ARMORED CAR EQUIPPED WITH 3-INCH GUN AND SEARCHLIGHT ON CAR ATTACHED.
In turning out the different kinds of locomotives for the 60-centimeter railways new designs were made in order to produce locomotives that would run with equal facility in either direction. For the gasoline locomotives, designs of types similar to standard-gauge engines, a few of which had been in the service in this country, were made, and orders were placed with the Baldwin Locomotive Works for the first lot.
The first steam locomotives were delivered by the builders on October 3, 1917, and the first gas locomotives on November 7, 1917.
Orders for the freight cars for these narrow-gauge railways were placed with a number of the larger car-building companies of the country. The first of these cars were delivered November 24, 1917.
When the armistice was signed a total of 1,841 locomotives and 11,229 cars of the narrow-gauge type had been ordered and 427 locomotives and 6,134 cars completed. Up to the 11th of November 361 of the locomotives and 5,691 of the cars had been shipped overseas.
Of the 361 locomotives sent to France, 191 were steam engines, 108 had 50-horsepower gasoline engines, and 62 had 35-horsepower gasoline engines. Of the 5,691 cars that went to the Expeditionary Forces prior to the signing of the armistice, 600 were box cars, 166 were tank cars, 500 were flat cars, 1,555 were 8-wheeled gondola cars, 330 were dump cars, 100 were artillery truck cars, 970 were motor cars, 180 were inspection cars, 300 were hand cars, and 990 were push cars.
For the construction of the narrow-gauge railroad used in the combat areas behind the front line trenches a special type of fabricated track was designed. This consisted of short sections of rail bolted to steel crossties. The American narrow-gauge railway was so arranged that it could be packed in knockdown shape to save shipping space. Most of this track was in 5-meter lengths, although many shorter sections were used. All, however, were in multiples of 1¼ meters, accurately sawed so as to insure absolute fit of intermediate sections when shell fire made replacement necessary. Vast quantities of curved track, as well as innumerable switches and turnouts, also were built.
In all about 605 miles of fabricated, narrow-gauge steel track were purchased and 460 miles shipped to France. All but 192 miles of the fabricated track was built at the Lakewood Engineering Co., near Cleveland. The balance was obtained through the United States Steel Products Co. The cost of the straight track was about $7,400 a mile, while the cost of the curved sections was $8,000 a mile.