THE COLOURS OF THE LITTLE TRAINS of the Great War

There is a kind of paradox when it comes to 60cm gauge military railways. They played a key part in the logistics of all the armies involved in the conflict, and all the Great War fronts. But they lacked a personality such as Louis Renault or Marius Berliet to anchor them in the collective psyche. Furthermore, the huge amounts of stock commandeered by the German army during the Occupation and the fact that the French army after 1945 largely gave up using field railways, were the last nails in the coffin. Apart from a handful of enthusiasts who, like Georges Mangin, had been truly familiar with it, military 60cm gauge was all but forgotten