Railway Operating Division

The Railway Operating Division (ROD) was a division of the Royal Engineers formed in 1915 to operate railways in the many theatres of the First World War. It was largely composed of railway employees and operated both standard gauge and narrow gauge railways.
The ROD operated their first line on a section of the Hazebrouck–Ypres line. The work was carried out by former employees of the London and North Western Railway.
The ROD requisitioned many diverse locomotives from Britain's railway companies and leased several Belgian locomotives sent to France in 1914, but as the war dragged on adopted the Great Central Railway's Robinson Class 8K 2-8-0 as its standard freight locomotive to become the ROD 2-8-0. Some locomotives were also purchased from Baldwin in the United States.
They also operated narrow-gauge engines (meter gauge or 600 millimeters (2.0 ft) gauge trains).
After the war, requisitioned locomotives returned to their foreign owners.
*the ROD 2-8-0 were stored in Great Britain and sold to several British companies between 1919 and 1927.
*the Baldwin locomotives were sold as military surplus; most of them ended up in Belgium and France.
During the First World War, the Railway Operating Division were assisted in their duties by other army units. The 17th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers. The Battalion, a Pals Battalion raised by the North Eastern Railway, began its life as a regular infantry battalion. It later became a Pioneer battalion and, owing to the large number of railway-men available, became a Railway Pioneer battalion in October 1916 working under General Headquarters (GHQ) Railway Construction Troops. In September 1917, the battalion returned to an infantry battalion but returned to GHQ in November. They finally returned to an infantry battalion in May 1918, where they remained until the end of the war.
==Railway Construction Companies==
A number of Railway Construction Companies existed during the great war. The companies built standard gauge railways in combate zones on multiple fronts during the war. At the start of the First World War there were two regular and three special reserve, these were:
*8th Railway Company
*10th Railway Company
*Depot Company
*Royal Anglesey (1 company)
*Royal Monmouthshire (1 company)
It was soon realized the importance of railways on the front line, several more companies were raised for the duration of the war. The last company was demobilized in 1919.
Great War companies included:
Railway Company	Raised 	Embarked 	Theatre
2nd (Monmouth) 	Longmoor 	11 November 1914 	Western Front
3rd (Anglesey) 	Longmoor 	11 November 1914 	Western Front
3rd (Monmouth) 	Longmoor 	11 November 1914 	Western Front
8th 	Longmoor 	15 August 1914 	Western Front
10th 	Longmoor 	28 November 1914 	Western Front
109th 	Longmoor 	24 December 1914 	Western Front
110th 	Longmoor 	15 February 1915 	Western Front
111th 	Longmoor 	15 February 1915 	Western Front
112th 	Longmoor 	15 February 1915 	Western Front
113th 	Cheltenham	14 April 1915 	Western Front
114th 	Cheltenham	1 May 1915 	Western Front
115th 	Longmoor 	Unknown 	Egypt
116th 	Longmoor 	Unknown 	Egypt
117th 	Longmoor 	5 September 1915 	Salonika
118th 	Longmoor 	Unknown 	Western Front
119th 	Longmoor 	30 May 1916 	Western Front
120th 	Longmoor 	Unknown 	Western Front
200th 	Unknown 	Unknown 	Unknown
259th 	Unknown 	Unknown 	Western Front
260th 	Longmoor 	3 February 1917 	Western Front
261st 	Longmoor 	26 February 1917 	Western Front
262nd 	Longmoor 	26 February 1917 	Western Front
263rd 	Longmoor 	26 April 1917 	Western Front
264th 	Longmoor 	13 May 1917 	Western Front
265th 	Longmoor 	14 September 1917	Egypt
266th 	Longmoor 	14 September 1917	Egypt
267th 	Unknown 	Unknown 	Salonika
268th 	Longmoor 	19 December 1916 	Western Front
269th 	Longmoor 	17 January 1917 	Western Front
270th 	Cheltenham	Unknown 	Egypt
271st 	Cheltenham	26 January 1916 	Western Front
272nd 	Unknown 	Unknown 	Egypt
273rd 	Longmoor 	7 September 1916 	Salonika
274th 	Longmoor 	23 October 1916 	Egypt
275th 	Longmoor 	21 August 1916 	Western Front
276th 	Unknown 	Unknown 	Eqypt
277th 	Unknown 	Unknown 	Western Front
278th 	Boulogne 	Unknown 	Western Front
279th 	Unknown 	Unknown 	Western Front
280th 	Cheltenham	Unknown 	Western Front
281th 	Cheltenham	Unknown 	Western Front
282nd 	Cheltenham	Unknown 	Western Front
295th 	Unknown 	Unknown 	Western Front
296th 	Boulogne 	Unknown 	Western Front
297th 	Unknown 	Unknown 	Western Front
298th 	Unknown 	Unknown 	Western Front
299th 	Unknown 	Unknown 	Western Front
==See also==
*War Department Light Railways homepage
== Gallery ==
File:City Of Truro 16.jpg
Category:Railway Operating Division Locomotives
Category:Organization