๐ฌ๐ง The British Army's railway capability. Army Reserve, Royal Engineers, part of
@65_group
&
@12_FS_Engr
12ENGGP-43SQN-NATRES-RECRUITING
@mod
.gov.uk
The Armoured Train ๐งต A review from genesis of the armoured train through to modern day application. These trains are normally adhoc wartime field expediants designed to force protect the railway LofC, rarely do they exisit in peacetime.
1. Operation Iron Friendship. ๐งตThis is a story about an STRE who wouldnt accept the status quo, a project team who showed determination to deliver, suppliers who went beyond the norm and most of all an Iron Railway who continue to show courage to keep a network running.
The Tank Wagon ๐งต The British Army were the first use tanks, to deploy them they invented the first tank carrying wagons. 104 years later the Army has more modes to deploy MBT but should also consider its future tank carrying wagon needs to support Op Mobilise.
A thread on classic military railway engineering ๐งต This thread explores some of the more interesting aspects of military and wartime railway engineering from across the globe.
1/ The Ambulance Train๐งต Recent near peer conflict and Covid has seen the re-emergence of the ambulance train, somthing only seen in times of need for the movement of mass casualties. This thread explores the history and consideration for future use of the capability.
The Rail Head thread ๐งต A review on the use of Rail Heads (RHD) in the Corps/Divisional area. Point of embarkation is not considered given their fixed and well equipped nature, focussing on tactical far bank RHD.
1. The Sub Structure repair ๐งต The recent abutment failure at Nuneham Viaduct has highlighted the risk of sub structure failure in clay beds. In war sub structures are seldom destroyed however military railway engineers need to be aware of repair methods.
Op MOBILISE & Rail. A short ๐งต
Some thoughts for the application of rail following
@ArmyCGS
speach at
@RUSI_org
land warfare conference.
Rail is one of many transport modes and needs a flexible plan to integrate with sea, air, road and inland waterways.
1/The railway loading guage thread ๐งต
With a potential for increase in the use of rail under Op Mobilise deployments, it is important to understand the importance of loading gauge on the rail network.
Inspiring tradition of our infrastructure teams: those who supervised construction - stand beneath the bridge during first test ride of a loco. Taking responsibility PERSONALLY.
Thanks to
@networkrail
for your great support with equipment to re-build our war-damaged bridges!
8/Rail Landing Craft. After D Day rolling stock and motive power were landed over the beaches from D+18 using a spur line built on Omaha beach, using a special ramp and converted LST and other ships with rail decks.
29. Respect and gratitude to the staff of the Iron Railway,
@Ukrzaliznytsia
of whom over 250 have given their lives so far in this war. We hope a swift end to hostilities and that the aid from Op Iron Friendship will be of help in restoring the rail network.
4. UK Railway response. Revulsion to the invasion triggered the UK rail industry to react with provision of a humanitarian relief train of 1500t, echoing the 1999 Kosovo Train for Life. This was a joint effort between Symposium Consulting,
@networkrail
@DBCargoUK
@LNER
& more.
The engineer rolling stock thread ๐งต Train borne logistcs are essential to the Military Railway Engineer. They allow direct access/delivery to the railway corridor and can handle long and bulk materials required of railway infrastructure works.
28/USSR & China border disputes. In the late 1970s USSR would deploy its T62 armoured train trolleys to protect its borders. Reportedly these were used for cross border firing.
26. Summary.
Circa 1250t of aid gifted
2 x Trains
7 x major suppliers
ยฃ10mil spend
UK Governments largest civil aid contribution to Ukraine
Regarded in Whitehall as an exemplar aid scheme in terms of VfM and governance.
3. Leadership. From the outset
@Ukrzaliznytsia
was led from the saddle by the dynamic
@AKamyshin
who commanded the railway from a train for the first ten weeks coordinating the evacuation of 2.5mil refugees on the network. Here was a leader that caught the minds of UIC railways .
The emerging railway technology of use to the Military Railway Engineer ๐งต The rail industry is constantly evolving with new technology and methods to efficiently repair the railway, some of these systems are of interest for military use.
5/WW2 Lessons learnt. To restore the line after the horrific 1957 Lewisham derailment ex RE British Rail engineers used WW2 RE trestle stock and RSJ to rebuild the flyover. As a feat of temporary works engineering it still carries traffic to this day.
1/Wickham armoured rail cars. These were bought in the 1950s by the British for use in Malaya to secure rail LofC latterly they were bought for the same duties by the Government of Vietnam and served throughout that conflict.
1/Genisis. The first armoured trains were built by the Austro Hungarians in 1845. The US Civil War in 1862 would see use of the fledgling technology mating 32pdr cannon to wagons and would be used by both sides to protect the railroads.
3/V Weapons strikes. The first V1 rocket to land on London is rumoured to be have been Grove Road bridge in East London on the Great Eastern Mainline. LNER engineers cleared and installed a temporary bridge, returning traffic back in 36 hours.
12/Shermans Neckties. In the US Civil War, Gen Shermans troops became infamous for the destruction of rail lines in the South. A method used was to place rail lengths over burning timber sleepers and then wrap them around telegraph poles rendering them unsuable.
2/Track deviations. The railway was used heavily on the Eastern front on both sides during WW2. Russian partisans were thorough in their attacks with German Eisanbahn Pioneer having to carry out hssty repairs, in this case slewing the line around a derailed train.
15/Romney Hythe & Dymnchurch light railway. The RH&DR famously converted several narrow gauge trains to armoured trains for coastal defence, armed with Lewis Guns and Boys AT rifles and accounting for shooting down several Luftwaffe Bombers.
6/South African Patrol Vehicle. Used for similar purposes tp the Wickham rail cars, South Africa converted a MRAP for rail use. It now resides in a museum in Nambia.7
2/ Eygpt 1882. The British would use the technology in 1882 using the crew and guns from HMS Terror and HMS Invincible to arm trains. Armoured wagons would provide protection to the accompanying infantry.
5. Network Rail Aid. The humanitarian train had been for the Ukrainian public,
@networkrail
with
@transportgovuk
sought to supply
@Ukrzaliznytsia
with eqpt. Old 4X4 were gifted along with surplus tooling. This was driven to Poland and handed over to UZ.
๐ท๐ ๏ธ On 16 May, five colleagues delivered vehicles loaded with spares and railway tools to Ukrainian Railways,
@Ukrzaliznytsia
.
๐ค Helping to keep their railway running to provide evacuation routes and aid to the people of Ukraine. ๐บ๐ฆ
Read more โก๏ธ
5/Siege of Antwerp 1914. In the opening of WW1 British Sailors and Belgian troops manned 3 armoured trains to defend Antwerp. Armed with 4.5inch navel guns and casemated 6pdr guns.
4/Boer War. Realising shortfalls the British upgraded the armoured trains with plate armour, heavy guns, pom pom guns, searchlights & aggresive train commanders. Combined with blockhouses and mounted infantry drives, these trains became very effective.
Its hard to comprehend that the reason that the
@AcrowBridge
700XS system was deployed to Ukraine was down to the teams CONEMP capability gap analyais work in the Lockdown of 2020 and journey on Ex Turnout 20 & 21.
4/Road Rail Tank. A WW2 German experiment was the RRV Panzer Mk III. It had a set of hydraulic rail wheels between tracks, pre dating modern RRV practice by 40 years.5
29/Bosnian Wars. In the early 1990s Serbian forces would make use of armoured trains, the most famous and heavily armed was called the Krajina Express.
13/ The Track Laying Contraption. One of the worlds first high output track laying trains was built at Longmoor Military Railway in the 1920s. This train could lay a mile of track per day. Modern track renewal trains achieve similar rates of construction.
5/Haupt Compound Bridge spans. The US Civil War heavily used rail. General Herman Haupt innovated with lightweight composite timber and wrought iron bridge spans to hasten repair and construction of bridges.
11/ Ice bridge. In WW2 the German army bridged the Dniepepr River by refreezing ice blocks and placing beams and track over the frozen solid ice strata over the river.
7/Orlik. Orlik was a Russian twin turret rail cruiser which had a colourful career starting in the Tsars Army during WW1 changed to White and Red Armies and ending its life in a Chinese warlord army in the 1920s post RCW.
3/Early Boer War 1898. The British were heavily dependent on the railways for resupply in Boer lands. Early on they built adhoc armoured trains armed with Maxim guns and clad in rail. These trains were ineffective with Churchill being famously captured in one.
9/Russian Civil War. Both Red and White forces would heavily use armoured trains during thr Russian Civil War, taking their construction to a new pinnacle. This war was also where two opposing armoured trains would fight each other.1
7. River Irpin Bridge.
@Ukrzaliznytsia
had been busy restoring bridges, a key bridge was the twin span River Irpin bridge which was jacked, propped and its trusses reconnected with steel repairs and welds. This gave the British engineers an idea for aid.
30/ Chechen War. In the late 1990s and 00s Russia employed its ageing fleet pf armoured trains for LofC protection in Chechnya. These were armed with ex soviet including ZSU23 AA guns and T62 tanks. Bunker refuges were built of stapled sleepers and dog spike baseplate armour
6/WW1 Coastal Defence. The UK built 2 coastal defence trains at Crewe using bogie coal wagon bodies for gun wagons with Naval 12pdr guns, infantry wagons and an armoured locomotive. These were deployed to the east coast.
16/Germany. The Whermacht would start the war with rudimentary armoured trains by 1943/4 it was using purpose built sloped armoured wagons with artillery, MG and AA turrets. Most would serve on the eastern front on anti partisan ops. These would be PZ BP42, 43 and 44 type trains.
6. Having learnt how to ship aid to Ukaine,
@networkrail
demonstrated competence to
@transportgovuk
and
@FCDOGovUK
that it could deliver. It would return in April 22 with a more ambitious proposal on how to support UZ.
9. Bridging Developments. 507 had been engaged with trial and development between 2020 and 2022 on conversion of Logistic Support Bridge for rail and use of trestle/propping systems such as MAT75 and Ramarch tunnel lining. In due course we identified the Acrow 700 rail bridge.
2. Infra destruction. In the early stages of the Ukraine conflict many key railway bridges were blown to deny their use for Russian forces, latterly Russian forces would target tunnels, bridges and other infra to disrupt the Ukrainian network managed by
@Ukrzaliznytsia
.
7/ Tracked shunters. The Allies post D Day had a distinct lack of motive power for shunting duties so they pressed into service captured STUG tanks and Universal carriers.8
7/Incidents. Gauging need only be out by several inches to cause damage on the network. Here is a recent incident where an outsized container was loaded onto an incorrect wagon resulting in several bridges being gouged out.
15. Propping.
@MabeyHire
were engaged to supply 500 tonnes of its MAT125 propping system for bridge support and piers. This would be in pre designed tower sets each with bolts, tools and translated instructions and calculations. 5t of M20 bolts were procured for the job.
17/Soviet Trains, starting the war with RCW stock would quickly modernise with new pattern light and heavy trains such as BP42 and PB43 trains topped out with T34 tank turrets.
8/Mesopotamia. The British would also use armoured trains in Mesopotamia during WW1, very similiar in style to late war Boer war trains with searchlights and 2pdr Pom Pom guns.
32/ UZ Armoured Locos. On the recapture of Ukrainian territory
@Ukrzaliznytsia
added armoured plate to the cabs of some locos to protect the crew as they reopened service on recaptured lines. Also used were pusher safey wagons to detonate mines.
30/ Rail Wolf. Some armies in the Great War had developed rail ploughs to destroy track; by end of WW2 Germany in retreat had been prolific in their use with a fleet of Schienenwolf (Rail Wolf) to rip 100kms of track.
The team holds and example captured in Italy in 1945.
10/Smaily. This was a captured Austro Hungarian Armoured train used by the Polish Army during WW1 and the Russo Polish War of 1920. The Pole would become adept armoured train builders in their own right, using some effective designs on outbreak of war in 1939.
16/ The Kings Shot. 8th Aug 1918 the King visited the 14inch Rail Gun, HMG 'Bochebuster'. Whilst inspecting, he oversaw the firing of the gun at Douai rail junction 18 miles away, scoring a direct hit on the junction and a German train, not opening again til after the war.
2/Threat. Rapid targetting of fixed and known RHD with drones in UKR has shown the need for a tactical approach. They should be transient, austere and a deliberate op with AA Def, concealment, suprise and security considered. A tactical RHD will only exist a short duration.
#VE75
. Looking at the RE railway contribution to the long road to VE Day. The first problem to delivering railways post D Day was the landing of rolling stock on the beaches. Solution was to fit special ramps to landing craft and install rail on the beaches.
20/Armoured Cars. Both sides would replace road wheels with rail wheels for rear area security work, somthing that would remain in service with the USSR in the 1980s as BTR52.
11/ Interwar. Armoured trains would be used in the Irish Civil War, Mexican Civil War and Spanish Civil War as well as the previously mentioned Russian Civil War and Chinese Warlord conflicts of the 1920s and 30s.
14/WW2 UK Coastal Defence. Once again the British built adhoc armoured trains for coastal defence work, unlike previous wars where naval gins were used, these trains used 6pdr guns from WW1 tank sponsons.
6/TEN-T. The Trans European Transport Network (TEN-T) provides some interoprability for load gauges although it does again vary from network to network.
13/Polish Self Propelled Tanks. By outbreak of WW2 armoured train innovation had continued with self propelled rail trolleys powered by tank tracks, these became a staple of Polish armoured train consists for patrolling and fire support.
8/Containers. Container handlers need wide turning circles and hard standing. Rough terrain container handlers are large but can work on unprepared flat ground and need HET moves to get to site. Trucks need to be ready to recieve containers, ground dumping is waste.
7/ Rail has been long overlooked, UK Land Forces have a steep learning curve to assail to become rail minded once again to deploy rapidly via these means. Investment is required in rolling stock and industry partnerships need forging however this is all possible in a short order
1/ The Parrot Wagon. Copied from an existing LNWR design in 1917, this was the worlds first tank carrying wagon. Designed to carry 40t and fitted with screw jacks to prevent dynamic loading of the bogies whilst loading/unloading tanks. These jacks would appear on all tank wagons.
14/Conclusion. To use rail effectively, planners must be aware of gauge constraints. Embarking units must be efficient in loading drills and carry out the right prep. Military railway engineers can assist in gauge clearing routes and rectify obstructions.
10. COBRA and G7 summit.
@networkrail
team of whom OC 507 was lead engineer compiled a ยฃ5mil aid proposal over an April weekend, by 1200hrs Monday it had been approved by COBRA and expanded to ยฃ10mil. The PM would latterly announce the programme at the June G7 summit.
27. Postscript.
@Mark_J_Harper
MP Secretary of State for Transport and the Ukrainian Ambassador to the UK were able to view the training at Lydney and meet the
@Ukrzaliznytsia
engineers.
Damage to Ukraineโs railway bridges amounts to over 10% of their total war damage.
To help rebuild them, weโre providing crucial equipment and engineering expertise, includingโฆ
โ Bridge repair and tunnel lining equipment
โ Training for Ukrainian engineers
#StandWithUkraine
14. Tools aid. Part of the gift would be small plant, this incuded significant quantities of
@UK_Husqvarna
rail saws, Geismar orbital tampers and Amberg Trolleys to measure track geometry.
8. Pre War Development work. In Dec 2021 OC 507 STRE published an article in the
@Inst_RE
journal on future MilEng railway capability, the result of a two year capability programme. This partly looked at COTS eqpt & gaps in capability such as bridging, tunnels & propping .
7/Palletised stock. Used for CSUPs, Ammo and other pallet stock. Needs a small turning circle on flat and well drained ground. Enhance with hard standing. Use forks to unload, increase numbers for quicker discharge straight to trucks. Ground dumping pallets is waste.
14/ V Type Bridge. The US Army in WW2 developed a very novel triangular railway bridge deck called the V Type demountable bridge for spans of 30ft to 90ft using a splayed Warren truss.
The military railway bridging ๐งต Road bridge capability is well supported in NATO with MGB & LSB systems. Railway bridges with higher dynamic loads have less options, planners for future warfighting need to consider what bridging options are available to secure the rail LofC.
25. Train 1 ran in December 22 from Barking to Poland with transhipment straight to UZ. Train 2 ran once the Lydney training bridge was repacked in February 23 with a similar handover in Poland. UZ moved stock forward into country and dispersed ready for use.
2/The RECTANK wagon. Purpose built to WD spec in 1918 with a capacity of 38t. It had a slight well and fitted with screw jacks to reduce dynamic loading on bogies when unloading tanks. Would serve in WW1, WW2 with some leaving service in the early 1990s.
24/Road Rail Tank. A German experiment was the rail tank, using a PzIII, rail wheels were placed between tracks predating modern RRV practice by 50 years
25/Post War, End of Empire. In Indo China France would use armoured trains and armoured rail Jeeps to secure lines. Britain in Palestine would use armoured cars and in Malaya, armoured Wickham cars.
16.
@MabeyHire
engaged four fabricator sub contractors and two galvaniser contractors as well as its own domestic manafacture capacity to churn 500t of steel into 90 odd tower unit sets completing all orders by Dec 22.
17/ The Org Chart. In 1855 Daniel McCallum of the New York and Erie railroad would invent the worlds first organisational chart. During the US Civil War, he would command the US Army Military Railroad Service as Maj Gen McCallum.