Wrightscale WD or Péchot kits (2024)

Our model kits include Welsh narrow gauge items, the Péchotwagon and British War Department bogies.

You may be wondering which to choose from theseapparently disparate items. The designs are all connected, but before you buy, you may like to know the 'why?' and 'wherefore?' of each.

As we British are proud to relate, we were pioneers inrailway development. The Welsh corner of Britain was particularly inventive, especially innarrow gauge. It was a combination of geology and ingenuity. Northern Wales has an abundance of slate, known for millennia as a goodroofing material. What was produced in Waleshad to stay in Walesuntil it could be exported and narrow gauge railways provided the missing linkbetween the slate and the ports.

The Talyllyn, Corris and Festiniog railways were born thisway, firstly with horse-drawn freight and then with locomotives. The Festiniogdeveloped the well-loved Fairlie locomotive which pulled four-wheeled slatewagons down to Portmadog.

Waleshad lessons for the French. They had compartmentalised ideas about railways.There were the ‘serious’ gauges – standard gauge and one metre – and light ones– very narrow gauges of 60 cm and less. From the mid-eighteen seventies, theDecauville company sold portable track in 40 and 50cm gauges. In the earlyeighteen eighties, they introduced a portable ‘military’ gauge but this testedthe technology to the limit and was less than successful.

Along came Prosper Péchot and combined the best of Welsh andDecauville then infused a spark of personal genius. He produced a sturdyportable system on which could run rugged and adaptable ten tonne bogie wagons.A significant number have survived to this day. Revolutionary featuresincluded: 60cm gauge; bogie-mounted wagons 6m by 1.7m (about 20’ by 5’8”); lowcentre of gravity for a wagon with a central well; adaptability ensured bystanchions; bogies which had compensatory as well as vertical springing;coupling attached to the bogies rather than to the wagon body; brake could beapplied to every bogie wheel; a prominent brake-wheel at each end; ten tonne wagonswith capacity for 8 tonnes of freight.

His design was copied and adapted; by 1918, there werethousands of kilometres of track on which ran tens of thousands of ten tonnebogie wagons. The bulk of this material was sold off as War surplus – sometrack, wagons and locomotives returning to the land where it all began, Wales.

Malcolm has celebrated the Péchot designs, both theoriginals and important adaptations.

Even while the French military were experimenting withPéchot designs, the German Army were looking on. By early 1888, they werebeginning to produce their own versions. They moved from 72 and 75cm gauge to60cm, from four wheeled wagons to ten tone bogie wagons and from horse drawn tolocomotive haulage. Yes, German engineers and their ‘Pioneer’ railway troopswere among the best for the time.

But no, they were quite capable of industrial espionage.Paul Decauville caught them at it, as he explained to the French Government. In1907, when the sugar-works at Cramaille took delivery of a 60cm gauge railway byAubineau, they were soon visited by ‘technicians’ from Orenstein and Koppel. Inno time at all, O&K were selling suspiciously similar 60cm wagons. EricFresné goes so far to say ‘the O&K wagons were ‘furiously inspired’ by theAubineau ones’. (’70 years de chemins de fer betteraviers’ p 113)

The German adapted the pirated design to produce their ownBrigadewagen (military wagon). Although the important features were retained –6m approx by 1.7, bogie mounted, brake to every bogie-wheel, coupling through sprungbogies, 8 tonne capacity etc, they made changes. The bogies were lighter and the wagon bodywas a comparatively simple framework with wood instead of steel plate. Thewagon bodies did not have the well and were more easily adapted than theall-steel Péchot design. For the standard Brigadewagen, the idea of stanchionswas retained, though they were usually seen attached to wooden sides. The bogiecouplings also provided the springing – an arrangement which was botheconomical and effective. Overall, they were cheaper to make. The bogiesprojected a generous 50cm beyond the wagon body, making the life of the Bremser (brakesman) safer and morecomfortable.

By the time the First World War started, the Germans had aconsiderable stock of material. The French had a couple of hundred Péchotwagons (modèle artillerie 88) which had been in service since 1888. Once theWestern Front was established and hundreds of miles of trench had to besupplied, the French realised their need for more wagons. Most of what theyordered was of a lighter pattern, reminiscent of the Brigadewagen as well asthe artillerie 88. It was known asthe Decauville 15.

By 1916, the British, though initially sceptical, began toadmit that 60cm had advantages. They produced their own War Department design,but with similar features to the Péchot design. This was produced to metricrather than Imperial scale. Can you imagine what torment this would have beento the Eurosceptics of the time! Rather than sticking to a standard shape, theyproduced a number of wagon bodies. The Classes E and F had a well, useful fortransporting bulky loads.

When the USAjoined the War, they immediately designed their own military narrow gaugesystem, known as Pershing. Another nation of Imperial measurement, they toowere forced to bow to the Péchot design. Their locomotives and rolling-stockran on 60cm gauge. The Pershing was a bogie wagon. Each bogie was fitted withbrakes and a brakewheel. The couplings were to the bogie not the wagon body.

These later designs were all more prolific than the Péchotoriginal but there was a catch. Although there were thousands of examples ofthese alternative designs, they did not have the sheer staying power of the artillerie 88. When World War One ended,the Germans had to hand over most of their 60cm gauge material. This and Alliedmaterial were used as temporary railways to restore and rebuild the ruins ofthe Western Front. Afterwards, they were sold off. In France,agricultural systems such as for sugar-beet were the main beneficiaries.English and Welsh quarries also bought surplus stock. Thus the grand-children ofthe original designs came home to Wales. Being of wood and lightsteel construction they had a short life. There are few photos, and these showthem in a very poor state.

Eric Fresné is not a fan of the Péchot design which hedescribes as ‘a veritable monster, heavy and over-engineered’. (Betteravierspage 114). Without appreciating the contradiction, he goes on (page 115) to say‘the Army took great care to return the Péchot wagons to their bases and depotsonce the job of (post-war) reconstruction was over’ These ‘monsters’ are nowbeginning to reappear to great acclaim and can be seen at preserved railways inthe UK and France. Though few in number, those Péchot wagons just keep rollingalong.

Sources: ‘Colonel Péchot: Tracks To The Trenches’ SarahWright

‘Chemins de fre betteraviers’ Eric Fresné A French language treasure trove

‘La Voie de 60’ Dr Christian Cénac