This engine is mentioned in the book, "Narrow Gauge to No Man's Land" by Richard Dunn sitting in great condtion inside a butler building with some passenger equipment. I live south of the area and can't find any local people who can tell me whatever happened to it and if it's still in the area...

Link to related Byron Railroad engines thread (preserved trench engines, with traction boilers):

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=31929

I have that book, and it has helped out a lot in our resurch, but we still seem to be coming up short on motive power.....and I haven't even started trying to see if I can find any of the Baldwin Gas Mechanicals....I fear that that will be even more of a lost cause than finding these mystery Davenports......

US war surplus Boxcar in WI that was on ebay earlier this year"
http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=31108&hilit=wwI+boxcar

Three US-built flatcars with meter gauge Swiss trolley car bodies sitting on them:
http://www.kurasch.de/resources/11.EnglishVersion.pdf

Complete construction drawings for WWI 600mm freight cars can be acquired from the Pullman Library at IRM.

At least two 600mm German Brigadloks are in the US, one heavily modified at Hesston, the other in original condition at an abandoned amusement park in Oklahoma.

I think there may be at least one more Brigadlok, as there used to be one at Golden, Colorado, that Hugo Lackman brought in. It isn't the same engine that is in Hesston. The Heritage Square engine still had the side tanks,but had rather a nicely done tender added.

The one in Cache, OK hasn't been seen in a long time, but is supposed to still be there. The owner of the park passed a few years back, and the last I heard that place is still in limbo. I have been unable to confirm if the 0-8-0 there actually ever operated there.

There is also an Imperial German Army 0-8-0 in California that is owned by a private collector. The IGA locomotives are the common WWI trench engine here in the states. I know of 5 of them here in the US.

Hey Everyone!
I know that I was asked by the moderators and a few others to keep everyone informed on how we are making out. I would like to let everyone know that we are up to 8 members from this forum, but would love to get more. We are in the process of finnishing up plans for a training event in the spring, and as soon as everything is final I will make the location and railroad public. That way anyone who may be in the area can swing by and check us out.
At this point we are not in the possition to secure any equipment as we will need to get some of the infistructure in place first. I am however looking for rail/plates/joint bars/bolts...etc. If anyone has a lead on any, that would be much appreciated. Thanks for all the views, pointers, and help.

Brett
14th Engineers (Narrow Gauge)

It's interesting to note that quite a bit of German narrow gauge equipment came here as World War I reparations. The exorbitant reparations were one of the reasons for WWII. If you ever want some interesting read do some research on World War I reparations.

If you do a surch of WWI trench equipment here in the states, you will find that most of the equipment is from the Central Powers. I would guess that the reparations agreement is why as well. Found another 0-8-0 IGA engine that has been converted by a private owner to a 2-8-0. That tanks have been pulled off, and a tender added. It doesn't really look at all like the squat trench engine it was built as anymore, but hey....it's another piece of the Trench Railroad puzzle.

This would appear to be your counterpart project, located in the UK:

http://www.davesrailpics.bravehost.com/lclr/gala2011.htm

http://www.lincolnshire-coast-light-railway.co.uk/

Thanks for the link! I was not aware of these guys. The group at APPEVA in France has a nice collection of WWI equipment too....IMO the best. Not only that, but they run on an orriginal section of the 2' system in the Somme.

We are looking for rail if anyone knows of any that might be "laying around". Trying to secure no lighter than 30lbs and no bigger than about 50lbs. As far as I can find, that is about the range of weights that were used. If anyone has any different information, please let me know.

Brett

Hey everyone,
I thought you might like to read about the unit a little bit, I was able to do some research in my copy of Narrow Gauge to No Mans Land (Richard Dunn). I found it very interesting to read about them, and hope everyone here enjoys it as well. I think that the Army Railroaders are a little though about group of our service members, and this is becoming a very interesting project.

Enjoy!

The 14th Engineers began training at an old race track near Salem, NH called Rockingham Park on June 25th, 1917. Although the training was going very well, uniforms and gear were in very short supply for the 14th. Some of the men didn’t get overcoats, and others didn’t receive ANY uniforms until they were en route to France. This carried over to the weapons as well, with pistols being issued without holsters, and rifles being the Model 1889 "Trapdoor" Rifle or the Model 1896 Krag-Jorgensen Rifle from the Spanish American War. The 14th was in basic training for only a month, and left for war with 37 officers and 1168 men. They arrived in England on August 13th, 1917 and met up with the 12th Engineers (light railway) parading through London on their way to France. By the 18th of August, they were in Boulogne France assigned to the British 3rd Army at Boisleux and Poziers.

The disappointments of uniform issues and the British equipment continued for the boys during this time though. They finally got overcoats, but the overcoats were Canadian ones with the British crown on the buttons. The British locomotives and equipment were in such a poor state that the 14th was forced to run their repair shop 24 hours a day, and the track sections as well worked to try and fix the “utterly disgusting” track conditions that lead to the 14ths first casualty on September 13th when one man was killed in a collision.
The 14th was always very close to the front lines, and always in range of the Axis guns often taking heavy artillery and bombs in their areas. They stayed with this for 9 months with surprisingly few casualties. One man died of pneumonia, a few were gassed when a German gas shell hit the gas mechanical locomotive they were running, and 2 were wounded by shrapnel walking the track. During the March push by the Germans, the 14th worked through and in the worst of the shelling to evacuate British wounded to first aid and hospitals farther back from the front. With a little bit of luck, no one from the 14th was killed during this and they were able to withdraw with the British from Boisleux to Wailly.
After what they had endured for 9 months, the 14th was sent to camps farther from the front in Hauteville and Berneville where they were refit, and even received “new” and modern British Enfield rifles that they used to train in infantry tactics because there was real possibility that they would be sent in as infantry, and needed to be ready. Thankfully though, this didn’t happen and on May 18th, 1918 the regiment found itself in Calais for some well deserved R&R from front line duties. They still were working while there though, and while working on the standard gauge in late June and early July, 70% of the unit caught the Spanish Flu. Somehow, only one mad died from meningitis following the flu.
Everything all better, and the regiment rested, they detached from the British and went to work for the American 1st Army in the Aisne-Marne sector. They stayed there until Oct 3rd, when the 1st battalion 14th was ordered to Abainville and Sorcey Railhead. They stayed there until March 6th 1919.
The 2nd Battalion meanwhile on Oct 2nd 1918 took over operation of the German light railways that had been captured in the Argonne offensive. After stabilization work on the connecting track between the two (Allied and German) rail systems, the 2nd Battalion was ordered to Rattentout to take over from the 12th Engineers. There the 14th was in charge of supplying the right flank of the 1st American Army and the left flank of the 2nd American Army with everything from beans to bullets. They stated there getting ready for the major american offensive that never came due to the armistis.


Hope you all enjoy!

Brett

We now have a website up. It is still very much under construction, but it may help us with our recruiting. Hope that everyone enjoys it

Brett
14th Engineers (Light Railway)

www.armyrailroader.org

Just found pictures of the patches and a uniform. The uniform is that of a Sargeant from the 14th Engineers (Light Railway). The Sargeant stripes are on the other side of the tunic. The two stripes towards the bottom are overseas time (?) and the one about the center is Honorable Discharge from Active Duty (?). I know there are a couple of WWI guys on here so if I got that wrong please let me know and tell us what they are.

Thanks,

Brett

Brett, I assume you already know that most soldiers (even rear-echelon ones) didn’t have shoulder patches or even those insignia designed until after the armistice on 11-11-18, right?
As for the weapons, I’d read that there was a run on .45 caliber bullets in the ‘long colt’ pattern early in WW1 which can only lead one to believe that some soldiers went across the pond to England carrying Colt Single Action Army model revolvers from the Indian War era. I guess these railroaders might have been some of them! It’d be funny for a re-enactment unit to portray getting ready for the boat for England, armed with trapdoors and Krags like the soldiers who left for Cuba almost 20 years previously to fight the Spaniards.