The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-02-25
LITTLE RAILROADS
 LAID EVERYWHERE
 BACK OF WARL LINE
Narrow Gauge Tracks Are Playing Important Part in Movement of Sup-
 plies and Ammunition

French Army Headquarters, February 1--(Corresnondence of the Associated Press )--Of' all the machines that have been pressed into war service none ap- pears to have more individuality and more consciousness Of it's own importance than the narrow gauge railway. the Tight railway" as it is known in military phraseology. With it's fussy little en- zines it is to be found everywhere be- hind the front
 It is scarcely an exaggeration to say that without the narrow gauge railway, the artillery preparation which is the es- sential preliminary of any attack on a trench position, would be impossible.
 Much has been written concerning the splendid services rendered by the motor iorries at verdun, and they certainly did much to save the situation. But on that occasion they were acting in their proper capacity as an emergency service. They enabled the French troops to resist the first German onrush, and so gave time to the military engineers to build the narrow gauge lines which could alone be regarded as a satisfactory and permanent means of supply.
 The narrow gauge railway, with tracks 50 centimeters (two feet) apart, is easily and rapidly laid down. It's rails are riveted two by two to metal ties, and can be put together with a minimum of delay. With thin layer of ballast the rails can be laid almost anywhere. Thanks to the narrowness of the gauge they can follow the most tortuous course, and hills have no terrors for them. They can negotiate safely curves of radius of 30 yards, and can climb a grade of three in 100
 The military light railway needs rela- lively little in the way of embankments s and engineering, and the work of laying down the track can be carried out with great speed. A gang of 300 men under the direction of few experts can lay a half mile day ready for immediate use. The engines used are capable of hauling a load of 25 tons up grade of three in 1OO The cars consist of simple platform mounted on four wheels, built for a load of eight tons.
 The French staff has a carefully pre- pared map of the German railways before .Verdun at the moment of the great of fensive It provides eloquent evidence of the extent to which the Germans avail themseives Of the narrow gauge railway for theapurpose of attacks. Behind the with network of lines that for their conplexity and number can only be com pared to the filaments of a spiders web. Wherever the ground affords cover for artillery, there the lines are most com plicated and close At certain points on the most advaneed sections Of the mar row gauge <line series of sidings be- trays the position of the heavy guns which fire from trucks on the rails
 The great advantaee of the light rail- way is that practically it does not take up any road space When weather per- mits the roads are left entirely free for motor and horse drawn vehicles. which thus become supplement of the light railway.
 German shells do not interrupt traffic on these lines, since even when by lucky chance the line is aamaged. it is a mat ter of no great difficulty or time to re- store communication.
 Before this war the importance of the narrow gauge railway was not realized. Everything for the army is. of course brought up as close as possible to the firing line by the broad gauge lines. but owing to the great range of modern heavy artillery. trains cannot hope to come un along the ordinary lines with safety and regularity. As rule. the normal rail- head for the broad gauge lines is from six to 10 miles from the front In times of attack each broad gauge railhead may be called upon to deal with as much as 2o0o tons daily of ammunition and ma teral.
 Upon the return of peace France ex- poets to utilize the whole magnificent system of light railways Built up during the mast two years for agricultural pur- poses.