Decauville

Name plate of the Decauville company.

Track gauge

By transport mode

Tram · Rapid transit
Miniature · Scale model

By size (list)



Minimum
Fifteen inch	381 mm	(15 in)

Narrow
600 mm, Two foot	597 mm 600 mm 603 mm 610 mm	(1 ft 11 ¹⁄₂ in) (1 ft 11 ⁵⁄₈ in) (1 ft 11 ³⁄₄ in) (2 ft)
750 mm, Bosnian, Two foot six inch, 800 mm	750 mm 760 mm 762 mm 800 mm	(2 ft 5 ¹⁄₂ in) (2 ft 5 ¹⁵⁄₁₆ in) (2 ft 6 in) (2 ft 7 ¹⁄₂ in)
Swedish three foot, 900 mm, Three foot	891 mm 900 mm 914 mm	(2 ft11 ³⁄₃₂ in) (2 ft 11 ⁷⁄₁₆) (3 ft)
Metre	1,000 mm	(3 ft 3 ³⁄₈ in)
Three foot six inch, Cape, CAP, Kyōki	1,067 mm	(3 ft 6 in)
Four foot six inch	1,372 mm	(4 ft 6 in)

Standard	1,435 mm	(4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in)

Broad
Russian, Five foot	1,520 mm 1,524 mm	(4 ft 11 ²⁷⁄₃₂ in) (5 ft)
Irish	1,600 mm	(5 ft 3 in)
Iberian	1,668 mm	(5 ft 5 ²¹⁄₃₂ in)
Indian	1,676 mm	(5 ft 6 in)
Six foot	1,829 mm	(6 ft)
Brunel	2,140 mm	(7 ft ¹⁄₄ in)

Change of gauge

Break-of-gauge · Dual gauge ·
Conversion (list) · Bogie exchange · Variable gauge

By location

North America · South America · Europe

The Decauville manufacturing company was founded by Paul Decauville (1846–1922), a French pioneer in industrial railways. Decauville's major innovation was the use of ready-made sections of light, narrow gauge track fastened to steel sleepers; this track was portable and could be disassembled and transported very easily. The first Decauville railway used 400 mm (15 ³⁄₄ in) gauge; Decauville later refined his invention and switched to 500 mm (19 ³⁄₄ in) and 600 mm (1 ft 11 ⁵⁄₈ in) gauge.

History

Starting in 1875, his company produced track elements, engines and cars. Those were exported to many countries, in particular to the colonial possessions of European powers.^[1] In 1878 Paul Decauville was given permission to build the Jardin d'Acclimatation railway in order to demonstrate passenger transport operations on his railway system during the Exposition Universelle of 1878.

Military use

The French military became interested in the Decauville system as early as 1888 and chose the 600 mm (1 ft 11 ⁵⁄₈ in) gauge track to equip its strongholds and to carry artillery pieces and ammunition during military campaigns. Decauville track was used during the French military expeditions to Madagascar and Morocco.

Similar feldbahn equipment was used in German South-West Africa where Otavi Minen- und Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft built the 600 mm (1 ft 11 ⁵⁄₈ in) gauge Otavibahn.^[2]

By the First World War, the Decauville system had become a military standard and the French and British eventually built thousands of miles of trench railways track. The Germans had a similar system, with normalized engines.^[3]

Civilian use

Decauville railways were widely used in construction yards, quarries, farms, cane fields and mountain railways up to the 1950s. The company also produced road vehicles and construction engines.

Decauville tram installations for henequen plantations in the Mexican region of the Yucatán, were so extensive (approximately 4,500 kilometers of track) that the system became the de facto mass transit system for the region. Some ex-haciendas of the area still have small operating, usually burro (donkey) powered, Decauville systems.

Decauville designed the steam tramway and cars used in Saigon in 1896.

Two Portuguese beaches (Barril and Caparica) have seasonal tourist trains in Decauville system (600 mm/1 ft 11 ⁵⁄₈ in gauge) totalling 10 km.

Gallery

Decauville track in the Maginot Line in the French Alps
Turntable
Preserved Decauville locomotive, built for the West Melbourne Gasworks in Australia and now on the Puffing Billy Railway
Decauville system tourist train at Costa da Caparica
Decauville track from Transpraia, Costa da Caparica, Portugal
Decauville track on a small bridge, Costa da Caparica, Portugal
Decauville track junction, Costa da Caparica, Portugal
Decauville track switch, Costa da Caparica, Portugal
Decauville 0-4-0wt
Sisaltrain haciënda Yaxcopoil, Yucatan, Mexico

References

↑ Small, Charles S. (April 1971). "Decauville Locomotives in Australia". Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin: 88–94.
↑ Shaw, Frederic J. (1958). Little Railways of the World. Berkeley, Calif.: Howell-North. 37&38. OCLC 988744.
↑ Taylorson, Keith (1996). Narrow gauge at war, 2. East Harling, UK: Plantway press. ISBN 1-871980-55-0.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Decauville.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Military rail transport in World War I.

M. Decauville (1884-07-19). "Portable Railways". Scientific American (New York) (Supplement 446). A paper read before the Institution of Mechanical Engineers .
http://www.decauville.nl
Map of Decauville railways in the Yucatan, Mexico
Light Railways April 2013, has an article with illustrations on portable railways such as Decauville.

Track gauge (list)

Minimum gauge	15 in (381 mm) 400 mm (15 ³⁄₄ in) 18 in (457 mm) 500 mm (19 ³⁄₄ in)

Narrow gauge	2 foot and 600 mm 750 mm (2 ft 5 ¹⁄₂ in) 760 mm (2 ft 5 ¹⁵⁄₁₆ in) Bosnian gauge 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) 800 mm (2 ft 7 ¹⁄₂ in) 891 mm (2 ft 11 ³⁄₃₂ in) Swedish three foot 900 mm (2 ft 11 ⁷⁄₁₆ in) 3 ft (914 mm) 950 mm (3 ft 1 ³⁄₈ in) Italian metre gauge 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 ³⁄₈ in) metre gauge 3 ft 6 in/1,067 mm 4 ft 6 in (1,372 mm), Scotch gauge List of narrow tram track gauges

Standard gauge	4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in/1,435 mm, Stephenson gauge List of standard gauge tram tracks

Broad gauge	1445 mm gauge 1,445 mm (4 ft 8 ⁷⁄₈ in) 4 ft 10 ⁷⁄₈ in (1,495 mm), Toronto 5 ft/1,524 mm and 1520 mm, Russian gauge 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm), Irish gauge 1,668 mm (5 ft 5 ²¹⁄₃₂ in), Iberian gauge 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm), Indian gauge 7 ft ¹⁄₄ in (2,140 mm), Brunel gauge 3,000 mm (9 ft 10 ¹⁄₈ in), Breitspurbahn List of broad tram track gauges

Gauge differences	Bogie exchange Break-of-gauge Dual gauge Gauge conversion list Variable gauge

Categories	by country by imperial units by metric units by name lists of track gauges

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