeller like me doing this stuff in 1/32 scale

[@martialmusic]

Thank you for posting this fascinating footage

[@fabrizioviscardi40]

Great, iconic movie! With my compliments, keep safe and cheers, Fabrizio

[@grimmace9081]

outstanding footage

[@maximumrnb66]

Thank you so much for sharing this

[@coloursmoke]

Amazing footage of some incredible men and machines.

[@detroitredneckdetroitredne6674]

Spectacular thank you for taking me on an adventure over 100 years in the best Thank you for preserving this motion picture history

[@MikeLoveBuns]

Amazing video! Mike from Missouri

[@samuelplew5630]

Wow! My grandfather ran these trains in France hauling materials up to the front. 2nd engineers. He ran steam trains, cranes, whatever.

[@peterfarrell1989]

Thank you for uploading, with footage like that then sound is not important

[@seancarpenter9297]

'er, sound was not available..... :)

[@tonydaly2642]

Fantastic footage. Thanks for that.

[@christopherking3937]

Thanks for the footage. My Grandfather was there, in the LROC 31st Bat.

[@tommyhunter1817]

Can you imagine ANYONE working that hard today????

[@tkautzor]

just go to Mexico or Guatemala

[@bazza945]

Working hard on the RR, or ducking bullets and shells at The Front?

[@MilkDrinker218]

This sort of track building is so efficient you’d think you were on enemy lines!

[@macsdaddy3383]

Great video! But we could do without the old movie-projector sound clicking along,..most of us get the idea.

[@NW-gi1cp]

It's amazing how fast they lay the tracks 😎😎

[@thomasgeorgecastleberry6918]

The commentary was delightful.

[@omprakashagarwal5103]

From INDIA, Very valuable information.

[@jean-paulmasse1091]

Very interesting. Thank you for sharing.

[@Hornhausen]

Thank you for sharing.

[@Zahidalizahidi]

زبردست

[@johnkulpowich5260]

Great piece of History

[@christopherlovelock9104]

I've seen this exact film some years ago, the only difference was it had very good sub-titles all the way through and it was longer. If any-one wants to know anything about a particular part I will do my best to remember what was said about it. I seem to remember it was on a 'VHS' tape and came with a booklet (which I might still have). Out of interest the 'gentlemen' pushing the 2 small 4-wheel flat wagons at 3.17 (with very small loads), were 'supposedly' German POW's, although looking at the one on the right at the rear of the first one I have often wondered.

[@mattgibbs73]

The guys filling a skip wagon near the beginning are german POWs too.

[@christopherlovelock9104]

@@mattgibbs73 Yes your quite correct, I think that happens in most wars, - use captured men to do the 'dirty work', - I'm sure the other side did the same with our men they captured. Although it was a bit different in WWII - for the first few years, - then my God in some places it wasn't even as easy as that. Especially once we got back into Europe and - Germany especially.

[@StubProductions]

Wonderful! Thank you!

[@neumoi3324]

I can imagine the soldiers operating or riding the trains in rains and on cold snowy days often stopped for long hours in the open for derailments or accidents etc.

[@bretnielsen5502]

My Great (maybe another great) uncle Rode on one as guard while he was in Europe. He came home on the SS Leviathan

[@randywise5241]

trooper, "What about safety rules? " Sargent, "We are at war, we cannot afford to be safe. Now get to work and I will let you ride the crane later."

[@jacqueswacheux7341]

quand tu vois les conditions de travail et maintenant le moindre évènement GREVE

[@oo0Spyder0oo]

awesome lads, now we can get to the front quicker... oh dear

[@connieembury1]

Is there any info on which country these soldiers are from? My grandfather was part of a Canadian unit that was responsible for building and maintaining tracks.

[@tlmoscow]

These are US Army soldiers - you can tell by their equipment, like their canteens and such, as well as the uniforms.

[@mattgibbs73]

There were Canadian operating companies and a railway construction battalion, do you know his service number?

[@derekp13]

Is it possible to get this footage for a project I am working on? Is it available as Creative Commons?

[@mattgibbs73]

It's US Army National Archives. Give them a try. A still from around 6.22 with the officer saluting is on p75 of Narrow Gauge to No Man's Land by Richard Dunn, probably the best easily attainable book on the subject. The figure saluting is Captain Mansfield of 26th Division, it was taken at Menil la Tour (Church visible in background) in July 1918 and is quite recognisable. The scene is used as a painting for the books cover 👍

[@59z2]

My grandfather was there.

[@vancepomerening4794]

7:56 Canon fodder, platform 1.

[@jimmychanbers2424]

Cool. No hard hats or orange vests. Back when workers had common sense.

[@gasmith841]

Fantastic film

[@monsterx3055]

whats up with the projector noise lol

[@IronWarhorsesFun]

Railways run were nothing else can.

[@lindsayheyes925]

I've forwarded this to Alan Keef, the company that built many narrow gauge industrial and military locomotives at their works in the Forest of Dean during The Great War. The firm is still going, has occasional open days, and many tourists have ridden on their trains at famous attractions.

[@bluefoxy6478]

So, if they were left were they were and let the locols use them (which they don't) than couldnt we technically go to france and take one of the engines or rolling stock and take them to were you live and pay the transportation fees? Cus i would start a fund raiser to save one of them edit: blame typos.

[@51WCDodge]

There are some tracks still in use in France and Belgium as tourist lines. Some Fowler rail engines and the prefab track are in preservation in UK. But most got worked to death and scrapped over the years.

[@bluefoxy6478]

Oh, thats sad. 😢

[@trainzguy2472]

One of those engines has been restored to operation on a private railway in the U.S.

[@zacharyrollick6169]

@@trainzguy2472 Just watched that footage yesterday. I hope the other two can become operational.

[@auxxik3805]

back when skarloeys railway was a popular railway

[@NCNGRR05]

DECEPCIONS bruh

[@joshuahill6994]

Thats actually based on the tallylyn railway in the uk

[@jeremygreen3392]

Oh&s would love us riding the load these days

[@asd36f]

How close to the front lines were some of these railways?

[@user-fl1bq6uo5l]

quite close at times

[@jamesswanson7213]

Close enough they kept their helmets on.

[@captaindbheadcase1303]

Within range of the German guns. Which is why they had the ic locos because the steam locos would give away their position to the enemy.

[@Patrick_3751]

Anyone know if former railway men or regular soldiers were used to build these lines? Technically speaking it would make sense to use men with railway experience to build them, but then again the construction looks simple enough for regular soldiers to do if they were given basic lessons.

[@mattsmocs3281]

There was a lot of railroad guys who went over. There is images of union guys and very patriotic to there company railroad guys marking up there locomotives and signs telling who they are. The best example photos of these occurrences is a 65 tonner in WW2 that got full PRR markings in chalk. But that is company pride.

[@teawithq3351]

I know the British Army had a Railway department.

[@rossbryan6102]

PATRICK 3751 I AM NOT SURE OF WW1, BUT DURING WW2 THERE WERE RAILROAD OPERATING BATTALIONS FORMED FROM RAILROAD CIVILIAN WORKERS WHO ENLISTED! THEY TOOK WORKERS FROM ALL CRAFTS AND THEY GENERALLY HAD THE SAME JOB IN THE RR BATTALIONS! ALSO THE MAJOR USA RAILROADS ALSO SPONSORED THE BATTALIONS, SO THE SANTA FE GUYS HAD THEIR BATTALION! SANTA FE BATTALION WAS THE 713th RR BATTALION ! I WORKED FOR THE SANTA FE 1964 TO 1995, AND A GOOD FRIEND OF MINE WAS IN THE 713 th ! MAJOR GENERAL CARL R GRAY JR WAS THE TOP COMMANDER OF THE RR BATTALION PROGRAM! KEEP THEM ROLLING BROTHERS!! 👍👍

[@sprtplt]

The fake projector tick is idiotic.

[@BOBXFILES2374a]

THANK YOU SO MUCH for putting this up! I recently saw a Y-T video of the last remaining narrow-gauge Trench Loco. I have been a student of the Great War since 1981. I assume a lot of these Doughboys would have worked on the railroads before. Those poor black guys are saying, "C'mon, man! We wanta kill Germans, too!" Also: Today, the EPA would do an Environmental Impact Study before the first tie was laid, and the Germans would have won the war.....

[@NoaZeevi]

There are hundreds of them still left!

[@MrGrymasik]

Fajnie by było gdyby wŕócić w to samo miejsce z kamerą

[@klompex100]

Stanley! What are you doing here? I thought you Are a pumping engine!

[@apenasgargorio]

lol he looks like Stanley from The Railway Series

[@Maganac1]

That's because it is, Stanley was based on the Baldwin Class 10-12-D

[@apenasgargorio]

@@Maganac1 well that is cool!

[@apenasgargorio]

i'm so happy that i changed from that personna in just over 2 years

[@binaryguru]

what's with the annoying clicking sound?

[@jamesswanson7213]

Haha oh boy...

[@martialmusic]

The clicking is the motion picture projector 😊😊😊

[@strobx1]

There was also standard gauge.

[@JosephStalin-hv8en]

You know what they are time traveler why there is a Diesel locomotive in that years they only replace steam juring 1960

[@WideWorldofTrains]

There were early diesel locomotives back then and diesel replaced steam mostly from 1930's thru the 1950's

[@mattsmocs3281]

You see those are gas mechanicals. Those things popped up in the 1910s as Ford cars became more common thus having access to powerful engines. They were designed to reduce cost for operations on small railroads.

[@WideWorldofTrains]

@@mattsmocs3281 Yes those were around too

[@OldCatDude]

Excellent video! Grunts building a railroad. P.S. That loco looks to be a 2-6-2 Davenport Trench Locomotive! There's a video of a restored one here on YT at kzbin.info/www/bejne/iXjOfp-Cpt17iqc

[@tyroniousyrownshoolacez2347]

Old re-mastered footage. Nothing to see here people. Been out for 30+ years.

[@martinsto8190]

i wish to keep seeing more and less war movies

[@johnneedy3164]

These little rail roads were all over Vietnam

[@Zahidalizahidi]

پردہ بن رہیا۔20221

[@seanhedgpeth2109]

Check out this modern day restoration of a Davenport trench loco: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iXjOfp-Cpt17iqc

[@FlippityFloppittyFlom]

Temporary way.

[@mmilerngruppe]

где белые флаги?

[@rob8761]

Excellent video ridiculous background noise