Narrow gauge railway at Camp AA Humphreys

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Narrow gauge railway at Camp Humphreys
Supply transport for the construction of the camp, 1918
Supply transport for the construction of the camp, 1918
Line of the narrow-gauge railway at Camp AA Humphreys
Hundreds of soldiers trained on the narrow-gauge railway
before being sent to the front in Europe in 1918
Route length: 32 km
Gauge : 610 mm ( 2 foot track )

The narrow-gauge railway at Camp AA Humphreys was a 20-mile (2- foot ) military railway in what is now Fort Belvoir , Virginia .

history

In 1918, Camp AA Humphreys was established in what is now Fort Belvoir in northern Virginia. It was named after Brigadier General Andrew Atkinson Humphreys († 1883), who served in the Union Army during the Civil War and later read the Army's chief engineer. It was an important training camp for pioneers and other soldiers, who learned to build roads, bridges and trenches there.

Delivery of 75-PS Baldwin - light petroleum -Lokomotiven at Belvoir dock

At the beginning of 1918 a 32 km long narrow-gauge line was built there. 24 km of the route ran between the jetty on the Potomac River and Camp Humphreys.

The light rails of a narrow-gauge railway could be laid quickly and, if necessary, quickly dismantled. The 5 m long sections of the flying track weighed 100 kg and could only be carried and laid by two soldiers. Because of the small gauge, smaller radii than with standard-gauge railways could be passed.

From March 1918 until the end of the war on November 11, 1918, hundreds of soldiers and engineers trained in the construction and operation of the narrow-gauge railway. They learned to lay tracks, build railway bridges and operate the small steam and light gasoline locomotives. Many narrow-gauge railways were used by the American troops in the international theaters of war to transport supplies, ammunition and construction materials as well as the fallen and wounded. Similar narrow-gauge railways existed in Fort Benning , Georgia , Fort Sill , Oklahoma , Fort Benjamin Harrison , Indiana, and Fort Dix , New Jersey .

Around 1920, the Camp Humphreys narrow-gauge railroad tracks were dismantled and forgotten. After the war, some of the locomotives and wagons at Camp Humphreys and other forts were not scrapped, but were reused in mining operations and plantations around the world.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c David Vergun: Forgotten tiny trains carried WWI vets to Victory. In: Soldiers Front Page. November 4, 2010. Retrieved August 22, 2018.
  2. ↑ George Lane: 75 hp Baldwin gasoline locomotive on railroad line at Camp Humphreys. VA Mar. 1918 NARA165-WW-283A-002, National Archives, RG-165, Military Administration - Transportation - Rail.
  3. ↑ George Lane: Railroad 15 miles in length used between dock on Potomac R. and Camp Humphreys, VA ca1918 NARA165-WW-524F-002. Retrieved August 22, 2018.

Coordinates: 38 ° 43 ′ 11.1 ″  N , 77 ° 9 ′ 16.5 ″  W.