D 
 
 S'Po 
 
 ■J 09 
 
 American Engineers 
 
 Remind the 
 
 Battle Lines in France 
 
 TOMLIN 
 
 ' I 
 
 m 
 
--i 
 
-u 
 
 American Engineers 
 Behind the Battle Lines in France 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2008 with funding from 
 
 IVIicrosoft Corporation 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/americanengineerOOtomlrich 
 
 I 
 
American Engineers 
 Behind the Battle Lines in France 
 
 By 
 
 ROBERT K. TOMLIN, Jr. 
 
 War Correspondent for the McGraw-Hill Publications 
 
 FIRST EDITION 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 ENGINEERING NEWS-RECORD 
 
 McGRAW-HILL BOOK COMPANY, Inc. 
 
 Sole Selling Agents 
 
 239 WEST 39th STREET, NEW YORK 
 
 1918 
 

 Copyright, 1918, by the 
 McGRAW-HILL BOOK COMPANY, Inc. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 Last December when Mr. Tomlin, formerly managing editor of Engineering News-Record, went 
 to France as war correspondent of the McGraw-Hill engineering pubUcations, he went as a pioneer. 
 No other technical publication in this country was similarly represented at the front, and though he 
 went armed with letters of introduction and the authority of our War Department to get and print what- 
 ever the British and French censors deemed proper, >there was no certainty that the busy officers directing 
 the great engineering programs would have time to tell him their stories, or that the censors would 
 permit him to publish them. Mr. Tomlin writes in glowing terms, however, of the full cooperation he 
 has had from officers and censors. Everywhere he has been shown over the work and been given as 
 much information as could be consistently done — and everywhere there has been appreciation of the 
 journalistic need for prompt attention. 
 
 The first articles, of course, were largely general. The work was just being organized. The first, 
 second and fourth articles are confined to the organization of road building, railway yard and terminal 
 development, and hght railway construction, and an outline of some of the problems to be solved, and 
 the third, also in the general preliminary class, relates to the inspection of French quarries by American 
 engineers. In the fifth we first see the engineers actually on construction, in the varied activities of the 
 railway regiment. In the remaining articles, with the exception of that on " Water-supply at the Front 
 in France," which again tells only of the organization and the general problems — we also get details. 
 Besides the views of road building and the Hght railways at close range, supplementing the first and 
 fourth articles, we have an article on the industrial problems at a shrapnel plant, one on map-making in 
 air and on the ground, one on the construction of an advance depot and two on the work of the army 
 engineer school — which is far in advance of anything of the kind in this country before this year. 
 
 The articles are here gathered together in book form because of the great interest they have 
 aroused, and the assistance they have rendered army officers engaged in this country in training men 
 for the front. 
 
 Engineering News-Record. 
 
 386941 
 
■^ 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGB 
 
 Preface V 
 
 American RoAD-BuiLDiNa Work in French War Zone Organized 1 
 
 American Railway Yard and Terminal Development in France Presents Many New Problems . . 4 
 
 French Quarries Inspected by U. S. Engineers 6 
 
 Large Mileage op Light Railways Will Serve American Troops at the Front 9 
 
 Railway Regiment Handles Jobs of All Kinds in France 13 
 
 Human Problem Thought of Paramount Importance in Paris Shrapnel Plant . . , 17 
 
 Water-supply A*r the Front in France 21 
 
 Road Builders at Work Close to Front op American Sector in Franc^e 28 
 
 Army Topographical Division Co-ordinates Work op Map Makers in Air and on Groubd .... 32 
 
 Along the British Front by Light Railway 37 
 
 The Light Railway Along the British Front at Close Range 41 
 
 Engineers Convert French Beet-sugar Fields into Advance Depot 49 
 
 Army Engineer School in France Standardizes Work in the Field 55 
 
 Army Engineer School in France Standardizes Work in the Field — {Continued) 61 
 
 American-built Docks in France Completed by Pacific Coast Engineers 65 
 
 Roads in Base Section op American Forces Require Widening and Resurfacing 74 
 
 American Army's Water-works Projects in France 79 
 
 American Motor Trucks Carry Water Purification Plant 83 
 
 American Intermediate Depot in France. Problem in Getting Labor and Supplies 86 
 
American Road-Building Work inJFrench 
 
 War Zone Organized >.: 
 
 Inspection of British and French Systems by United States Highway Engmeer Officers Aids in 
 Development of Methods — Waterbound Macadam the Main ReUance 
 
 By ROBERT K. TOMLIN, JR. 
 
 Formerly Managing Editor, and now War Correspondent ' 
 
 in France, of "Engineering News-Record" 
 
 AMERICAN road construction and maintenance 
 f-\ work in that part of France assigned to United 
 -^ -^ States troops has been definitely organized, and I 
 was given an opportunity at the office of the Director 
 General of Transportation, American Expeditionary 
 Force, of learning some of the general features of how 
 the immense task of maintaining our highway lines of 
 communication will be handled. As yet no large-scale 
 field operations have been undertaken by our road-build- 
 ing forces, but the nucleus of American engineer of- 
 ficers, who were sent to France some time ago, and who 
 will become the administrative heads in charge of the 
 several subdivisions of the great project, have been 
 spending their time in inspections of the British and 
 French lines of communication, in conferences with the 
 officers in charge of these operations for our Allies, and 
 in formulating plans for our own work. As a result of 
 this cooperation our road engineers have been able to 
 utilize to great advantage the experiences of the French 
 and British and to blend these with the best American 
 practice in mapping out the work to which they have 
 been assigned. 
 
 The Manager of Roads 
 
 All road-building and maintenance work in the Ameri- 
 can territory has been placed under the general control 
 of the Director General of Transportation, who has 
 delegated the responsibility for all highway operations 
 to a Manager of Roads, with an organization of his 
 own. The Manager of Roads is well known profession- 
 ally, a member of both the American Society of Civil 
 Engineers and the British Institution of Civil Engi- 
 neers, and recently gave up his consulting practice to 
 become one of the administrative heads of a commission 
 directing municipal subway construction operations in- 
 volving the expenditure of many millions of dollars. It 
 is not permitted to mention by name the men who are 
 handling the road work. The Manager of Roads will 
 concern himself principally with the executive end of 
 the highway work, while the actual field operations will 
 be in the hands of special road building and quarry regi- 
 ments, such as those in behalf of which Engineering 
 Netos-Record conducted its recent recruiting campaigns. 
 The relations between the staff of the Road Manager 
 and the technical troops in the field will be somewhat 
 similar to those which ordinarily exist between a State 
 Highway Department and a contractor. The Office of 
 Road Manager, however, will not only designate where 
 work will be done, but will also relieve the field officers 
 of the routine involved in getting shipments of construc- 
 tion plant, materials and supplies to specific places and 
 
 [ 
 
 at specific times. The Road Manager's oflSce will be, in 
 effect, a sort of clearing-house, a place where the efforts 
 of the various construction regiments will be coordi- 
 nated and rendered of maximum value. It will serve 
 also as a sort of priority board in the distribution of 
 such materials as the output of crushed stone from 
 quarries. 
 
 Work Departmentalized 
 
 Under the Road Manager will be various department 
 heads. The organization chart, which I was permitted 
 to examine, shows such titles as Deputy Manager of 
 Roads, Road Engineer, Assistant Road Engineer, Super- 
 intendent of Supplies, Superintendent of Equipment 
 (who will be a mechanical engineer), Superintendent of 
 Quarries, Engineer of Bridges, and, a very significant 
 title, Superintendent of Business Affairs. There will 
 also be a General Superintendent of Construction and 
 division engineers assigned to prescribed areas occupied 
 by American troops. The organization scheme was de- 
 veloped only after a careful study of the British and 
 French systems. 
 
 In making a tour of the office of the Road Manager 
 I saw many familiar faces. There were engineers from 
 State Highway Departments, who know construction 
 methods in detail, men who have seen service in United 
 States Office of Public Roads at Washington, men who 
 have formerly been consulting engineers and city en- 
 gineers back in the "States"; men who had served on 
 the faculties of our engineering colleges ; bridge design- 
 ers, computers, and so on, right down the line to 
 draftsmen, clerks and stenographers. All, of course, 
 were in uniform, with the castle insignia on collar band 
 denoting the Corps of Engineers. It is no inexperienced 
 corps of road builders who form this staff of the Man- 
 ager of Roads. Each is a specialist in his line, with 
 years of practical training back of him, and when I 
 left the building I carried away the impression that our 
 highway work is in the hands of men eminently quali- 
 fied for the work to be done — men who have given up 
 positions of great responsibility back home to place at 
 the disposal of the Government their specialized knowl- 
 edge of engineering administration and of the various 
 branches of road construction and maintenance. 
 
 So much for the general scheme of organization — and 
 it must be stated in general terms only, for these are 
 not times when it is desirable to be specific. The road 
 building and quarry regiments from the States will 
 reach the scene of action completely equipped with the 
 construction plant necessary to the efficient conduct of 
 their operations in the field. Much of the French work. 
 
 1 ] 
 
I learn, hao been done by hahd. For example, a French 
 officer told me yesterday that the bulk of the stone he 
 used for road rnairite^ance work was quarried and 
 crushed by hand. With mechanical crushers the Ameri- 
 can forces will be able to effect a great increase in out- 
 put of crushed stone from quarries. And on this subject 
 of crushers an interesting point developed. It appears 
 that the prevalent rock for road building in France is 
 a very soft limestone, so soft, in fact, that it is apt to 
 clog a crusher of the gyratory type. For this material, 
 therefore, a jaw-crusher rather than a gyratory crusher 
 would seem to be best adapted. 
 
 British and French Methods 
 
 I have said before that the American road engineers 
 have been making frequent trips back of the British 
 and French lines. They told me some of the results 
 of their observations. The waterbound macadam road 
 is in almost universal use, although, I believe, the Brit- 
 ish have a small mileage of tarred surface. From what 
 I can learn the caption "Macadam Roads Best for War 
 Traffic," which appeared over the editorial in Engineer- 
 ing News-Record of Sept. 13, 1917, and to which excep- 
 tion was taken in a number of letters to the editor, needs 
 no revision. A tour of the front, I have heard, alters 
 many preconceived opinions as to types of road con- 
 struction adapted to conditions of actual warfare. In 
 any event I have not been able to verify any reports as 
 to the extensive use of any of the so-called "permanent" 
 types of road surface by the Allied forces. It is possi- 
 ble, I understand, that some form of surface other than 
 straight waterbound macadam may be used far back 
 from the front-line trenches, but macadam seems to be 
 the main reliance in any territory where operations are 
 at all active. 
 
 American highway engineers seem to be greatly 
 pleased with the properties of the French limestone as 
 a material for speedy road construction. It is very soft, 
 and compacts quite readily under a road roller, and is 
 the chief reliance as a road-building material, although 
 it requires constant maintenance. A limited amount of 
 trap-rock is available and a French engineer, now re- 
 turned from active service, told me on his section of 
 road work he employed slag successfully. The roads 
 where the slag was used, however, were near industrial 
 centers where supplies of this material could be secured 
 without the necessity of a long haul. One objection to 
 the waterbound macadam road, I find, is the dust which 
 rises from it under traffic during dry periods in sum- 
 mer. Some use of oil as a binder and dust palliative 
 may be tried, but I hear that it is next to impossible to 
 secure any quantity of bituminous material for road 
 work in France today. In certain of the towns near 
 the front there are large signs along the roadside cau- 
 tioning the drivers of motor trucks, or camions as they 
 call them here, to drive slowly. Fast driving, with itr> 
 attendant dust clouds, is apt to draw artillery fire on 
 the roads. 
 
 Maintenance the Chief Problem 
 
 The chief problems of the American road-builders 
 over here will relate to maintenance, as the mileage of 
 
 existing French roads is very great ; one estimate placed 
 it at 1 mile of road to every Ih sq.mi. of ground surface. 
 New construction will take the form of widening roads 
 already built. While the French national roads have 
 ample widths, some of the secondary routes having 
 widths of 18 ft. must be widened to about 34 ft. These 
 roads generally have extensive berms so that the widen- 
 ing operation merely entails the placing of road metal 
 on both sides for the extra width desired without dis- 
 turbing the existing drainage ditches or interrupting 
 traffic. Where new roads must be built observers state 
 that the French lay the bottom course of one-man stone 
 by hand, while it is common in British military practice 
 merely to dump th'e stone for the bottom course directly 
 upon the subgrade without any very refined attempt in 
 the placing of the stone. On this base course, 10 or 
 12 in. in thickness, is spread a layer of 2i-in. stone and 
 on top screenings are placed and rolled. The English 
 have used tarring to a limited extent, generally in the 
 vicinity of hospitals. 
 
 Military roads of course are subjected to unusually 
 severe loadings and the "tank," with its cleated cater- 
 pillar traction bands — a load of perhaps 30 tons on a 
 4-ft. wheel base — is a disturbing factor to the officer in 
 charge of road-maintenance. Artillery loads of 18 tons 
 on one axle, I am told, are not unusual. As for the tank, 
 I understand that it kept off the roads wherever possi- 
 ble ; if it must take to the right of way a road-mainte- 
 nance crew follows in its wake. The tank also has given 
 the bridge builders something to worry about. 
 
 Plank Roads Near Front 
 
 Where highways must be advanced close to the front 
 lines the construction type takes the form of plank road. 
 In this territory the ground may be merely a succession 
 of shell craters, so irregular in surface contour as to 
 preclude any of the ordinary types of construction with- 
 out elaborate grading operations. In this work plank 
 of a standard length and cross-sectional area, 5x9 in. 
 by 9 ft. is employed. Three of these planks are laid 
 parallel to the longitudinal axis of the road, like bridge 
 stringers, and the surface timbers are laid transversely 
 on the stringers, to which they are spiked. At each side 
 longitudinal guard timbers are spiked and the surface 
 is built wit^ a pitch of 3 in. toward one side to shed 
 water. This plank construction generally is only wide 
 enough for one-way traffic. 
 
 American officers are enthusiastic over the excellent*' 
 system of traffic regulation on military roads used by 
 the English. At specified points military "traffic cops" 
 are stationed and are provided with red, green and 
 white signals— flags by day and small lamps by night. 
 A red signal brings traffic to a stop, green slows it down, 
 while white means "all clear." When large stores of 
 munitions and supplies are in transit the traffic is said 
 to compare in density to that on Fifth Avenue, New 
 York, while the actual tonnage, of course, is much 
 greater. 
 
 It may happen that a brigade of artillery, stationed 
 in fields alongside the road, is suddenly called into ac- 
 tion. The road police stop all motor-truck traffic in- 
 stantly, get the right-of-way clear so that the artillery 
 
may reach its position without delay. Another feature 
 of the road work is the prevalence of the large sign- 
 boards indicating the way to different towns. 
 
 At night, of course, it is dangerous for vehicles to 
 show lights, and to aid the driver in keeping on the 
 right-of-way wooden pickets, whitewashed, are driven 
 along the outer edges of the roads at about 10-ft. in- 
 tervals. I was talking last night to an American am- 
 bulance driver who had seen service in the Verdun 
 sector, and he told me that it was a favorite stunt of 
 the Boche airmen to fly over the road at night when 
 supplies were being brought up and rake the center line 
 with machine guns in an effort to "get" the drivers of 
 the camions. 
 
 On the question of plant for road building, the Ameri- 
 can engineer officers with whom I spoke pointed out the 
 danger of a steam-roller near the front. Puffs of smoke 
 or exhaust steam disclose the position of work to the 
 enemy. Gasoline-driven machines are preferred on ac- 
 count of what I suppose a naval man would call their 
 
 "low visibility," although the steam outfits are useful 
 further back. The exhaust steam and smoke from a 
 road roller makes a fine target for shells or bombs, and 
 much of the road work must be done in the danger zone. 
 In regard to gasoline machines, the single-cylinder type 
 is not regarded with favor, preference being given to 
 the two-cylinder machine as more dependable. If the 
 engine stalls it is generally a long way back home. 
 
 Narrow-gage track is a big factor in the transporta- 
 tion problem and I hope in later reports to give some 
 of the details as to laying and handling of these units. 
 Standard-gage railroad track, narrow-gage industrial 
 track, and waterbound macadam highway for motor- 
 truck traffic form the great triumvirate of transporta- 
 tion used in France today. It is significant in the 
 scheme of organization behind the fighting front that 
 the control of all of these aids to the movement of 
 supplies, munitions and men, is centralized in one de- 
 partment, that of Director General of Transportation. 
 
 [ 3 ] 
 
American Railway Yard and Terminal Development 
 in France Presents Many New Problems 
 
 Engineers Preparing for Big Construction Program at French Seaports — At Docking Basins Readjustment 
 of Track System for American Rolling Stock Is Necessary — Training School for Traffic Officers Proposed 
 
 By Robert K. Tomlin, Jr. 
 
 "Eng-ineering News-Record's" War Correspondent in France 
 
 TRACKAGE in railway yards alone equivalent in 
 aggregate length to a standard-gage line from New 
 York to Chicago is merely one detail of the colossal 
 program of construction which the occupation of 
 French territory by the ultimate quota of the American 
 Expeditionary Force has demanded. And let it be 
 understood at the outset that this does not include 
 main-line construction and repair or narrow-gage, light 
 railway track; it is merely the new trackage required 
 in the immediate vicinity of the huge seaport freight 
 terminals, classification depots and warehouses which 
 United States forces are building or planning to build 
 in France in order that supplies and munitions in 
 staggering quantities may be received and routed ex- 
 peditiously from ships to points at the front. This 
 information I obtained in interviews with two of the 
 high ranking officers on the staff of the director general 
 of transportation— one the general manager, and the 
 other the engineer of design and construction. Both 
 held high executive positions in a large railroad organi- 
 zation before the war. 
 
 Transportation the Immediate Need 
 
 Without doubt transportation is the immediate big 
 business of the war for us. Practically everything 
 which our fighting forces will need in the conduct of 
 field operations must come from across the Atlantic, 
 for the available supply of local equipment for American 
 troops is almost negligible. The problem resolves itself, 
 therefore, into one of providing facilities for receiving 
 huge volumes of freight at the waterfront, and either 
 delivering it to the interior or storing it for future 
 use. As one engineer officer expressed it, this phase 
 of our task is not war in the popular conception of the 
 word, but a gigantic business enterprise, which, to 
 insure success, must be conducted on the best American 
 business principles. 
 
 Along with the railway yard construction work will 
 go the building of innumerable storehouses and classi- 
 fication depots, the provision of mechanical equipment 
 for the handling of freight, and the enlargement of 
 port facilities such as wharves and docks. 
 
 It was impressed upon me very forcibly that the 
 great need now is for cars, which must all come from 
 the States, for crews to load and unload them, and for 
 a skilled force to operate the trains between French 
 seaports and our supply bases behind the fighting front. 
 
 The task of our engineer officers and men in pro- 
 viding terminal and transportation facilities over here 
 is complicated by many difficulties which railway oper- 
 ators or constructors in the United States do not 
 experience. First of all, there are differences between 
 French and American railway practice which must be 
 
 [ 4 
 
 adjusted before effective work can be done. It should 
 be realized, however, that existing French main-line 
 track is in good condition, available for the use of 
 our rolling stock, and that tales of new four-track 
 lines across France, to be built by American forces, 
 are absolutely without foundation. The big problem 
 is the terminal problem. 
 
 Differences in Practice 
 
 In the matter of main-line track gage the French 
 roads are very nearly the same as our own, and slight 
 adjustments in the wheel coning of our rolling stock 
 will render it serviceable on French track. The French 
 operating system, however, is left-handed, and certain 
 track-construction details show variations from Ameri- 
 can practice. French rails, for example, are supported 
 on chairs with a wedge knocked in to tighten them, 
 whole our rails rest either direct on the ties or on 
 metal tieplates. French rail joints are placed opposite 
 each other instead of being staggered. In the matter 
 of curves the French work upon a scale of meters of 
 radius, while American railway men deal in degrees 
 of curvature. 
 
 As the first stage in the mapping out of the Ameri- 
 can railroad work our engineers have collected and 
 are studying and redrawing to a new scale existing 
 French plans. Here again new conditions must be 
 faced. European methods of showing things on blue 
 prints differ from our own, and all of the lettering, 
 of course, is in French. Interpreters, to be sure, are 
 available, but or the most part they are laymen, whiU^ 
 the accurate interpretation of the data on the French 
 plans calls in many cases for the services of technical 
 specialists who understand both English and French 
 engineering terms. Dimensions and quantities are in 
 the metric system, and in the hands of men who have 
 been dealing principally with feet, inches and cubic 
 yards in their own work at hon^ie the French units 
 are not so easily handled at first. 
 
 Much Preliminary Work 
 
 It therefore can be seen that before any large scale 
 construction operations are possible a tremendous 
 amount of preliminary work must be done in order to 
 establish what might be called a uniform datum plane, 
 from which effective coordinated effort must start. It 
 is this preliminary work, this business of taking stock 
 of existing facilities and fitting them into the plans 
 for the future, that has been the chief task of our 
 American railway and terminal engineers. 
 
 Just what the new work will involve can be stated 
 only in rather vague terms. In addition to the railway 
 yards and terminal structures there will be regulating 
 yards whose function will be to preserve a proper 
 
 ] 
 
balance of traffic between the storage yards and main- 
 line tracks leading to the front — a sort of compensating 
 reservoir, to maintain a smooth, steady flow of traffic. 
 Innumerable sidings will have to be built to hospitals, 
 sawmills (where our forestry regiments will work 
 cutting French timber), bakeries and various other 
 structures. New engine terminals are included in the 
 project, and connections must be made to our ordnance 
 and munitions stores. The latter must be located at 
 least half a mile distant from main-line track and 
 buildings, and the type of construction, I am told, will 
 be scattered units, in order to minimize the effects of 
 explosions or bombing from enemy airplanes. 
 
 Dock and Terminal Structures 
 
 To get back to the railway terminal and dock struc- 
 tures, the freight classification sheds are to be long 
 buildings 50 ft. in width with 8-ft. platforms and 
 depressed track on the outgoing side. I asked the 
 chief engineer what material would be used for these 
 buildings. His reply was, "Anything we can get." 
 
 Ships will also dock in rectangular basins which, 
 as built by the French, require entrance locks, as the 
 variation in tide is considerable. Parallel to the sides 
 and ends of these basins three lines of track will be 
 laid where feasible and as much freight as possible will 
 into cars. The remainder will be delivered to the 
 classification sheds just back of the tracks which extend 
 around the sides of the docking basins. 
 
 Some readjustment of the basin trackage system 
 where existing docks are to be used will be required 
 to adapt it to the use of American rolling stock. As 
 now built, the tracks make right-angled turns at the 
 corners of the basin and by means of turntables the 
 French cars, on four wheels, negotiate changes of 
 direction. Our freight cars, of course, will be carried 
 by two four-wheeled trucks and will be too long for 
 the turntables. This condition of affairs means the 
 ultimate ripping out of the turntable system and a 
 rearrangement of trackage to provide curves which 
 our cars can negotiate, instead of right-angle turns. 
 
 For the terminal structures of various sorts tentative 
 plans were prepared, and it is an index of the sort 
 of things our engineers are confronted with to find 
 out that many of these will have to be substantially 
 revised on account of the low stresses which must 
 prevail when certain French timber is used. For 
 example, certain wood roof-truss designs based on the 
 use of timber commonly employed for this purpose in 
 the States are practically useless, for the lengths and 
 
 the strengths of French timber are much inferior to 
 those of American-grown material. I hear that it is 
 impossible to get French timber piles more than 45 
 ft. in length. 
 
 Large Labor Force Needed 
 
 All of this railway and terminal construction program 
 calls for a large labor force. Local labor, in so far as 
 it can be obtained, will be used, but the bulk of the 
 work must be done by men brought over form the 
 States. In addition to the construction men there 
 must be large quotas of stevedores. All will be under 
 military regulation. On some of the English military 
 projects great forces of Chinese labor have been em- 
 ployed. At the present writing the railway terminal 
 and dock work is being done by United States troops 
 of all kinds — marines, line troops and engineer units. 
 When the labor battalions arrive from the States these 
 men will be assigned to other duties. Among the 
 wielders of pick and shovel in one of the temporary 
 construction units is the son of a very wealthy man. 
 "To think," he said, "that I had to get letters of recom- 
 mendation from two men high up in official life at 
 Washington to secure this job." 
 
 As for the operating end of the system which the 
 American Expeditionary Force will control, its organi- 
 zation, according to what the general manager told 
 me, will follow almost exactly that of the best large 
 American railways, with general manager, general 
 superintendent, master mechanic and so on down the 
 line. There is one post to be created here, however, 
 which has no counterpart in American railway prac- 
 tice. This is the R. T. 0. — railway traffic officer. He 
 was defined for me as a "100% man." Here are the 
 constituent parts of this remarkable individual: "25% 
 military, 25% French, 25% diplomat, 25% railway 
 man." In addition, I was told, he must be able to work 
 about 22 hours out of every 4. "It will be hard to 
 find men of this type," the general manager continues: 
 "In fact we are making plans now to establish a train- 
 ing school for them. There will be a number of these 
 R.T.O's stationed at various points on the system, and 
 to my mind the best raw material to work on will be 
 a type represented by the highest class of station agent. 
 The job of the R.T.O. will be to keep traffic moving 
 and straighten out all difficulties which may crop up in 
 his territory. Upon them will rest responsibility for 
 teamwork with the French railway operators at im- 
 portant points of junction with the American system.** 
 The R.T.O. on military railways is a development of 
 British methods of organization. 
 
 { 5 ] 
 
French Quarries Inspected by U. S. Engineers 
 
 In 900-Mile AutomobUe Trip Two Officers Find Hand Labor the Prevailing Method 
 of Operation — Average Daily Output 1 to I5 Metric Tons Per Man 
 
 By Robert K. Tomlin, Jr. 
 
 "Engineering News-Record's" War Correspondent in France 
 
 WITH up-to-date mechanical equipment installed in 
 those French quarries which will be worked 
 ultimately by American forces to supply crushed rock 
 for military road building and track ballast, it is hoped 
 that substantial increases in the present output per 
 man per day may be made. Under the present methods 
 of operation by the French the average daily output per 
 man is from 1 to li metric tons. In order to get first- 
 hand information regarding French quarry resources 
 in the territory which our troops will occupy, the 
 manager of roads, American Expeditionary Force, dele- 
 gated two of his officers to make an inspection trip. 
 The engineers, one formerly in the quarry business 
 on the Pacific coast, the other a former representa- 
 tive of a large machinery manufacturing company, 
 have just completed their mission, which involved a 
 900-mile automobile journey, and have told me in a 
 general way the results of their observations. 
 
 Almost the first thing an engineer learns in France 
 is that mechanical equipment of any kind, except in 
 the plants now working on munitions and other war 
 material, is about as difficult to get as white bread, 
 or telephone service which has even the semblance 
 
 of efficiency. And so, while one can make all sorts of 
 estimates of quarry output with mechanical plant, the 
 first real big job is to land the machinery and the 
 men to operate it safely on this side of the Atlantic. 
 Then the output will very largely take care of itself. 
 With regard to the French quarries, however, I am told 
 that with a few exceptions hand labor has been the 
 chief reliance ever since the war began. No local 
 quarries are being worked by American forces at this 
 writing, and until some definite arrangement is made 
 with the French for the taking over of quarries in 
 certain territory by our men, very little can be said 
 on the subject. 
 
 The labor used in the French quarries which were 
 visited by the two engineers of the road department 
 of our army is to a large extent African, although 
 some French workers are used. Sometimes an Ingersoll- 
 Rand compressor and jackhamer drills were in evidence, 
 but for the most part the drilling is done by hand. 
 I was told that the rate of drilling was from 1 to 
 14 meters per man daily. The rock is a soft limestone, 
 with layers of clay intervening. The quarries as a rule 
 are worked in low faces, and drill holes are commonly 
 
 French Official Photo 
 
 IN THE FRENCH METHOD OF QUARRY OPERATION HAND LABOR HAS BEEN 
 
 ""D TO A LARGE EXTENT 
 
 [ 6 ] 
 
French Official Pictures 
 
 DELIVERY QUARRY OUTPUT TO CRUSHERS — NOTE GABLED SHAPE OF MOTOR-TRUCK BOTTOM IN 
 FOREGROUND — DUMPING BODIES ON TRUCKS VERY UNUSUAL 
 
 about 8 ft. deep. After being broken out by explosives, 
 the rock is fed into small jaw crushers, or else reduced 
 in size by hand tools. The rock is screened i^ inclined 
 grizzlies with i-in. spacing, and for breaking the large 
 chunks one of the prevailing implements is a small 
 hammer on the end of what is described as a "bamboo 
 cane." Such mechanical crushers as were observed 
 were run with any kind of power available — sometimes 
 steam, sometimes gasoline, sometimes electricity. 
 
 Most of the loading into cars is hand work, and a 
 radical difference between these wartime quarries and 
 the kind an American engineer is accustomed to is the 
 absence of storage bins. This lack of bins was noted 
 throughout their trip by the two American engineer 
 officers. All rock storage of the smaller quarries is 
 either in stockpiles on the ground or in the cars them- 
 selves. Two reasons are advanced for this practice. 
 In the first place, lumber in France is pretty much 
 
 French Official Pictures 
 
 AT THIS QUARRY MECHANICAL PLANT IS MORE IN EVIDENCE— NOTE LOADING OF TRUCKS FROM CHUTB5S 
 
 [ 7 ] 
 
of a luxury these days, and in the second, a group of 
 storage bins might tempt an enemy airman to a test 
 of his markmanship with high-explosive bombs. As a 
 means of increasing output in any quarries which 
 American forces may operate, it is the intention to 
 dispense with hand loading of cars to as great an extent 
 as possible. Much of the crushed rock, I learn, is 
 transported by means of the French system of canals 
 in boatloads of 250 metric tons each. 
 
 There is one French quarry of large size where trap- 
 rock is procured and where crushers and mechanical 
 devices of various kinds are more in evidence than at 
 the smaller limestone quarries. This big quarry is in 
 the form of a large "glory hole" which is worked in 
 six benches each 25 ft. high. The stone, however, is 
 lowered in cars on gravity planes to the tunnel level 
 instead of being drawn through chutes. The output 
 
 of this quarry is 600 tons a day with a force of abou: 
 400 men. Steam-driven air compressors, tripod drilh, 
 jackhamers and mechanical chain haulage through i 
 long tunnel are features of these works. The storage;, 
 however, is principally on the ground or in the small 
 wooden quarry cars, of which there are about 1500. 
 This is the biggest of the French quarries, and trap 
 rock is shipped from it by rail to points as far distant 
 as 150 miles. 
 
 From my conversation with the engineers who in- 
 spected the -French quarries, I infer that our chief taslc 
 in procuring crushed rock for road construction ami 
 maintenance will be to revise the operating system no\/ 
 in force with a view to securing greater output witli 
 fewer men. This will mean the installation of up-to- 
 date machinery, the provision of elevated storage capac - 
 ity, and the speeding up of car loading. 
 
 [ 8 ] 
 
Large Mileage of Light Railways Will Serve 
 American Troops at the Front 
 
 Department Organized for Big Construction Program — Relation of Light Railways and Highways Explained- 
 Narrow-Gage Lines Have Been Big Factors in Relieving Congestion of Motor Trucks on Roads 
 
 By Robert K. Tomlin, Jr. 
 
 "Engineering News-Record's" War Correspondent in France 
 
 FOLLOWING the experience of the French and 
 British armies, the American Expeditionary Force 
 is preparing to construct in France a large mileage of 
 "light railways" — 60-centimeter gage — as a part of the 
 necessary transportation system serving the troops at 
 the front. These railways are the connecting links, to 
 a great extent, between the railroads or termini of the 
 standard-gage lines and the trenches and batteries. The 
 service which the light railways render is also closely 
 coordinated with that of the military highways. 
 
 An indication of the importance which is attached to 
 the light railway work is gained from the fact that the 
 director general of transportation has created a special 
 department to have charge of the construction, main- 
 tenance and repair of these lines of communication and 
 of the equipment used in their operation. At the head 
 of this organization is one of the high ranking engineer 
 officers of the American Army. Associated with him in 
 tlie administrative headquarters of the department are 
 men, all engineer oificers, of the following caliber : One, 
 in civil life, is president of an American railway; an- 
 other is a vice president and general manager; a third 
 bears the title of chief engineer of a system in the west- 
 ern part of the States; a fourth is assistant general 
 superintendent of lines in the East; a fifth is master 
 mechanic, a man with a wealth of practical experience, 
 to whom will be entrusted the upkeep and repair of 
 equipment in the engine terminals and machine shops 
 which form an important part of the light railway 
 project. 
 
 As the result of a conference with these officers, I 
 have been given the following information regarding 
 
 French Official Photo 
 
 GERMAN PRISONERS MOVING LOAD OF LIGHT RAILWAY TRACK SECTIONS 
 "N THE REGION OF THE MARNE 
 
 one of the most important phases of our military trans- 
 portation problems: 
 
 Early in the war it was found that to undertake the 
 supply of the front lines with motor trucks required 
 such a great number of them that the highways were 
 continually congested. It was found, too, that this ex- 
 cessive motor traffic soon wore the roads down to such 
 an extent that the greater part of the motor trucks 
 were required to haul road material to repair the dam- 
 age caused by their own traffic. The light railways were 
 developed to overcome these difficulties, and they have 
 been so successful that it is possible now to keep the 
 highways in repair and to devote them entirely to the 
 use of fast-moving automobiles, motorcycles and motor 
 trucks. In short, heavy and bulky traffic is moved on 
 the railways; light and fast traffic on the highways. 
 
 The function of the light railways is to carry forward 
 as near to the front as possible ammunition, f orage„ 
 road material, rations, lumber, fuel and miscellaneous- 
 engineer supplies. They are also used in transporting- 
 troops, and wounded men are brought back from the 
 front on these lines in better condition than by road 
 ambulances. In addition, artillery trains, having guns 
 mounted on specially constructed cars, are moved on 
 these railways; as the position of these guns can thus, 
 be quickly changed they are not so likely to be accu- 
 rately located by the enemy. 
 
 The location of light railway lines requires consider- 
 able skill. They must be located so that they are con- 
 cealed from the enemy as far as possible. They should 
 not be under direct observation, and, if located so that 
 
 they do not show up in aero- 
 photographs too prominent- 
 ly, the chances of their be- 
 ing hit by shell fire is mini- 
 mized. With advantage tak- 
 en of woods and rough fea- 
 tures of the ground, lines 
 can oftentimes be built so 
 as to be invisible to the aero- 
 plane. Lines must be lo- 
 cated to follow the contour 
 of the ground as nearby as 
 possible, thus minimizing 
 damage to the country and 
 permitting the greatest ra- 
 pidity in construction. 
 
 On an average, 1000 men 
 can grade, lay and ballast a 
 mile of track in a day. 
 Grades are usually restricted 
 to not more than 3 to 4%, 
 but in some instances this ia 
 
 [ 9 ] 
 
exceeded, and sharp curvature, 30-meter radius, is often 
 used. The roadbed is usually 9 ft. wide on top ; cuts are 
 14 ft. wide on the base, with side ditches, leaving a 
 9-ft. crown. 
 
 The track is 60-centimeter gage (221 in.) ; the rails 
 are generally 20 lb. to the yard, but American track will 
 be constructed with rails weighing 25 lb. per yard, 
 boTted to steel ties. The ties are 43 in. long, 5i in. wide 
 and f3. in. thick. Wood ties 4 x 6 in. by 4 ft. 6 in., how- 
 ever, are used under certain conditions. The rails are 
 received in 5-meter lengths (15.4), and the track is 
 assembled and bolted, eight ties to a section, before be- 
 ing sent to the front. These sections of tracks are con- 
 nected on the grade. It has been found that the track 
 must be well ballasted, and for this purpose gravel, 
 broken stone, broken brick, slag and cinders are used. 
 
 These lines radiate in various directions toward the 
 front from the broad-gage railheads, so that a con- 
 siderable mileage is embraced in one group or system. 
 Oftentimes the ends of these spurs will be linked up by 
 a connecting line which, in a general way, parallels the 
 front-line trenches. Thus a system sometimes shows 
 up as a series of loops ; in other cases a system assumes 
 a tree formation, with main trunk and branches. 
 
 The American equipment consists of steam locomo- 
 tives of the 2-6-2 type, weighing about 17 tons, built by 
 the Baldwin Locomotive Works, and having a tractive 
 effort of 6200 lb. The cars are of the gondola type, 
 about 17 ft. long and 5 ft. wide, with a capacity of 10 
 tons. A certain number of box, flat and tank and ambu- 
 lance cars are also used. The steam locomotives oper- 
 ate to within a certain distance of the front — up to a 
 point where smoke and steam would betray their pres- 
 ence to the enemy, after 
 which the cars are taken stiil 
 farther forward by gasoline 
 locomotives, and final dis- 
 tribution of supplies to 
 some of the most advanced 
 points is made by motor 
 trucks, by animal traction, 
 occasionally by cableway or 
 rope tramway, by pack mules 
 and by hand. The lines 
 are also laid into quarries 
 where road material is ob- 
 tained, and into forests 
 where lumber and fuel are 
 loaded directly for the front. 
 
 The hard usage to which 
 the equipment is necessarily 
 subjected, and the dainage 
 or destruction of equipment 
 by shell fire, make necessary, 
 of course, a large force of 
 skilled mechanics, shop 
 equipment and an abundant 
 reserve of materials. 
 
 A great amount of crushed 
 stone is hauled by these 
 railways and set out on spurs 
 alongside the highways, 
 whence it is distributed by 
 
 the road motor trucks. To appreciate fully to what 
 extent these railways have relieved the highways, it is 
 only necessary to remember that the average motor truck 
 carries 3 tons, and the average light railway train of 
 6 cars carries 60 tons, thus doing the work of 20 trucks. 
 From one railhead on the British front, a single line 
 of light railway recently handled 2100 tons in a day, 
 or 700 motor truck loads. 
 
 With a low maximum speed, an average train run of 
 only a few miles, and such a network of tracks that only 
 the initiated can distinguish between main lines and 
 branches, it goes without saying that no very elaborate 
 methods of train dispatching and signalling are re- 
 quired. However, it rarely pays to install double track, 
 and the intensive use of single track lines, together with 
 the frequent interruptions to traffic in forward areas 
 due to enemy shell fire, make the personal equation in 
 dispatching of great importance. Rules are necessarily 
 few and simple. Both British and French methods of 
 operation reflect to some extent their broadgage prac- 
 tice, and similarly employees of American military rail- 
 roads find their work simplified by rules which follow 
 certain rudimentary principles of American Railway 
 Association practice. A simple form of telephone train 
 dispatching, combined with a modified block system, has 
 been found most practicable. While every effort is 
 made to operate without waste, the primary object of 
 the light railways is to meet the needs of the armies 
 in the field, and no questions of economy are permitted 
 to interfere with regularity and reliability of service. 
 
 The orders placed in the United States for locomo- 
 tives, both steam and gas, cars and track material, some 
 of which have already been received in France, indicate 
 
 
 "^''^-■«>«i««ai»*' 
 
 French Official Photo 
 
 ONE OF THE GASOLINE LOCOMOTIVES USED ON LIGHT RAILWAYS NEAR 
 FRONT — NOTE SECTIONS OF TRACK PILED IN BACKGROUND 
 
 [ 10 ] 
 
 I 
 
that the U. S. /\rmy will be provided with as many 
 thoroughly equipped miles of light railway as it can 
 use. 
 
 The sections of light railway track are transported 
 to the work in various ways — sometimes on standard- 
 gage cars, sometimes on motor trucks, sometimes along 
 existing light railway track, or by a combination of any 
 cr all of these transportation facilities. At the main 
 yards cranes, where available, will be used for loading 
 the sections of track for transport, but in the actual 
 construction of these narrow-gage lines no plant is re- 
 quired. In fact, this need for nothing but manual labor 
 is one ol the features which make the light railways so 
 
 use of both steel and wood ties for supporting the light 
 railways. Steel ties will be the prevailing type, but 
 the wood ties will be employed where a large bearing 
 area is needed, as, for example, where the ground is 
 soft or where the curvature is sharp. Sometimes, of 
 course, stone ballast may be scarce, and here again the 
 wood tie, with a bearing area greater than that of the 
 steel tie, will serve a useful purpose. 
 
 As for the ballast, the intention is to secure most of 
 it from quarries operated by the Department of Roads 
 (highways), but a limited supply is obtainable from the 
 shattered remains of brick and stone buildings in the 
 devasted areas. Whole brick, however, are exceedingly 
 
 French Official Photo 
 
 THE LIGHT RAILWAY IS USED EXTENSIVELY TO DELIVER ROCK FOR ROAD CONSTRUCTION 
 
 admirably adapted for work in the field of enemy 
 observation and fire. In one sector where artillery 
 operations were active, I am told, a single line of light 
 railway was broken and repaired 95 times in one day. 
 
 In some areas which have been heavily shelled it is 
 necessary to advance lines of light railway over "rights- 
 of-way" which are literally pockmarked by craters rang- 
 ing in size from slight depressions to deep, wide gullies. 
 Here the needs of the moment determine the methods of 
 procedure. If a large labor force is available the pits 
 are filled in and roughly graded. When the work can 
 be done more quickly by carrying the lines across the 
 craters on timber grillages this form of construction 
 is employed — provided timber is available. It is situa- 
 tions such as these that bring out the resourcefulness of 
 the engineer. His job is to advance the lines or to 
 repair a broken section, and any method which ac- 
 complishes this end, and accomplishes it with speed, is 
 acceptable. 
 
 In a preceding paragraph reference was made to the 
 
 valuable in France at present, and use of this material 
 is permitted on the basis of culling out the whole brick 
 from the debris and carrying away only the bats for 
 railway ballast purposes. The Department of Light 
 Railways will work in close cooperation with the man- 
 ager of roads in this matter of the production and 
 transportation of crushed stone. 
 
 The location of the light railway lines involves also 
 some topographical surveying work, and parties are now 
 collegting the data from which contour maps are being 
 prepared. Officers have been out over the territory 
 where it is probable that our network of light railways 
 will me built and have done a great deal of rough 
 reconnaissance work as a preliminary to actual con- 
 struction. 
 
 The man who visits the headquarters of the Depart- 
 ment of Light Railways and talks to the engineer 
 officers who are directing its activities, as I have done, 
 is impressed at once by their enthusiasm for the work in 
 hand. Their experience on standard-gage lines back in 
 
 [ 11 ] 
 
the States, an invaluable asset over here, is being di- some technical problem. There is more to it. These 
 
 verted into new channels of usefulness, and there is in little railway lines — almost toy railroads in appear- 
 
 the planning and execution of the light-railway project ance — will form a great steel web over the American 
 
 for war service enough of novelty to take it out of the sectors, and on the integrity of its double bands of steel 
 
 class of routine and make it a new and intensely in- will depend, in large measure, the effectiveness of the 
 
 teresting job. And yet the satisfaction which these fight we are to wage and the speedy transport of our 
 
 engineers are getting in the performance of the duties wounded to the rear. Here is work, therefore, that calls 
 
 to which they have been assigned is not that, if I for the best there is in the engineer, and that best is 
 
 interpret signs correctly, of the man who merely solves being given freely. 
 
 [ n ] 
 
Railway Regiment Handles Jobs of All 
 
 Kinds in France 
 
 Organized Primarily For Track Construction, Operation and Maintenance, the "Steenth' 
 
 Engineers Have, as a Side Line, Built Dams, Hospitals, and Even 
 
 Installed Plumbing Fixtures and Baking Ovens 
 
 By ROBERT K. TOMLIN, JR. 
 
 Paris Representative of Engineering News-Record 
 
 TO KNOW that the "Steenth" Engineers are with 
 the American Expeditionary Forces, and that they 
 are engaged on railway construction somewhere in 
 France, is of course a starting point for the corre- 
 spondent of a technical journal who wants to send back 
 to his paper a story on the work that these troops are 
 doing, but it is like one of those town constable "clues" 
 of the "ten-twenty-thirty" melodrama — a mighty 
 elusive thing when you attempt to crystallize it into 
 something specific. It's a "clue" — and that is about all 
 you can say of it. For our people over here are not 
 advertising their whereabouts or the details of the 
 work they are doing. On the contrary, pretty definite 
 instructions have gone out to our forces to do no 
 promiscuous talking ; so any civilian, even with the best 
 of credentials, is apt to chase around in circles if he 
 approaches an ofl[icer through irregular channels with 
 such words as "where," "what," "who," "why," or any 
 other members of the great family of interrogatives. 
 And all this, of course, is as it should be, for enemy 
 agents may be anywhere and any sort of information 
 may be useful to them. 
 
 Still I had my "clue" — the "Steenth" Engineers were 
 in France and were doing railway work — and by piec- 
 ing together bits of information from here and there, 
 I finally reached a decision as to where I thought they 
 might be, and made plans to pay a visit to their head- 
 
 CONCRETB HAND-MIXED FOR NEW TRACK LAYOUT AT 
 DOCKING BASIN 
 
 quarters. Now to begin with, this matter of making 
 a railroad trip in France is not so simple as it sounds. 
 It is by no means a case of merely choosing your desti- 
 nation, buying a ticket and getting aboard. You can't 
 travel anywhere these days without a permit, and you 
 must have mighty good reasons before any such permit 
 is forthcoming. After being over here a while you get 
 the impression that a very large percentage of French 
 police and railway officialdom has been delegated to the 
 job of asking the question "why?" But the reasons 
 for my trip apparently were sufficient and I managed 
 to secure my "laissez passer." 
 
 The selection of a train is the easiest part of the 
 whole procedure — there is generally only one train a 
 day to anywhere. The purchase of a railroad ticket, 
 however, is possible only after submitting your pass to 
 the gendarme, one of whom guards the approach to 
 each ticket office. When this formality is completed you 
 pass by armed guards at the gateway to the train — 
 wondering if they too will hold you up again at the 
 last minute — and finally you get aboard. 
 
 And so it was that I started on my quest of the 
 "Steenth" Engineers. It was an all-day trip across 
 fiat country, and the chief item of interest en route was 
 our passage under a veritable flock of airplanes in the 
 vicinity of an aviation school. As our train went 
 puffing along, planes were above us and on both sides, 
 racing along beside our car, and cutting across the 
 tracks ahead and behind like a school of porpoises play- 
 ing alongside a ship. We reached our destination, a 
 little town on the French coast, at dusk, and after 
 again going through the formalities of showing passes 
 and telling why I thought I should be so far away from 
 Paris, I was allowed to leave the dingy railroad station 
 and put in for the night at a ramshackle hotel, where 
 every board on the uncarpeted floor creaked with the 
 weight of passersby, where the electric light was just 
 a dull, depressing glow away up in the corner of the 
 high ceiling, and where the wind moaned down the 
 bleak, bare corridor's and through chinks in the door 
 in fitful gusts. But in the morning things looked more 
 cheerful. The sun, which has been a missing quantity 
 in Paris for almost a month, broke out like an omen 
 of good luck, and after a hurried "petit dejeuner" of 
 chocolate and brown war bread I set forth in search 
 of my engineer regiment. I first made inquiry of the 
 American military police, who are stationed along all 
 the principal streets of the little seacoast town, and 
 ended by going for more detailed information to the 
 local office of the American Provost Marshal. Here, 
 after some delay in looking up records, I was informed 
 [ 13 ] 
 
NEW AUTOMATIC ASSEMBLING PLANT IS STEEL FRAME STRUCTURE WITH GLASS SIDES AND MONITOR 
 
 that my goal was "Camp No. 1, about two and a half 
 miles out of town." 
 
 My "clue" apparently was developing nicely. The 
 "Steenth" Engineers were actually within striking dis- 
 tance, and in buoyant spirits I left the Provost Mar- 
 shal's office in search of some conveyance which would 
 take me to camp. In these war times transportation 
 throughout France is badly crippled. The automobile 
 is practically extinct, even in Paris, and the only thing 
 available there is the taxi or fiacre. In the little sea- 
 port where I had landed the previous night I had a very 
 clear premonition that taxis were an unknown luxury, 
 but I went scouting about the streets until I finally 
 located a "seagoing" hack, a brokendown affair with a 
 cripple of a horse sagging between its shafts. It seemed 
 like a forlorn hope, but these are not times for fastidious 
 tastes, so I hailed the driver and managed to convey 
 the idea that I wanted to be taken to Camp No. 1. The 
 driver "got me" finally, and after belaboring his poor 
 nag, which was in a sort of semi-comatose state, we 
 got under way. It was rough going and slow. The 
 road we took evidently had been used for heavy motor 
 truck haulage and was pretty well broken up and rutted. 
 However, my skipper appeared to know the channels and 
 at last a sign with "Camp No. 1" painted on it in big 
 black letters loomed up off our starboard bow. After 
 making a turn to the right we were hauled up sharp 
 by a sentry. I had my papers out of my breast 
 pocket in a jiffy — it is surprising how practice makes 
 this business of flashing credentials almost automatic; 
 with me now it comes as easy as the hip-pocket motion 
 of the Western "gunman" who is always getting the 
 "drop" on some one. 
 
 "What do you want here?" said the man in uniform, 
 lifter scanning the documents which I handed him. 
 
 "I have come to see Colonel S , of the 'Steenth' 
 
 Engineers," I replied. He looked puzzled for a moment. 
 "The 'Steenth' Engineers," he repeated ; "why, they ain't 
 here any more!" 
 
 In my early dpys in France this information, de- 
 livered at the end of many weary hours of travel, might 
 have had the effect of a knockout blow, but one thing 
 
 [ 14 
 
 I have learned since I have been over here is that 
 "no" sometimes means "no," and then again it may mean 
 something else. Things are shifting rapidly. Units 
 come and go. A man or a regiment may be here one 
 week and hundreds of miles distant the next, so there is 
 every reason for a poor sentry to become muddled in 
 his knowledge of the location of troops even in his 
 own camp. At any rate, I did not intend to give up 
 my "clue" without a fight. 
 
 "You must be mistaken," I said to the man who 
 barred my road, although the conviction I tried to 
 throw into the words had very little solid foundation 
 to rest upon. "I know that the 'Steenth' Engineers are 
 here and I have an important message to deliver to 
 the Colonel." 
 
 "Wait a minute," said the sentry, and he marched 
 off to confer with a non-commissioned officer of the 
 guard. While this parley was in progress a captain 
 
 RIPRAP AT ROADSIDE WAITING FOR TP \NSPORT TO 
 EARTH DAM 
 
walked by and to my delight I saw the castle insignia 
 of the engineers on his collar band. 
 
 "Captain," I shouted, ''can you tell me how to reach 
 Colonel S of the 'Steenth' Engineers?" 
 
 "Certainly," replied the officer, "his headquarters are 
 right over there. I'm going there myself ; come along." 
 Never did more heartening words pass the lips of any 
 man than those which I had just heard. With a wave 
 to my sentry, who came to the present arms as I passed 
 him with my Heaven-sent convoy, and a signal to my 
 cabby to let go anchor — an unnecessary detail, as 
 
 has included pretty nearly everything from the actual 
 laying of railroad track of the installation of a baking 
 oven and shower-baths in one of the base hospitals. 
 
 The immediate big task of the "Steenth" Engineers, 
 however, is the development of ocean and railway ter- 
 minal facilities at the French seaport near its main 
 camp. This problem was outlined briefly in a former 
 article (see Engineering News-Record, p. 348, Feb. 
 21, 1918). The job consists essentially in rearranging 
 the track system which serves the docking basins and 
 in providing an immense new freight classification and 
 
 THIRTY-THOUSAND YARD EARTH DAM AT FRENCH SEAPORT BUILT WITH PICK AND SHOVEL 
 
 both he and his horse had passed away by this time — 
 I climbed up a steep bank from the roadside, and 
 there, about a hundred yards away was a long low 
 wooden shack with a sign bearing the magic words 
 "Headquarters, 'Steenth' Engineers." I had reached 
 port at last! 
 
 Headquarters was a busy place. Typewriters were 
 clicking away noisily. Uniformed men were bent over 
 drafting boards. Others were engaged, apparently, in 
 computing work. A group of surveying instruments 
 was stacked in one corner of the room, and a first 
 sergeant, coatless, with sleeves rolled up elbow high, 
 was busy with a batch of reports which he was filling 
 out on a sort of combination desk and military trunk. 
 To him I presented my card and was soon escorted to 
 the Colonel's private room. The Colonel had left town, 
 
 I was informed,, but Major A , in command of the 
 
 unit during his absence, gave me a hearty greeting. 
 
 Now the "Steenth" Engineers is one of the so-called 
 "Railway Regiments" which were recruited with volun- 
 teers early in the war, and were among the first Ameri- 
 can troops to arrive in France. This particular unit 
 is made up very largely, although not exclusively, of 
 men from the South. About 1200 strong when it left the 
 states, it has grown in numbers, principally by the 
 addition of labor battalions, until its quota is now sev- 
 eral thousand men. Its operations cover a territory 
 about 210 miles long and 150 miles wide, and its work 
 
 •I 
 
 storage yard on the flat lands which flank the water- 
 front. There are projected also four new steamship 
 piers, each 1000 ft, long, with the necessary unloading 
 equipment and trackage to hook them up to the freight 
 classification yard and storehouses. These new piers, 
 which will have a 30 ft. depth of water, will have a 
 docking capacity sufficient for 16 ships at one time. 
 
 Work on the big railway yard is now in progress. 
 The job is essentially one of track laying and very 
 light grading as the ground is practically flat. Steam 
 shovels are at work in a borrow pit delivering sand 
 for track ballast, as this material, it has been found, 
 will answer the purpose well enough; crushed rock is 
 a very difficult commodity to secure. At the time of my 
 visit one Marion steam shovel was in operation and 
 two large Bucyrus and one Marion machine were being 
 set up. Other equipment included half a dozen loco- 
 motive cranes of from 5 to 10 tons capacity. The in- 
 stallation of the trackage in the railway yards is calling 
 for a sand fill of about a foot or so over the entire 
 area. But the tracks are, of course, only part of the 
 project. There will be 4,000,000 sq.ft. of covered 
 freight storage structures and about 9,000,000 sq.ft. 
 of uncovered storage area. Steel for some of these 
 buildings is on the ground and I saw a few of the bents 
 in course of erection. All connections are bolted, as 
 there are no facilities here for riveting. 
 
 At the existing docks American labor units and 
 15 J - 
 
gangs of German prisoners were rearranging the track- 
 age system and replacing the French turntables, which 
 are too short for American rolling stock, with curved 
 track and switches. A small amount of concrete was 
 being placed between the rails, but all of this was hard 
 work, the mixing being done in small batches on wooden 
 platforms which were moved about from place to place 
 as occasion demanded. Lack of construction plant is, 
 of course, responsible for so large a use of hand labor 
 methods. The engineers, however, are on the lookout 
 for mechanical equipment, and have scouts in various 
 parts of Europe whose job is to corral anything that 
 can be shipped quickly to the work. One of the officers 
 of the "Steenth" Engineers who has had wide exper- 
 ience in the purchase of supplies got news of a big 
 steam shovel in Spain which had been used on some 
 hydro-electric construction work in that country. 
 Agents were dispatched to round up this excavator 
 and through their quick action it was purchased, de- 
 livered, and set to work digging sand for track ballast. 
 In like manner quite a sizable consignment of railroad 
 ties from Portugal was secured. Anything of this sort 
 that can be done to reduce the demands on trans- 
 atlantic shipping is considered good business. 
 
 While the railway yards and docks are engaging a 
 portion of the strength of the "Steenth" Engineers there 
 are scores of other jobs which the organization has been 
 called upon to do. "Although we are, in name, a 
 railway regiment," Major A — explained, "we have 
 tackled about every sort of job which you can imagine 
 since we landed in France. Let me give you an idea 
 of the variety of our program. At two near-by towns 
 we are building hospitals, sewerage systems and dams 
 for water-supply, and are assisting in the double 
 tracking of one of the French main line routes through 
 anbther town. At another place we will soon begin 
 construction on a division engine terminal, an overhead 
 railroad crossing, and a yard for car erection. Addi- 
 tions to hospitals in the form of one-story timber struc- 
 tures have taken up a large part of our time. At one 
 large base hospital we are putting in a new water- 
 supply system which involves the construction of a 
 curved concrete dam about 40 ft. high. For supplying 
 water to the town near our camp we have almost 
 finished an earth dam containing about 30,000 cu.yd. of 
 material. The laying of 15 miles of 16-in. pipe, the 
 reconstruction of a water-filtration plant and the pro- 
 vision of Imhoff tanks for sewage disposal are other 
 details of our work." 
 
 "How about the German royalties on the Imhoff 
 tank patents. Major?" I interrupted. 
 
 "Let them come over and collect them," was the 
 Major's reply. 
 
 I spent the afternoon in an automobile trip, inspect- 
 ing features of the regiment's varied work. The earth 
 dam was well along toward completion, but it, like 
 
 HAND DRILLING IN CUTOFF TRENCH FOR CONCRETE 
 
 DAM 
 
 most of the other jobs, had been a hand labor proposi- 
 tion. Shovels, wheelbarrows, and a line of narrow-gage 
 industrial track and cars constituted the main items 
 of plant equipment. At the concrete dam the work 
 was in its initial stages and the main operation at the 
 time of my visit was rock excavation for the cutoff wall. 
 This job has been let by the Army to a Mexican con- 
 tractor. Rock drilling was as usual being done with 
 hand tools, although on this job I saw two concrete 
 mixers, the first machines of their kind which have come 
 under my observation since I have been in France. 
 Another job we passed by was a steel frame structure 
 which was being built for the assembly and repair of 
 motor trucks and automobiles. 
 
 This, then, is a sketch of the work which a "rail- 
 way regiment" has done and is planning to do. But 
 the important thing about it all is this fact: No mat- 
 ter how diversified have been the demands upon them, 
 the "Steenth" Engineers have been able to produce 
 from their organization men qualified to handle every 
 one of the scores of different jobs assigned to them. 
 
 16 
 
Human Problem Thought of Paramount Importance 
 
 in Paris Shrapnel Plant 
 
 Health of 6000 Women Employees in Total of 9000 Studiously Safeguarded, and Provisions Made for Care 
 of Their Infants— Excellent Meals Served at or Below Cost in Large Dining Hall 
 
 By Robert K. Tomlin, Jr. 
 
 War Correspondent of Engineering News-Record 
 
 JF YOU had been in Paris three years ago and had 
 decided, in a whimsical mood, to leave the beaten 
 track of the tourist sightseer and visit the most com- 
 monplace and uninteresting spot in the whole city, you 
 could not have selected a better objective than the strio 
 of land which flanks the River Seine in the western out- 
 skirts of the town, known as the Quai de Javel. A few 
 rickety buildings of the typical "shanty" type, a ma- 
 chine shop or two, and here and there patches of ground 
 devoted to truck gardening — these would have been the 
 sights to reward you for your trip. But all this was 
 three years ago. That spot has since undergone an al- 
 most magical transformation. Acres of long, low build- 
 ings have sprouted upon it, railroad cars and motor 
 trucks are busy delivering to and taking away from it 
 liuge volumes of material, men and women by the 
 thousands come and go daily, and the steady hum of 
 machinery continues day and night. And all of this 
 activity is the result of a man with a purpose. In the 
 €arly days of the war Andre Citroen decided to manu- 
 facture artillery munitions. He chose the Quai de Javel 
 as the site for his plant. Ground for the foundations 
 of his shops was broken in March, 1915, and four 
 months later — in July — buildings were erected, ma- 
 chinery installed and finished shells were actually being 
 shipped to the front for use by the famous French 
 ^'soixante-quinzes," "75s." 
 
 DINING HALL WHERE 2700 EMPLOYEES CAN BE SEATED AT ONCE 
 Note the ever-present electric truck on the right 
 
 [ 17 ] 
 
 But this was only the beginning of things. Citroen 
 is not the kind of man who is content to do things on a 
 small scale. Starting with a daily output of 10,000 
 shells, the plant capacity was soon increased to 20,000: 
 in 1916 the output was again doubled, and today the 
 enlarged works are delivering the supendous quantity 
 of more than 50,000 shells every day. Along with this 
 achievement other things have happened. War's draft 
 upon the manhood of France has made the manufacture 
 of munitions largely woman's work, thereby introducing 
 into the industrial problem entirely new elements. Ob- 
 viously, old precedents had to be discarded and new 
 conceptions of machine shop administration formed. 
 To this task Citroen applied himself with characteristic 
 energy, individuality and thoroughness, and created a 
 new order of things in French industrial life, the work- 
 ings of which I was permitted to observe during a re- 
 cent tour of the plant. The outstanding impression 
 which I carried away was this : In organizing the work 
 of producing 50,000 shells day after day at the Citroen 
 plant, the human problem — the problem of the worker 
 as a woman or man — has received fully as much at- 
 tention by the executive heads of the company as has 
 the problem of machines and materials. 
 
 My visit to the great munition-producing center was 
 arranged through the French "Maison de la Presse," 
 and of course credentials of one sort or another had to 
 
 be vised before the necessary 
 permits to enter the works 
 could be obtained. It was 
 Thursday, "visitor's day," and 
 in our party of inspection was 
 George R a n d o Ip h Chester, 
 creator of "Get-Rich-Quick 
 Wallingford," his wife, a 
 French lady who is a special- 
 ist in social welfare work, a 
 Spanish journalist and one or 
 two others besides myself. 
 
 We began our tour through 
 the executive oflSces, first visit- 
 ing the library in which 
 100,000 volumes are available 
 for the use of the company's 
 employees. Then we passed 
 through the chemical, metal- 
 lurgical and testing labora- 
 tories, all equipped with the 
 most up-to-date apparatus. 
 Noon found us at luncheon in 
 the cantine, or huge dining 
 hall, which seats 2700 em- 
 ployees at one time. After we 
 
QUARTERS FOR THE CARE OF INFANTS OF WORKING MOTHERS 
 
 had finished our meal we made the tour of the various 
 shops, and ended by inspecting the welfare institutions 
 which form an important part of the administrative 
 scheme of the works. Our guide during the day was the 
 company's dentist, a French Army officer, who had 
 formerly been a student at the University of Pennsyl- 
 vania. Readers of Engineering N eivs-Record will not 
 be interested in the details of the process of shell 
 manufacture, but should be in what we may call the 
 human side of the institution — and it is an insti- 
 tution. 
 
 At the time of my visit the employees numbered 
 about 9000, and of this number 6000 were women. The 
 work is conducted in two shifts of about 10 hours each. 
 The day shift of 6000 employees comes on at 7 a.m.; 
 stops at noon for depeuner (lunch) ; resumes work at 
 1 : 30 p.m., and continues until 6 : 30 p.m. The hours 
 for the night shift) 3000 em- 
 ployees), are from 7: 30 p.m. 
 to midnight, and from 12 : 45 
 a.m. to 6 a.m. About one-third 
 of the employees live in the 
 immediate vicinity of the 
 works and arrive and depart 
 on foot. For the others there 
 are adequate transportation 
 facilities, as the Qual de Javel 
 station of the "Metro" (the 
 Paris subway) is only a few 
 minutes walk from the shops, 
 and street-car lines are also 
 within easy reach. 
 
 After an applicant for em- 
 ployment has been examined 
 by a superintendent he is as- 
 signed to a shop and receives 
 a time card, a service card, a 
 card indicating the name and 
 location of his particular shop, 
 the name of his foreman, 
 
 locker number and the number 
 of the timeclock on which he 
 checks in and out. By the 
 system which has been de- 
 veloped a man can be set to 
 work in a few minutes. After 
 six months at the same kind 
 of work an employee, on re- 
 quest, is assigned to different 
 duties. 
 
 Two systems of wages are in 
 force — payment by piecework 
 and by time. On time work all 
 employees performing the 
 same kind of duties generally 
 receive the same wages, but in 
 some cases bonuses are paid, 
 depending on the diligence and 
 capacity of the worker. Where- 
 ever possible, however, pay- 
 ment is made on the piecework 
 basis. To save time in paying 
 off the workers the following 
 scheme has been developed. Only even sums of money 
 are given out, irrespective of the actual amount which 
 has been earned. The balance is credited and issued on 
 the next payday. Payment is made fortnightly from 
 about 100 windows, and from each window sums of 
 only one amount are issued. For example, there will 
 be a window at which sums of 70 francs — and only 
 70 francs — are paid; another for 80 francs; another 
 for 90 francs ; another for 100 francs, and so on upward. 
 In order to receive their wages employees must present 
 vouchers. To aid in still further simplifying the pro- 
 cedure, payment cards of various colors are used, and 
 the corresponding colors are painted on the pay win- 
 dows. A bureau for adjusting complaints is open con- 
 tinuously. 
 
 General or special announcements to the force are 
 made either in the form of printed sheets or (at night) 
 
 TRUCK REMOVING SHELL FORGINGS FROM AN INSPECTION POINT 
 
 [ 18 ] 
 
of illuminated signs over the shop exits. A service for 
 investigating absences from work, by means of visits to 
 the homes of employees, also has been organized. 
 
 Very elaborate measures have been taken to safe- 
 guard the health of employees. They assume two forms ; 
 prevention and cure. On the side of prevention fre- 
 quent lectures on sanitation and the care of the human 
 body are given, there being special conferences at which 
 female ailments are discussed. Care of the teeth is 
 considered so important that the plant employs regu- 
 larly a staff of dentists, and has provided them with 
 offices equipped with every modern dental appliance. 
 At the dental rooms 100 patients can be treated every 
 day. Printed bulletins on the care of the teeth are 
 issued regularly. Of course there is also an infirmary 
 with doctors, both male and female, in constant attend- 
 ance. 
 
 One of the most spectacular things which Monsieur 
 Citroen has developed is his cantine. I had the pleas- 
 ure of eating luncheon in this 
 mammoth hall, receiving the 
 same fare as the workers. 
 And a mighty good meal it 
 was — hors d'oeuvres, bread, 
 roast lamb, beans, red wine, 
 baked apples and coffee. This 
 meal, without the wine, costs 
 the employees 1.50 francs 
 (26:1c. at the present rate of 
 exchange on French money), 
 but I was informed that the 
 company loses about 1 franc 
 per head at this rate. The 
 food is cooked in a large, well 
 equipped kitchen and is deliv- 
 ered by means of electric 
 trucks to warming ovens at 
 the ends of the transverse 
 aisles in the hall. It must be 
 remembered that the job of 
 feeding 2700 people in one 
 
 hall involves the transport of food rather long distances, 
 and unless mechanical means were employed the service 
 would be slow and the dishes cold. 
 
 Men and women eat together at the same tables, and 
 the meal is much more prolonged than would be the 
 case with American mechanics. An hour and three- 
 quarters is allowed for luncheon. With the French this 
 meal is a leisurely occasion, and this characteristic was 
 well exemplified at the cantine. There is no bolting of 
 food. It is eaten slowly, between sips of wine, which is 
 supplied at a small extra charge. Another point is 
 that service by uniformed waitresses is provided and 
 that dishes of meat and vegetables are passed to each 
 individual so that taste as to the size of the helping can 
 be satisfied. 
 
 Adjoining the cantine is a clubroom, where the em- 
 ployees, men and women, can spend what remains of the 
 luncheon "hour." I saw the men here playing billiards 
 and chess and the women in groups talking, knitting or 
 playing games. This luncheon "hour" forms a decided 
 break in the day's work, and offers means of complete 
 relaxation. Whether or not it is his usual custom I do 
 not know, but on the day I visited the plant M. Citroen 
 
 [ 
 
 himself ate at the table adjoining ours in the cantine. 
 In works where so many women are employed the 
 matter of childbirth presents a rather important prob- 
 lem, which resolves itself into two main subdivisions — 
 the woman about to become a mother, and the newly 
 born infant. With the probable increase of woman 
 labor in United States machine shops this question is 
 one which American executives cannot dismiss lightly. 
 Here is the way the situation is dealt with at the Cit- 
 roen plant. The prospective mother receives 30 francs 
 a month in addition to her regular wages, and must 
 visit the company's doctor twice a month. When her 
 condition becomes such as to prevent her from perform- 
 ing her regular duties in the shops she is sent to a 
 hospital, where all of her expenses are defrayed by the 
 company. After giving birth to the child- the woman is 
 sent to rest quarters, where she remains six weeks be- 
 fore returning to work. 
 
 For the newly born infants the company has a special 
 
 TUBE-DRAWING SHOP FOR SALVAGING REJECTED SHELL BODIES 
 
 building, called the pouponniere. Here the children re- 
 main day and night, if the parents so desire, under the 
 care of competent nurses. The mother calls for her 
 baby on Saturday, takes it home over Sunday and re- 
 turns it to the poupenniere when she comes back to 
 work Monday morning. During the regular hours of 
 shopwork each mother is allowed two periods for visit- 
 ing and nursing her child, while additional visits are 
 made befot-e and after hours and after luncheon. 
 
 I was taken through the pouponniere. It is light and 
 warm, finished inside with white and blue tile, and is 
 kept scrupulously clean. Every one of the 30 cribs in 
 the ward through which I passed was occupied by a 
 healthy looking infant. M. Citroen, however, is going 
 one step farther than the pouponniere. He is now 
 building a garderie — a building to which the children 
 from the pouponniere will be transferred when they 
 have begun to develop. As an indication of the detail 
 into which this man goes when he undertakes anything, 
 he has purchased a large consignment of puppy dogs 
 for the children in the garderie to play with. This in- 
 stitution will be large enough to house at one time 
 150 sons and daughters of the plant's employees. 
 19 ] 
 
Various educational and amusement facilities are fur- English, physics, mechanics and metallurgy ; a legal- 
 nished to the men and women who are turning out shells aid department ; a social club, a company newspaper, 
 at this plant for the French Army's 75-mm. field pieces, and a library are a few of the special activities. 
 Every Saturday night in the huge cantine, or dining As we finished our tour of the works and were about 
 hall, a moving-picture program is given. Seats are to depart, I turned to our guide. "What will become 
 provided for 3500 workers and members of their fami- of this institution," I said, "with its thousands of em- 
 lies. There has been organized among the employees ployees and thousands of machines, after the war, when 
 a band of 60 instruments, which gives concerts on these France will not need 50,000 shrapnel a day? I sup- 
 evenings. On Christmas and other holidays special pose there will be a wholesale lay-off of workers." He 
 programs of entertainment are arranged. smiled. "On the day peace is declared," he replied, "M. 
 
 In fact, the features other than those directly con- Citroen will have completed plans for taking on 10,000 
 
 nected with the manufacture of shells are almost end- new men from the returning armies. From shrapnel we 
 
 less. A cooperative store, where goods and food are intend to transform our plant output into automobiles 
 
 bought in bulk and sold practically at cost; classes in and agricultural implements." 
 
 [ 20 ] 
 
Water-oupply at the Front in France 
 
 Engineering Work for American Forces Centralized in Specialists — Horses Important Factor in Quantity 
 Estimates — "Water Points" Must Be Provided — British and French Water-Supply Practice Reviewed 
 
 By Robert K, Tomlin, Jr. 
 
 War Correspondent of Engineering News-Record 
 
 French Official Photo 
 A WATER PURIFICATION "PLANT" OPE3RATED BY THE FRENCH IN THE MARNE SECTOR 
 
 DURING a recent interview at our general head- 
 quarters in France, the chief engineer of the 
 American Expeditionary Forces in telling me about 
 the activities of our technical troops, made this re- 
 mark: "In addition to what you can now see in the 
 field, our engineers have done a tremendous amount 
 of work the results of which, as yet, do not all appear 
 on the surface." At the time I did not appreciate 
 the full significance of this statement. A little later 
 that day, however, after I had been given an oppor- 
 tunity to inquire into the subject of water-supply for 
 American forces in the field, its real meaning became 
 clear. This problem, involving two great subdivisions, 
 water-supply for the advance areas and for the sec- 
 tions of the rear, is one of countless ramifications; 
 one that has demanded a prodigious amount of de- 
 tailed preliminary investigation, for into its solution 
 enter not only most of the factors with which the 
 water-supply engineer in civil life has to deal, but 
 also scores of others arising out of the special con- 
 ditions of modern warfare. 
 
 These investigations of our army engineers in 
 France have led along some strange bypaths, routes 
 unexplored in the course of Ordinary municipal water- 
 supply practice at home. How much water does a 
 horse or a mule drink daily? What is the minimum 
 requirement per capita for troops during an advance? 
 What is the best means of sterilizing water on the 
 field? How shall pipe lines, pumping stations and 
 tanks be protected from shell fire? Shall each army, 
 corps or division be responsible for its own water- 
 
 [ 
 
 supply, or shall this matter be controlled for all of 
 our forces directly from headquarters? To what ex- 
 tent can water be delivered by pipe lines, and how 
 much pipe can be procured in France? Where should 
 pipe-line delivery stop and transport by motor truck, 
 light railway or animals begin? How much water 
 does a soldier need for a shower bath, and how often 
 should he be permitted this luxury? These are 
 samples of the questions our water-supply engineers 
 at the front have been busy answering. And from 
 the answers it has been possible to evolve two very 
 important things — a policy governing the supply of 
 water to the American Expeditionary Forces and an 
 organization to direct the work in all of its branches. 
 In the development of this organization we have 
 been fortunate, for we have been able to profit by 
 the experiences of the British and French armies, 
 which have been placed so freely at the disposal 
 of our engineers. We have been able, for instance, 
 tc avoid the mistake of making mobile units directly 
 responsible for their own water-supply. We have, at 
 the very beginning, done what our Allies did only 
 after paying the price for their experience, and re- 
 organizing their systems of water-supply: We have 
 organized water-supply on a geographical rather than 
 upon a shifting military unit basis. By this I mean 
 that the service of water-supply has been established 
 as an organization attached to headquarters, and, 
 through the chief engineer, A. E. F., exercises central 
 and direct control over all field operations by means 
 of districts. The geographical constancy of the men. 
 21 ] 
 
French Official Photo 
 
 VARIOUS FORMS OF CARTS ARE USED FOR WATER DELIVERY IN ADVANCE AREAS 
 
 engaged in water-supply field work, therefore, is as- 
 sured, irrespective of the shifting from one sector to 
 another of divisions or other units. The big advantage 
 of this plan is that the water-supply force in each dis- 
 trict remains continually in charge of work with which 
 it is familiar, instead, as was the case in the first year 
 of the war, of being moved from one locality to another, 
 facing *a new set of conditions, with regard to the 
 supply of water, at each shift. The accompanying dia- 
 gram of organization indicates the tentative lines along 
 which we are working, and is of course subject to 
 modification as experience shows such alteration to be 
 desirable. 
 
 The principal uses of water in the forward areas — 
 and it is with the forward-area work only that this 
 article will deal — are these: Drinking (men and ani- 
 mals) ; laundry; culinary; locomotives and steam 
 boilers; washing wagons and harness; shower baths 
 and fire protection. Behind a rapid advance of troops 
 the following methods of supplying water are em- 
 ployed: (1) Hand portage in bottles and cans. '(2) 
 Horse-drawn carts. (3) Tank trains and cars. (4) 
 Construction of new water delivery points. (5) Laying 
 new pipe lines. (6) Equipment of advance pumping 
 stations. Each case determines the method or com- 
 bination of methods that will serve best. Past exper- 
 ience has shown, however, that most advances are more 
 or less intermittent, with lapses of time between move- 
 
 ments, which allow ' the water-supply forces to install 
 first-aid pumping stations, pipe lines, and water points 
 for the use of large numbers of horses, hauling artillery 
 and supplies. This work must be done under shell fire. 
 Pipe lines are broken and must be kept in repair. 
 Mechanical equipment is pretty much of a minus quan- 
 tity. Casualties deplete the working force. But come 
 what may, the water-supply engineers must stick to 
 the job and keep the delivery of water close up behind 
 the troops moving ahead. 
 
 Having reached the decision that geographical con- 
 stancy should be the basic element of the Army water- 
 supply work, the chief engineer, A. E. F., authorized 
 the creation of a new department, the Service of 
 Water-supply and Sewerage, and placed at its head a 
 colonel of engineers who, after graduation from West 
 Point and service some years in the corps of engineers, 
 became associated with Allen Hazen, consulting en- 
 gineer. New York, for whom he took charge of many 
 important water-supply projects, among them being 
 the large filtration plant at Toronto. The chief of the 
 water-supply service, A. E. F., is responsible for all 
 water-supply and sewerage work undertaken by the 
 forces in France, including design, construction, supply 
 of materials, laboratory control of quality of water, 
 and investigation of water resources. Collaborating 
 closely with him in this work, and directly in charge of 
 the office which handles much of the water-supply work 
 
 [ 22 ] 
 
General Staff 
 Intelllftence Section 
 Engineer Supply Officer 
 Engr. Depots & Shops in 
 U. S. and France 
 
 Chief Engineer Officer 
 A E. F 
 
 Asst to Ch Engr. Off. 
 A E. F 
 
 Director of Water 
 Laboratories 
 
 Water Supply Officer 
 Dist. of the Roar 
 
 Chief of Service 
 
 of 
 Water Supply 
 and Sewerage 
 
 i I l_^ 
 
 French Service de« Eaux 
 
 British Water Supply 
 
 Service Medical Dept., 
 
 V S. A. 
 
 0. M. Dept., V. S. A. 
 
 (Water tank transport) 
 
 Geological branch, Chf. 
 
 Engr., A. E. F 
 
 Water Supply Officer 
 1st Army 
 
 Office and Field Assistants 
 
 Assistants, office & field 
 design ; const. ; materials ; 
 quality of water; 
 
 Electrical & .Mechanical 
 Battalion 
 
 5 Corps Water Supply 
 Officers 
 
 I Well Drilling .Section] 
 
 5 Water Sup- Cos- one 
 
 under Ch. Engr. each 
 
 Corps 
 
 ^_l___i 
 
 I Water Supply Officer 1 
 I (I for each additional army) ■ 
 
 I Same organization j 
 I as for 1st army, j 
 
 TENTATIVE ORGANIZATIOX SCHEME FOR WATER- 
 SUPPLY OF AMERICAN FORCES AT THE FRONT 
 
 connected with American interests in France outside 
 the zone of the armies, is another engineer officer whose 
 qualifications result from long experience on New York's 
 Catskill Aqueduct and other important projects. 
 
 The field work, as now contemplated, will be con- 
 trolled by districts, each district including the area 
 occupied by one army. The district, in turn, will be 
 subdivided into sections for each army corps. There 
 will be, therefore, water-supply officers representing the 
 chief water-supply officer, A. E. F,, in each army, and 
 in each corps area. If a corps should move to a new 
 position in the field, and another corps take its place, 
 the original water-supply officer of the corps would re- 
 main. For every army there will be, also, an electrical 
 and mechanical battalion and a well-drilling section, re- 
 porting through the chief engineer of the army to 
 the water-supply engineer of the army. Through each 
 chief engineer of a corps the water-supply officer of 
 the corps will have control of a water-supply comapny, 
 made up of picked men. Then, too, there will be a 
 director of laboratories, with a staff of assistants for 
 office and field work, reporting to the chief water-supply 
 officer. A, E, F, Through the chief engineer, A. E, F,, 
 contact will be had with the British Water-Supply Serv- 
 ice, the French Service des Eaux, the medical and 
 quartermaster departments, U. S. A., the engineer 
 supply officer and the various engineer depots and shops 
 
 French Official Photo 
 A HASTILY MADE "WATER POINT"' FOR HORSES — TROUGH 
 MERELY A WATERPROOF CANVAS SHEET HUNG 
 OVER A WOODEN FRAME 
 
 both in France and the United States. There is, in ad- 
 dition tp the organization outlined above, a force which 
 is in charge of water-supply in the district of the rear. 
 This does not come within the scope of this article. 
 It reports through the water-supply officer, district of 
 the rear, to the chief of the water service, American 
 Expeditionary Forces. 
 
 In organizing our water-supply work along the lines 
 indicated we have followed in a general way the scheme 
 which has been found to give the best results in both 
 the French and the British armies. In the early days 
 the French delegated the work of water-supply to each 
 division, to be performed as fatigue duty by troops 
 taken at random from tactical units. Generally these 
 troops had little or no knowledge of the work, their 
 technical control was inadequate and a general state of 
 confusion and inefficiency was the result. In 1915, with 
 the creation of the Service des Eaux. a big change for 
 the better was wrought, for in each army a chief of 
 water service was appointed and about 1000 engineer 
 
 British Official I'hoio 
 
 ELEVATED TANK (IN BACKGROUND. CENTER) FOR 
 SUPPLYING WATER TO RAILWAY LOCOMOTIVES 
 
 troops were given him for the performance of water- 
 supply work. A similar change occurred in the British 
 armies, where, until 1915, field companies were as- 
 signed to water-supply. The creation of a separate 
 service, composed of men trained in this branch of en- 
 gineering, became imperative and the Service of Water- 
 Supply for the British armies was the outcome. 
 
 The chief of the water-supply service for the Ameri- 
 can forces and his assistants have made a thorough 
 study of methods employed behind the British and 
 French fronts. To a large extent water for our allies 
 is obtained from wells. The British territory is under- 
 laid with chalk, and it is necessary to sink driven wells 
 from 150 to 250 ft, to reach the level of saturation. 
 With two shifts the drilling progress on a 6-in, hole 
 varies from 20 to 60 ft. a day, and the yield per well 
 may range from 50 to 150 gal. per minute. In the 
 Somme valley, British troops used river water, which 
 was passed through purification plants mounted on 
 barges. About four-fifths of the French army water- 
 supply in the region of Verdun was obtained from wells. 
 Wells dug by hand, in addition to drilled wells, are also 
 employed to some extent — one of these was put down to 
 
 [ 23 ] 
 
a depth of 65 ft. If time permits, these dug wells are 
 lined for the upper 10 or 12 ft., and a curb 2 ft. high 
 is built around the top to prevent debris or waste water 
 falling back into the well. For dug wells a round sec- 
 tion about 4 ft. in diameter is common. 
 
 The engineer in civil life who is accustomed to design 
 n water-supply system on the basis of a consumption 
 of 150 to 200 gal. per capita per day must reconstruct 
 his ideas when he reaches the front and compares 
 these figures with military allowances for advance 
 areas. For an advancing army the consumption often- 
 times must be as low as h gal. per soldier daily. 
 Three days after the beginning of a movement, during 
 which time the water-supply forces have been able to 
 extend their lines forward, the allowance per man daily 
 is increased to 1 gal. For the guidance of engineers 
 of our army water-supply forces, the following table 
 of allowances and rationing, based on the experience 
 of the British and French, has been prepared: 
 
 WATER-SUPPLY ALLOWANCE AT THE FRONT 
 
 Gallons per Man 
 Kind of Service or Animal per Day 
 
 Advancing army (men) 0.5 
 
 Animals (drinking) 7.5 
 
 Army after 3 days (men) 1 .0 
 
 Field hospital 5.5 
 
 Rear rt gions 10.0 
 
 Base hospitals 25.0 
 
 General use at stables 10.0 
 
 As to allowance of 1 gal. per man daily, British 
 records show that a 6000-gal. overhead canvas tank. 
 
 filled once a day, supplied an army camp of 6000 men 
 without serious complaint. Of course, in this case, as 
 in all others where water is at a premium, a very 
 strict surveillance is kept over consumption, and polic- 
 ing at water points prevents waste. In the instance 
 cited no cart was allowed to fill from the overhead tank 
 without a ticket of permission from the area com- 
 mandant. 
 
 For advance areas the present war has developed 
 the "water-point," which assumes various forms. It 
 may be a well, the end of a pipe line, a trough, an 
 elevated tank of metal or wood, or merely a reservoir 
 of canvas. It establishes, however, a line of demarka- 
 tion between the work of the special water-supply forces 
 and the troops in the field — between producer and con- 
 sumer. The water-supply service establishes these water 
 points at frequent intervals, and divisional or other 
 units must assume responsibility for getting the water 
 from them to their men and animals by light railway, 
 wagon transport, motor truck, hand carrying, or such 
 other means as the local situation may demand. 
 
 During an advance the sequence of operations relat- 
 ing to water-supply begins with horse-drawn transport 
 by individual military units from existing water-de- 
 livery points. Then, as the distance from these water 
 bases to the new front increases, water-tank trains 
 operate up to a point where pack-mule or other service 
 begins. These water-tank trains are operated by the 
 
 
 
 
 r" 
 '<■■■ 
 
 
 
 r 4 
 
 ■,*.•% 
 
 1 
 
 " d 
 
 ^ ^L^'^ 
 
 
 Bf' 
 
 ~^"^^ 
 
 K^^^^^H 
 
 ,:*P 
 
 w^m^^ 
 
 ^' . '1 
 
 «j£"wi!SHis*i ^HHBBflfcar^ "* 
 
 
 ^^m 
 
 
 
 
 \ 
 
 •W 
 
 f 
 
 
 m 
 
 ^ 
 
 1 
 
 ' ^'ii 
 
 
 
 w 
 
 ^P 
 
 
 
 m 
 
 
 .^iii^'i iMiiiinitli>"ira^>^^.. 
 
 
 French OffCciat.Photo 
 
 A FEW OF THE PLACES ALONG THB FRENCH FRONT VmERE POILUS MAY QUENCH THEIR THIRST 
 
 [ 24 ] 
 
quartermaster department, and tide over the 
 period during which engineers of the water- 
 supply service are establishing new water 
 points in advance of the old ones. It is abso- 
 lutely essential for the success of the move- 
 ment of troops forward that the distance be- 
 tween water points and the rear of advancing 
 units shall not be so great as to make trans- 
 port of water difficult. As a general rule, I 
 am told, this distance should not exceed four 
 or five miles. The extreme range of water- 
 tank transportation is set at 10 miles, to which 
 not more than three miles should be added for 
 delivery by small carts or pack mules. Obvi- 
 ously, any such distance as 13 miles between a 
 water-delivery point and the point of actual 
 consumption can be maintained only for a 
 very short time. If the roads are congested 
 this distance must be halved to insure service 
 that is all effective. 
 
 During forward movements frequent use is 
 made of "first aid" tanks. These are estab- 
 lished as far forward as possible, and offer a 
 means of supply until a moie permanent 
 water point can be established. These "first 
 aid" tanks are nothing more than large pieces of sail- 
 cloth, waterproofed with tar and pitch, or linseed oil 
 and pine resin, laid directly on the ground and banked 
 up around the sides with sand bags. It is desirable 
 to cover them with some form of camouflage screen 
 as the reflection of the water in the sunlight discloses 
 their nosition to aviators. 
 
 French Official Photo 
 
 WATER IN BARREL, AT LEFT IS BEING STERILIZED 
 (PROBABLY BY HYPOCHLORITE OF LIME) 
 
 Traveling along the roads back of the front one 
 sees numbers of these water points. A typical one 
 (British) consists of one 9000-gal. canvas tank; one 
 2300-gal. canvas tank; one 200-gal. galvanized-iron 
 tank; six 600-gal. canvas horse-troughs; one water- 
 bottle filler. 
 
 Here are a few other types: (A) Air-lift pumping 
 station; 2800-gal. tank reservoirs; main pipe line; 
 elevated storage tank, feeding (1) elevated trough for 
 filling carts, trucks and flat cars (2) tank for filling 
 canteens (3) watering trough for animals, with cordu- 
 
 [ 25 
 
 French Official Photo 
 
 SOLDIERS IN THE TRENCHES MUST HAVE MEANS 
 OF FILLING THEIR WATER BOTTLES 
 
 roy "standing" and heavy guard rails around it (B) 
 Pumping station delivering water from stream; ele- 
 vated storage tank; pipe line to distribution troughs 
 and elevated tanks for filling trucks (C) Well-pump 
 in tent delivering direct to trough (this layout included 
 a fire-hose under a culvert crossing as part of the 
 main pipe line (D) Depressed concrete reservoir filled 
 with water delivered by means of light railway tank 
 cars; pipe line to elevated troughs for filling water 
 carts; also concrete troughs for animals. 
 
 Water points should be located near highways, but 
 not directly alongside main routes, as they would tie up 
 traffic. Where horses must be watered it is very im- 
 portant to build "standing" around the troughs — this 
 may be plank or any other paving material which offers 
 solid support. Without "standing" the horses' hoofs 
 cut up the ground until it develops into a veritable 
 bog. Among the consideration which must enter into 
 the location of a water point are ease of access; per- 
 manency; demands upon the supply; liability to con- 
 gestion ; safety from shell fire ; concealment from enemy 
 observation, and drainage. 
 
 The last consideration, drainage, is of great im- 
 portance, and where possible a water point should be 
 located on a side-hill. In this case water slopping over 
 during the filling of tank wagons or spilled along horse 
 troughs is quickly carried off, preventing the formation 
 of mud. It is difficult to have a true appreciation of 
 the mud over here unless one has actually tried to navi- 
 gate through it. Officers of our water-supply service 
 have told me that several of the large water points es- 
 tablished by our allies had to be abandoned because of 
 poor drainage faciUties. The stamping of thousands of 
 hoofs daily around a water point puts the ground to 
 a severe test, and it must be well drained and paved 
 if it is to be of any use. 
 
 In the design of water delivery points at the front, 
 engineers must give a great deal of attention to the 
 horse and mule. This applies not only to the actual 
 
 ]. 
 
design of troughs, etc., but also to computations and 
 estimates of the quantity of water it is necessary to 
 provide. A few references to conditions earlier in the 
 war will serve as illustrations. Back of Verdun in 1915 
 the French had a concentration of 175,000 horses. For 
 100,000 animals in the second army (French) alone it 
 was necessary to supply daily 2,800,000 liters of water, 
 equivalent to about 7i gal. a head. Another census at 
 a French veterinary hospital, with 1200 horses, showed 
 a per capita consumption of 8i gal. daily, this figure 
 including water used by attendants, waste, washing 
 horses and cleaning troughs. In the valley of the 
 Somme the British, during one week, supplied 50,000 
 horses with an amount of water equivalent to 5i gal. 
 per head per day. Ordinary British practice, however, 
 has adopted a daily supply of 8 gal, per horse daily. 
 
 So important is the matter of horse watering in 
 modern warfare that it is one of the controlling factors 
 in water-supply estimates. In a recent report the 
 water-supply officer of the American Expeditionary 
 Forces devoted many pages to this subject — and the 
 report, let it be said, was on the general work of ad- 
 vance-area water-supply, not specifically on water-supply 
 for animals. The tables of organization for the United 
 States Army show, approximately, about 1 horse per 
 5 men, but in an advance the animals will be concen- 
 trated at the front so that the ratio may change to 1 
 horse per 3 men, as is said to have been the case in the 
 French forces back of Verdun. Thus, recalling the fact 
 that an animal needs from 7 to 10 times as much water 
 as a man, it is clear that the water-supply engineer must 
 often provide more water for animals than for the men 
 actually engaged in fighting. 
 
 The watering troughs are simple affairs, consisting 
 generally of wooden frames supporting canvas con- 
 tainers. They extend often to great lengths, however. 
 The British have one run of trough 720 ft. long, com- 
 posed of eight 90-ft. sections, fed from three 1500-gaI. 
 canvas tanks elevated 15 ft. above ground. Separate 
 lines of 4-in. pipe deliver water to groups of four trough 
 sections. At this point a city fire engine pumped 10,- 
 000 gal. of water an hour into the tanks, which, however, 
 were bypassed, and delivery was made directly into the 
 troughs when horses arrived in large numbers. The 
 chief of our water-supply service, during his investi- 
 gations among the British and French armies, found 
 that a trough gives from 100 to 150 waterings per yard 
 of trough daily, but that with good service and constant 
 watering throughout the day this number can be 
 doubled. The French have found that when horses suc- 
 ceed, one another without interruption along a 20-m. 
 trough, at least 8 cu. m, of water per hour must be sup- 
 plied. About 6000 waterings a day is an ordinary per- 
 formance for a 20-m. trough. As a rough guide, the 
 British estimate 200 horses per hour at a 30-ft. trough. 
 A 90-ft. trough, it has been found, can accommodate 40 
 horses on each side at one time without undue crowd- 
 ing.* 
 
 In addition to the figures covering the drinking water 
 allowances for men, previously given, the following on 
 ihower bath requirements are worn noting: A 6-in. 
 shower head must be fed with at least 3 gal. per minute 
 (the pressure of course being very low). Four such 
 shower heads, supplied with from 800 to 1000 gal. per 
 
 [ 26 ] 
 
 hour, are estimated to be sufficient for baths for 2000 
 men in 24 hours. 
 
 The experience of the British and French has indi- 
 cated the desirability of having as few different sizes 
 of pipe as possible. Wrought-iron pipe, 18-ft. lengths 
 with screw couplings, in three sizes, 1, 2 and 4 in, in 
 diameter, is much used and has demonstrated its use- 
 fulness. During a hurried advance pipe must be laid 
 on the ground surface, but in this position, of course, 
 it is exposed to rupture by shell fire, and should be 
 covered at the earliest opportunity. Pipe should never 
 be laid on the surface of continuous straight lines, as 
 expansion due to the sun's heat is apt to cause breaks. 
 Wavy lines are always recommended. 
 
 The British practice is to have an advance pipe-laying 
 gang proceed with all rapidity, leaving gaps in the line 
 for sharp bends, specials, or where extra work would 
 consume valuable time. This first gang is followed 
 by a "make-good" party, whose job is to connect up 
 sections of the line left unfinished by the forward 
 gang — for example, at highway or railroad crossings. 
 Behind the "make-good" party comes a third gang 
 which tests the line and places the back fill. Screw-- 
 joint pipe laid on the ground surface has been pulled 
 over into trenches without much damage — but it is 
 better to lay the pipe originally in the trench if con- 
 
 French Official Photo 
 ELEVATED WATER TANK SUPPLIED BY NEARBY SPRING, 
 ALONG ROADSIDE IN THE SOMME VALLEY 
 
 ditions permit of the digging of the trench first. Pipe- 
 line trenches are about 2 ft. -wide and 2i ft. deep, as 
 a rule. While it is possible with straight wrought-iron 
 pipe to make bends, cold, in the field, the better prac- 
 tice is to provide lengths of bends in advance. 
 
 According to the recommendations of one of our army 
 water-supply oflScers, a pipe-laying gang should include 
 one noncommissioned officer and six men — four to handle 
 the material and pipe tongs and two to fit and grease 
 or lead the joints. In good weather it is possible for 
 one of these gangs to lay 40 lengths of 18-ft. pipe 
 (4 in. in diameter) in eight hours. These figures are for 
 laying on the ground surface or in prepared trenches 
 under favorable circumstances. Cases arise which re- 
 quire this progress to be liberally discounted. 
 
 To prevent breakage by shell fire, a 2-ft, earth cover 
 over a pipe line is regarded as sufficient, except in 
 case of a direct hit. In the case of an uncovered pipe 
 
line a high-explosive shell bursting on hard ground 30 
 ft. away will rupture the joints. Pending the digging 
 of a trench, however, pipe on the surface^ can be pro- 
 tected in a measure by laying sand bags over exposed 
 joints. When shrapnel bullets puncture a line repairs 
 can often be made, where the pressure is low, with 
 plumber's tape. For large holes split sleeves are use- 
 ful. When whole pipe lengths are sprayed with shrap- 
 nel the section must be taken out and replaced. On 
 the repair work it has been found advantageous to have 
 a fairly plentiful supply of one-half and one-quarter 
 lengths of pipe with long screw threads and sockets. 
 
 The work of the water-supply service of the American 
 Expeditionary Forces indicates also supervision over the 
 
 quality of the water furnished to our troops. The 
 British and French have used hypochlorite of line for 
 this purpose, but our engineers have developed plans 
 for the extensive use of liquid chlorine apparatus of 
 the Wallace & Tierman type. Some of these outfits, 
 I am informed, will be mounted on motor trucks. 
 
 What has been said in the foregoing notes refers 
 exclusively to advance area water-supply. This is only 
 part of the story. Back of the front at our supply 
 bases and along our lines of communication many water- 
 supply projects, some of them involving filtration plants, 
 are included in the program of work for our Army 
 Vv'ater-supply service. In a later article I hope to give 
 an outline of water-supply in the district of the rear. 
 
 [ 27 ] 
 
Road Builders at Work Close to Front of 
 American Sector in France 
 
 Maintenance, Reconstruction and Quarrying Proceed Despite Interruptions by German Shelling — ^Our 
 
 Engineers Have Installed a Mechanically Operated Quarry, First of Its 
 
 Kind on Any Front in France 
 
 By Robert K. Tomlin, Jr. 
 
 "War Correspondent of Engineering News-Record 
 
 at work on military highways and in quarries within 
 
 XN TWO previous articles dealing with the work of the 
 road service of the American Expeditionary Forces 
 here in France my reports of progress were necessarily 
 confined to matters of organization, inspection and plan- 
 ning. These were the early days back in January, when 
 the principal activities of the chief of the road service 
 and his department heads took the form of investiga- 
 tion and report. The results of our efforts were then 
 on paper, not on the ground, for the rank and file of 
 our special road-building and quarry regiments were 
 still at Camp Meade in Maryland, and practically no 
 construction plant or tools had been received. Since 
 those days a big change has been wrought. The van- 
 guard of our special road construction and quarry 
 forces landed in France some time ago. Road service 
 headquarters was immediately shifted from Paris to a 
 point nearer the front. A limited amount of equipment 
 was received, some of it from the states, some from 
 local sources: Men who had been chafing at desk jobs 
 were transferred to open country. District offices wore 
 established : construction gangs were detailed to selected 
 areas; and the real work of road reconstruction and 
 maintenance in the zone of American operations in 
 France began. 
 
 The machinery of the organization up to this time 
 had been in the assembly stage. Now, however, the 
 throttle has been opened and the wheels are turning. 
 We are not yet going at full speed, but we are moving 
 along nicely, and each week sees the lever jacked for- 
 ward a notch or two. American road builders are now 
 
 HAND QUARRYING PENDING ARRIVAL OF CRUSHER 
 
 [ 
 
 the range of German artillery fire as well as in other 
 areas between the front and our seaport bases. 
 
 I have just come back from the advance section of our 
 road service, where work, subject to interruption at 
 any time by high explosive shelling or drenching by 
 mustard gas, is being carried on under the direction 
 (;f a captain of engineers who was formerly a division 
 engineer in the New York State Highway Department. 
 Upon his shoulders has fallen the responsibility of get- 
 ting the job in the forward area started. His status, 
 like that of several other engineer oflflcers assigned to 
 different areas of France, is that of a division highway 
 engineer reporting directly to the chief of the road 
 service, who is located at present at the general head- 
 quarters of the American Expeditionary Force. 
 
 Just a little more than a month ago — on Feb. 15, to 
 be exact — road work up near the front was begun by 
 American forces. Since then things have moved swiftly. 
 About 1500 men are now engaged in road reconstruc- 
 tion, maintenance, and quarrying in this advance zone. 
 They are operating in seven groups, each group being 
 assigned to a territory with definite limits. Five 
 quarries are being worked by our men. Mechanic?! 
 equipment has begun to arrive. Several crusher instal- 
 lations have been set up, among them one with over- 
 head bins and mechanical elevating equipment, said 
 to be the first of its kind to be erected behind any 
 front in France since the war started, almost four years 
 ago. Four days after the machinery and wood for the 
 bins arrived at the quarry site our men had this outfit 
 producing crushed rock. Nor have we stopped at the 
 innovation of the portable crusher plant with its ele- 
 vating conveyors and storage bins. We are causing a 
 good deal of comment among French engineers, I am 
 told, by the use of bottom-dump wagons and elevating 
 end-dump motor trucks. Such equipment as we are 
 using for quarrying and transportating rock is a de- 
 cided novelty over here, where the practice of depending 
 on hand labor rather than mechanical plant is far more 
 general than is the case in the United States. 
 
 As I stated in a former report, our road builders do 
 not have to concern themselves to any great extent with 
 the construction of new roads. There are already 
 plenty of highways leading to the front, and our job 
 now is maintenance, reconstruction and widening of 
 existing waterbound macadam roads. Where our road 
 and quarry regiments are operating near the front the 
 amount of work to attend to is about one mile of road 
 per square mile of land. Certain "national" highways 
 leading toward our battery positions and trenches are 
 already of ample width and possess good foundations 
 and drainage. Ordinary maintenance work is all they 
 28 ] 
 
require. Some of the offshoot roads, however, are only 
 from 9 to 12 ft. wide and these must be increased to 
 from 18 to 25 ft. in order to carry artillery and motor 
 truck traffic. These offshoot roads are in most cases 
 too thin to stand the heavy traffic of war and our men 
 are reconsti'ucting them, as shown in the sketch. 
 
 The reconstruction work involves the preparation of 
 a subgrade, which is not rolled, and the laying of a 
 foundation course of large stone or "blockage" to a 
 thickness of 20 cm. This blockage is set by hand and 
 chinked in with smaller stones. Then on top of it is 
 spread a 10 cm. layer of crushed stone 1 to 4 in. in size, 
 
 .SURFA CING 
 
 Roac( reconstructed 
 and widened. 
 
 AMERICANS USE OLD ROAD AS HALF BASE FOR NEW 
 
 this layer being extended across the surface of the 
 existing road, which serves as a base for about half of 
 the widened route. When a roller is available the top 
 course is rolled down; otherwise the compacting must 
 be done by the traffic itself 
 
 There is nothing very elaborate about the work. It 
 is macadam road reconstruction reduced to its simplest 
 form, for under the conditions that obtain in the ad- 
 vance section our engineers have found that this is 
 the only type of road it is practicable to build and m.ain- 
 tain. The captain of engineers in charge of our advance 
 section work states the case thus: "The war-time type 
 of road for France is the waterbound macadam road. 
 It is the road for which local material is available and 
 for which the methods of maintenance and reconstruc- 
 tion are simple. The fact that the local stone has 
 
 AMERICAN ENGINEERS HAD THIS QUARRY IN 
 
 OPERATION FOUR DAYS AFTER 
 
 EQUIPMENT ARRIVED 
 
 a high cementing value is another argument in its 
 favor." The stone referred to is a soft limestone, almost 
 white. 
 
 Our policy in road building is to use local material 
 as far as possible, thus cutting down on the length of 
 haul for crushed stone. This is very important, for 
 with quarries located far from the job the motor trucks 
 hauling crushed rock for maintenance and reconstruc- 
 tion destroy the very roads for which they are bringing 
 up repair materials. Then, too, it is now, in the early 
 spring, that the roads are subjected to their severest 
 test, for at this time military activity generally in- 
 creases after the winter's lull and the roads must be 
 cleared, so far as possible, of all traffic which does not 
 carry ammunition, supplies and the other essentials of 
 combat and sustenance. Giving weight to all of these 
 factors, our road service is opening up, or taking over 
 from the French, many quarries, on the theory that 
 many quarries mean short hauls for crushed rock, and 
 consequently fewer trucks operating on the highways. 
 
 Up to within a short time ago most of our quarrying 
 was a hand-labor job. Some of it still is, but our aim 
 is to install mechanical equipment at all quarry sites 
 just as soon as such equipment is to be had. The accom- 
 panying photograph shows the first mechanically 
 equipped quarry which American engineers have in- 
 stalled near the front. It is of the semiportable type, 
 with jaw crusher, overhead bins and elevating con- 
 veyors. This is the plant which was set up in four 
 days. As previously noted, this layout is a decided 
 departure from previous practice of the allied armies 
 behind the front. The rock here is the prevailing soft 
 limestone which, after being blasted — generally at night 
 — is loaded into wheelbarrows and delivered by inclined 
 runways to the jaw crushers. 
 
 The elevated bins, it will be noted, have two openings 
 below. The larger of these is for motor trucks, while 
 the other is for light railway (60 cm. gage) cars. 
 American quarry practice over here is making a marked 
 cut in the man-power required for operation by the 
 provision of gravity loading of crushed rock into motor 
 trucks, light railway cars and bottom-dump wagons. 
 
 Another of the views shows a gyratory crusher which 
 had been set up only a couple of days before I took this 
 picture. At the time overhead storage bins had not 
 been erected at this site, which had previously been 
 worked by the French. 
 
 In another photograph a detachment of our quarry 
 regiment is shown breaking rock by hand, pending the 
 arrival of a crusher. The captain in charge of this 
 work had established his camp only a few days before 
 my visit to this quarry, and, eager to increase his out- 
 put of crushed stone, he was preparing to build a 
 crusher of his own from odds and ends of metal which 
 he had ferreted out in a junk shop in a near-by town. 
 "As soon as I can get the authorization to spend a few 
 hundred dollars for this stuff," he said, "I will have a 
 crusher set up and running in a few days." This spirit 
 is typical. Our men have had to proceed with their 
 work in the face of difficulties of all sorts, shortage of 
 men, shortage of plant, delays in railroad shipments, 
 etc. Yet they are not sitting down and waiting for 
 something to turn up. When mechanical plant does 
 arrive it is set up in a jiffy; if it is delayed, some sort 
 29 ] 
 
THIS QUARRY, TAKEN OVER PROM FRENCH, IS SHOWN PARTLY, EQUIPPED WITH GYRATORY CRUSHER. THE 
 
 OVERHEAD STORAGE BINS NOT HAVING BEEN BEGUN 
 
 of makeshift is resorted to, or else the rock is barred 
 out and broken by hand. From four of our quarries 
 where mechanical plant of some type is in service we 
 are turning out about 500 cu.m. of rock daily, and the 
 work is as yet hardly organized. 
 
 Most of the transportation of crushed rock from 
 quarry to road is done, at this writing, by motor truck 
 or horse-drawn dump wagon. A number of Mack motor 
 trucks are in service for the longer hauls and Watson 
 bottom-dump wagons for lesser distances. " Both 
 schemes of dumping — the automatic elevating body in 
 the case of the motor truck, and the bottom opening 
 leaves in the case of the wagon — are decided novelties 
 among French road builders and their first perform- 
 ances were in the nature of spectacles watched with the 
 keenest interest. Much of the road stone is delivered 
 by the French in small, two-wheel carts hauled by a 
 pair of horses in tandem. ^ 
 
 The men of our road-building and quarry regiments 
 have been divided into gangs and are quartered close 
 to the particular jobs to which they have been assigned. 
 
 [ 
 
 At some places camps have been established and the 
 men live in wooden barracks. Others, newly arrived, 
 are occupying canvas tents for the present. Still others 
 are billeted in French towns. The road service is pro- 
 viding everything possible in the way of good food and 
 clothing to make life comfortable for the men. Many 
 of the rank and file are experienced construction men, 
 road builders or engineers with degrees from our lead- 
 ing technical schools, who expected to be assigned, 
 on their arrival in France, to jobs of a supervisory 
 capacity ; for example, as bosses of gangs on road recon- 
 struction or maintenance. Up to the present time it 
 has not been possible for all of these expectations to 
 be realized and men with qualifications which would 
 ordinarily place them in positions carrying varying de- 
 grees of authority are at present swinging pick and 
 shovel or breaking rock. When we have at our dis- 
 posal a larger supply of labor battalions and have cap- 
 tured more prisoners it is probable that there will be 
 a change in the status of many of our road builders 
 who are now doing ordinary day-labor jobs. Neverthe- 
 30 ] 
 
less, the men are buckling down to their tasks and show- 
 ing an excellent spirit. 
 
 Judging by what I had to eat at one of the quarry- 
 camps there is nothing to complain of on the score of 
 "grub." To some of us here in France who have either 
 to pass up coffee or sweeten it with saccharine, eat 
 brown war bread without butter and smoke French 
 cigarettes, the lot of the military road builder, even if 
 his job is for the time being of the routine, manual 
 labor sort, seems to have its compensations, for he 
 gets white bread to eat, real sugar in his coffee and 
 American "smokes," which, in themselves, should dis- 
 count many of the things- which may be not quite to 
 the liking of the man who is spreading crushed stone 
 instead of super\dsing the work of German prisoners. 
 
 It is still a little early to attempt to tell the real 
 Btory of our road-building work. That will come later. 
 
 when all of our quarries are locaLtd, equipped and run- 
 ning full blast, and when our work of reconstruction 
 and maintenance has been extended and put to the test 
 of carrying the traffic of war for a longer time than it 
 has done up to the present. Yet I am able to report 
 real progress in the advance section of our road serv- 
 ice, and I cannot do it better than by quoting from a 
 note written to the commanding officer, lines of com- 
 munication, advance section, by the general command- 
 ing the first division of the American Expeditionary 
 Forces, behind which our road builders have been at 
 work. Here is what the note says : 
 
 "I was very hard pressed in the sector on account of 
 terrible roads, daily growing worse under hard usage. 
 It was necessary to act quickiy and directly with G.H.Q. 
 Your men are doing good work- They are really saving 
 the '.situation." 
 
Army Topographical Division Co-ordinates Work of Map 
 
 Makers in Air and on Ground 
 
 Existing French Maps Used as Basis for New Work — Aerial Photographs, Taken by Our Own Machines, Bring 
 Valuable Data from Enemy Territory — Relief Maps a Specialized Work in Which U. S. Details Are Trained 
 
 ' By Robert K. Tomlin, Jr. 
 
 War Correspondent of Engineering News-Record 
 
 USING French army maps and civil records from 
 various local sources as a basis, the topographical 
 division of the intelligence section, American Expedi- 
 tionary Forces, which has been passing throuQ:h the 
 organization and training stages for some months past, 
 has been developed to a point where it is now furnish- 
 ing to our staff and field officers in France maps on 
 f/hich the more recent information represents the work 
 
 engineer organization and training them in the various 
 details of the sei-vice, that has occupied much of the 
 tim.e of the topographical division. But now the results 
 of this preliminary work have begun to bear fruit, and 
 week by week the scope of operations is being extended. 
 Where formerly we were entirely dependent on the 
 French Armies for maps of both sides of No Man's 
 Land, we are, at this writing, drawing more and more 
 
 WHEN THE LENS IS NOT HORIZONTAL, CURIOUS EFFECTS FROM DISTORTION APPEAR 
 Height, 1700 meters — The river is the Moselle 
 
 of American engineers; cooperating with them is our 
 air service, which is responsible for the taking of all 
 aerial photographs for map-making purposes. This 
 statement I am in a position to make as the result of 
 an interview at American Army headquarters with Col. 
 
 A , Corps of Engineers, U.S.A., commanding our 
 
 topographical division. Its significance can be appre- 
 ciated only when it is realized that the present war has 
 revolutionized methods of map making, that a new art 
 has been created, and that men, even though topographi- 
 cal specialists in civil life, must be put through an ex- 
 tended course of training before they can become useful 
 in the new work at the front, which involves the taking 
 and, of equal importance, the interpretation of aerial 
 photographs. It has been this task, this rounding up 
 of the technically qualified men, molding them into an 
 
 [ 
 
 upon our own resources for this information, and will 
 continue to do so in larger measure as time goes on. 
 
 The topographical division must be able to furnish 
 at quick notice maps of enemy ground and also that 
 occupied by our own troops, the latter including not only 
 the advance areas but also the territory in the rear, 
 such as sites of supply bases, hospitals, aviation train- 
 ing stations, artillery and machine gun ranges, storage 
 yards and camp areas. Obviously, it would be difficult, 
 if not impossible, for a single detached organization 
 to do the field and air work necessary for the pro- 
 duction of all of these maps, especially on an extended 
 front. The plan is, therefore, to have each Army map 
 the territory along its own front, while the topographi- 
 cal division of the intelligence section, a headquarters 
 unit, acts as the general clearing house for map informa- 
 32 ] 
 
tion, and outlines the broad questions of policy by which 
 the special map-making forces in each Army are guided. 
 Its work involves, of course, very close cooperation with 
 the air service. 
 
 Fortunately, the American Expeditionary Forces have 
 not had to start from the very beginning in the matter 
 of maps. Those portions of the front which we are 
 taking over have been completely mapped, as the result 
 of more than three years' occupation by the' Armies of 
 cur Allies, although the changing conditions on both 
 sides of the line, involving the location of new field 
 gun positions, roads, railways, and similar data of mili- 
 tary importance, call for a large amount of work by our 
 men. And it is pertinent to em.phasize that our map- 
 making forcss must concern themselves with the sec- 
 tions of the rear as well as those of the front, and that 
 while the aviator and observer with their photographic 
 apparatus are now bringing back information from 
 areas occupied by the German armies, engineer dotach- 
 ments, with transit, level, sketching-board and the re3t 
 of the equipment needed, are performing equally 
 valuable service back of our lines and in other zones, 
 at supply and ordnance bases, for example, where 
 sizable cities must be created, at railroad yards, at artil- 
 lery training grounds, and aviation fields. 
 
 Our topographical division's first work was a study 
 of existing French maps. There is, to begin with, a set 
 of maps with 20-m. contours, and drawn to a scale of 
 1 to 200,000. These maps, prepared by the Service 
 Geographique, correspond in a general way to those 
 issued by the United States Geological Survey. They 
 are useful for certain military purposes, but obviously 
 the scale is too small for detail work. For Army staff 
 work the French use the cartes d'etat major, maps on a 
 scale of 1 to 80,000. There is a series of these maps 
 covering the whole of France, and they give information 
 of military value, such as the location of bridges, roads, 
 railroads and canals. Topographical features, however, 
 are shown by hachures instead of contour lines, the 
 elevations of strategic points being indicated by letter- 
 ing. There are also maps on a somewhat larger scale, 
 1 to 50,000, but these are merely enlargements of the 
 cartes d'etat major. In the vicinity of all fortified 
 places special large-scale maps had been prepared by 
 the French before the war. These maps contained a 
 considerable amount of detail, such as the location of 
 trenches, mines, etc. 
 
 Next in the list comes the plan directeur, on a scale 
 of 1 to 20,000, equivalent, approximately, t© 3 in. to 
 the mile, which is, practically, the standard for use in 
 every day field operations at the front. Existing sup 
 plies of these maps, however, did not cover the training, 
 areas and our topographical division has been filling 
 in the gaps by plotting the results of old French sur- 
 veys which has never before been completed in the form 
 of battle maps. For this work Arrierican engineers are 
 using old civil records, such as those involving titles to 
 land, and department tax maps, which correspond, in 
 a general way,, to those which would be on file in the 
 office of a county surveyor in the United States. In 
 connection with the work of making the new plans 
 directeurs the American topographical division is also 
 producing for special purposes a number of maps on 
 still larger scales, 1 to 10,000 or about 6 in. to the mile, 
 
 [ 
 
 A MUCH-BATTERED HILL— DOUAUMONT— 2400 METERS 
 
 and even 1 to 5000, the latter, for infantry use, show- 
 ing machine gun emplacements and practically every 
 other detail along the front. 
 
 One of the first field operations which the topographi- 
 cal division of the American Expeditionary Forces car- 
 ried out in France was the establishment of triangula- 
 tion stations and the making of a network of traverses 
 covering the zone of our army operations in the rear 
 areas. To this task the division assigned picked men 
 of its organization who had specialized in just this kind 
 of work, many of them having held important posts in 
 the United States Geological Survey and the United 
 States Coast and Geodetic Survey. This triangulation 
 work has been completed and is serving not only as a 
 means of coordinating the individual large scale maps 
 which are being produced, but also is of extreme value 
 in the establishment of reference points for the guid- 
 ance of our artillery fire. 
 
 Early in the war, when the fighting in France ceased 
 to be in the open and developed into trench warfare, the 
 conditions became, practically, those of a siege, and 
 large-scale maps were in demand in numbers greater 
 than had ever before been considered necessary. This 
 state of affairs was responsible for the widespread pro- 
 duction of the 1 to 20,000-scale map, this scale being 
 now practically a standard on the French, British and 
 American fronts. These 1 to 20,000-scale maps are 
 known under different names, plans directeurs in the 
 French armies, "trench maps" in the British, and "bat- 
 tle maps" in the American, but they are of practically 
 the same type for all the armies. The contour interval 
 is 5 m. Each map covers an area 20 x 16 km., and is 
 divided into squares 1 km. on a side. These main grid 
 lines are numbered for general reference, and a sec- 
 ondary system of coordinate numbers is applied to the 
 1-km. squares for the closer location work required by 
 the artillery. It is not strictly accurate, by the way, to 
 say that the grid lines form true squares, for they are 
 actually projections, by the Lambert system, of imagin- 
 ary north and south, and east and west lines on the 
 ground. Due to the earth's curvature, the projection 
 of the lines produces a slightly distorted "square." 
 33 ] 
 
TRENCH SYSTEM SHOWS PLAINLY AT 1900 METERS 
 
 The origin of the coordinate system applying to all 
 of the plans directeurs is fixed at a point so that all 
 horizontal map distances are measured toward the east, 
 and all vertical distances toward the north. The same 
 scheme applies to the indication of positions within 
 the 1-km. squares where the southwest corner of the 
 square is always the origin of coordinates. Thus, in 
 reference to a gun emplacement by coordinates there are 
 not both plus and minus numbers; all are plus. These 
 plans directeurs show the position of the enemy 
 trenches, but not our own, except on secret editions for 
 our staff. They also indicate German battery locations, 
 roads, etc. 
 
 In connection with the use by artillery of the plans 
 directeurs, the topographical division furnishes the 
 means for locating the position of each fieldpiece by 
 means of reference points on the ground. These refer- 
 ence points are tied in to the permanent triangulation 
 I)oints. If any movement of batteries forward or back- 
 ward occurs, the topographical division must see to it 
 that new points of reference are quickly available. By 
 their aid the battery commander can readily determine 
 the coordinates for the position of each of his guns, 
 
 [ 34 
 
 and having been given similar data for his objectives 
 behind the German lines, the setting of the proper 
 ranges becomes a simple matter. 
 
 By far the most valuable source of information for 
 making maps of forward areas is the aerial photograph. 
 It is, however, a subject on which few details can be 
 given. The work divides itself into three phases, the 
 taking of the picture, its interpretation after develop- 
 ment and reconstruction of the data in map form. Our 
 topographical division has developed a force of special!:,' 
 trained men for the last two steps of this work, whicn 
 calls for the highest type of technical skill, long ex- 
 perience and thorough familiarity with almost every- 
 thing connected with modern warfare. To the un- 
 initiated some of these pictures would be absolutely 
 meaningless. Ofter the exposures are made at great 
 heights, when machines are forced upward by anti- 
 aircraft fire; conditions of light may be poor; the ma- 
 chine not be flying horizontally when the exposure iw 
 made, causing distortion in distances. In fact, scores 
 of variable factors enter into the work, and the inter 
 preter of photographs taken in the air must be a man 
 of seasoned judgment, able to evaluate each streak or 
 spot and discover its true meaning. His work is made 
 doubly difficult by attempts to camouflage the posi- 
 tions of enemy guns. The photograph reader, therefore, 
 must be a student of camouflage in all of its many 
 variations. After a picture is made, no attempt is made 
 to enlarge or reduce it to some uniform scale. It is 
 put under lenses of high power, as well as stereoscopes, 
 which bring the details out in relief, and the man who 
 reads its message must be able to make the proper 
 allowances for the height at which the exposure was 
 made. The usual height for taking a picture from an 
 airplane for map-making purposes, I was told, is 2500 
 meters. 
 
 In addition to its standard maps, the topographical 
 division is called upon for many special maps, which 
 must be prepared and issued quickly to staffs. Speed 
 and accuracy are both essential. If an attack is being 
 planned, for example, orders from headquarters must 
 be illustrated by diagram maps. The topographical 
 division, therefore, must be well supplied with all the 
 map data which could be demanded, and mufet be ready 
 to send it out at almost a moment's notice. 
 
 As to the accuracy of maps of enemy areas based 
 largely on information from aerial photographs, the 
 English and French, after the advance in the valley 
 of the Somme was made, had an opportunity of checking 
 their maps. I am told that the degree of accuracy dis- 
 covered was, on the whole, very satisfactory, although 
 the results of field surveys disclosed some points which 
 needed revision. During a recent trip to the front I 
 saw an enemy map which was found on the charred 
 body of a German aviator who had been shot down 
 behind the allied lines. Half of it had been burned 
 away, but on what remained was plotted accurately in 
 red ink the location of a light railway spur of one of 
 our Allies which had been constructed only three days 
 before the map was taken from the dead body of its 
 owner. 
 
 Having begun with the use of French maps, the 
 American Expeditionary Forces have adopted the metric 
 system for all of our topographical work. To change to 
 
 ] 
 
miles, i.istead of kilometers, at this date, would, it is 
 believed, result in considerable confusion, especially as 
 there are many situations demanding the interchange 
 of maps between our own armies and those of our 
 allies. Nevertheless, on our maps, in addition to the 
 standard metric scale, is surprinted in red a scale in 
 miles, and also a conversion table for metric and Eng- 
 lish linear measurements. French terminology also will 
 be retained on new maps, although a glossary of terms 
 is issued to facilitate their interpretation. 
 
 A tour of the "plant" of the topographical division 
 at headquarters disclosed the work of map making in 
 many of its phases. Leaving the offices of the chief of 
 this service we went first to the filing room, in which is 
 classified and stored a large stock of maps ready for 
 immediate issue. An entire room was devoted to map 
 storage, and piles of prints were arranged in rows on 
 wooden shelves extending from floor to ceiling. Then 
 we inspected the photo-lithography equipment, the print- 
 ing presses, the gelatine process (used only when a 
 limited number of copies is needed), the blueprinting 
 machines, the drafting-room, the photographic copying 
 apparatus and the various other features which the 
 production of maps for use in war demands. By the 
 gelatine process, which is patented, an impression is 
 secured directly from a blueprint and transferred by 
 inking the gelatine film and applying blank sheets over 
 which a roller is passed. The gelatine process is em- 
 ployed extensively for color work, and especially for 
 
 THE AlK CAMERA IS FLEXIBLY MOUNTED 
 
 making over-prints — that is, adding new information to 
 an existing map. 
 
 One of the interesting sights in the topographical 
 division was a collection of relief maps. They are used 
 
 HOW A RIVER, A RAILWAY JUNCTION, BILLETS AND FORTIFICATIONS APPEAR FROM 3200 METERS UP 
 
 [ 35 ] 
 
to quite an extent in staff work, and a detachment of 
 our forces has been sent to a' shop in Paris to learn how 
 to make these maps. One method is to mold them 
 directly while the other involves the cutting up of copies 
 of a map, mounted on cardboard, along every contour 
 and the arrangement of these sections, one above the 
 other, forming a series of steps. The angles of the 
 steps are then filled with putty and a casting in plaster 
 of paris is taken, giving a reverse relief map. A second 
 casting, from the reverse, gives a true relief map, and 
 over it a contour map is stretched and pasted down. 
 The process is said to require a good deal of skill, as 
 the application of the contour map to the casting in- 
 
 volves the stretching of the map fabric (it looked like 
 paper) over the mounds representing hills. 
 
 While the work of our topographical division is pro- 
 ceeding its personnel is gradually being enlarged, and 
 many new men are now being instructed in the details 
 of the several branches of this service. Every day sees 
 changes on both sides of the front which must be 
 recorded on maps. Thus the work of the division is a 
 never-ending one^ and its members must continually be 
 on the alert in order to be ready night or day to supply 
 our forces with maps that aro both accurate and up- 
 Vo-date. 
 
Along the British Front by Light Railway 
 
 Experiences and Impressions of a Weelt's Study of the Narrow-Gage 
 System at Close Range — How It Has Revolutionized Salvage 
 
 By Robert K. Tomlin, Jr. 
 
 War Correspondent of Engineering News-Record 
 
 It was in February, before the big drives on the 
 Somme and in Flanders, that Mr. Tomlin spent a week 
 studying the light railways along the British front. 
 His story reached the British authorities for censoring 
 just before the March drive. Nothing was heard of 
 it for weeks, but the Boches did not capture it, and it 
 has lately returned from the hands of the British cen- 
 
 LESS than a yfear ago the British Armies in France 
 were carrying weekly, about 12,000 tons of muni- 
 tions and supplies over a system of "light railways" 
 (60-cm. gage and 20-lb.-per-yard rails) involving a 
 total trackage of less than 100 miles. Motor-truck, or 
 lorry, transport over highways was, at that time, the 
 main reliance for deliveries from standard-gage rail- 
 heads to the front. Today the weekly tonnage on light 
 railways has soared well into six figures, the track 
 mileage into four figures, and during a period of about 
 lOJ months the highways have been relieved of millions 
 of lorry-miles of traffic. 
 
 For obvious military reasons I cannot make this 
 statement more specific, but it will serve to indicate 
 the really tremendous traffic development which has 
 taken place along the British front. Light railways 
 have already revolutionized transportation practice, and 
 the end is not yet in sight. Far from resting on its 
 present enormous mileage of 60-cm. tracks, British staff 
 officers are calling for more mileage, more engines, more 
 tractors, more cars, A year's actual test has demon- 
 strated in the most convincing manner the supreme 
 importance of the light railway in the conduct of modern 
 v/arfare, for every 3-ton load hauled relieves the high- 
 ways of one lorry. Even now, the British tonnage 
 figures on light railways for successive weeks are show- 
 ing regular jumps of 10,000 to 15,000 — there had not 
 been a break in the curve during the 17 weeks preceding 
 my visit to the British front in February. In this 
 article reference to tonnage is based on the long ton 
 of 2240 lb., not our own short ton of 2000 lb. To the 
 engineer these statistics, general as they are, will in- 
 dicate the place which the light railway now occupies 
 in the scheme of transportation in the war zone of 
 France, and how the highways have been relieved of 
 the heavy overload of traffic which demanded high 
 tribute in materials and men for maintenance. 
 
 I have just returned from a week's tour along the 
 front, where, thanks to the splendid hospitality of our 
 British allies and the detachments of our own American 
 railway troops which are operating in northern France, 
 exceptional facilities were given me for observing the 
 actual working of the light-railway systems from 
 Flanders southward through the valley of the Somme. 
 But before I get into the engineering details of my 
 story, let me give a hasty outline of my trip. 
 
 I was met at a certain railroad station by a British 
 staff officer, and proceeded by automobile to British 
 
 [ 
 
 sors. So interesting is Mr. Tomlin's narrative of hi» 
 experiences and impressions in getting the story that 
 this, ivith an account of what the light railways have 
 wade possible in the way of salvaging of material, is 
 made the basis of the present article. A second article^ 
 setting forth how the raihvays are built, maintained 
 and operated, will be published next week. — Editor. 
 
 general headquarters, where I was introduced to the 
 Director General of Transportation of the British 
 Expeditionary Force. I spent the afternoon with a 
 brigadier general, the D.G.T., who very kindly per- 
 mitted me to inspect his organization charts and graphic 
 records of the trackage and tonnage of the light rail- 
 way system for all of the British Armies in France — 
 charts on which the curves were ever mounting at 
 steeper angles. 
 
 After tea, I met a brigadier general, the Director of 
 Light Railways, who is responsible for the construc- 
 tion, maintenance and operation of the system along^ 
 the entire British front; a captain of the Royal Engi- 
 neers, a veteran of the Gallipoli campaign and the 
 great drive in the valley of the Somme, who had been 
 assigned to act as my guide during the trip; and the 
 several department heads in charge of construction, 
 operation, maintenance and repair. Then we proceeded 
 to the field headquarters of a major general, Director 
 of Light Railways for the American Expeditionary 
 Forces, where we spent the night. 
 
 Getting away to an early start next morning in a 
 British staff car, we reached an Army light-railway 
 headquarters in Belgium and from there traveled by 
 light railway through the Ypres sector, the superin- 
 tendent of operation in this zone having ordered a 
 . special train run out toward the front lines for my 
 benefit. We had about half completed our ride when 
 an enemy airplane came soaring over the lines, evi- 
 dently intending to attack an observation balloon which 
 v/e had just passed. British aircraft appeared. Ma- 
 chine guns cut loose. Its petrol tank riddled by bullets, 
 the Boche plane suddenly emitted a great cloud of 
 black smoke. The framework caught fire. The flaming- 
 machine reeled about in a spiral for fully a minute, 
 exhibiting remarkable stability, and then plunged down- 
 v/ard, leaving a wake of fire. 
 
 Night found us at , where the buildings are 
 
 in every conceivable stage of demolition from heavy 
 shelling. The room we occupied in one of them waa 
 ventilated by two great gashes which shells had torn 
 in the ceiling. 
 
 Next day we crossed into the territory of another 
 Army, where the Assistant Director of Light Railway* 
 explained the workings of the operating control and 
 train-dispatching systems. Our next stop was at the 
 headquarters of the commander of one of the first 
 American railway regiments to reach France Outfitted 
 37 ] 
 
British Official Photographs 
 
 THE BRITISH ARMIES. DURING THE PAST TWELVE MONTHS. HAyE LAID A TREMENDOUS MILEAGE 
 
 with "tin hats" and gas masks, we ran by light railway, 
 under the guidance of two captains, to within a little 
 more than a mile of the front-line trenches, looping 
 back again to camp; thence by automobile to British 
 A.D.L.R. headquarters, where we were the guests of 
 a major at dinner. Into a shell-ruined town for the 
 night and away again in the morning for another Army 
 area where a Canadian lieutenant colonel, formerly 
 with the Union Pacific, showed me the workings of 
 Yi'is light-railway system, which has the largest mileage 
 of any in the British armies. Then with a major 
 through a salvage yard, where all sorts of materials 
 recovered from the territory from which the German 
 armies were forced to retire are collected and made 
 available for use by British troops. And so on, under 
 the guidance of another major to two other detach- 
 ments of American railway troops. The last leg of our 
 
 field trip took us by automobile to , where we 
 
 spent the night. In the morning I caught the train for 
 Paris, leaving my conducting officer, for whom I had 
 quickly developed a great liking, and who, for four 
 days, had so cheerfully submitted to my steady bombard- 
 ment of questions. 
 
 During this tour I made several trips toward various 
 parts of the front on light-railway trains which British 
 and American officers ran especially for my benefit. I 
 estimate that I rode 50 miles or more by light railway 
 and at least 500 miles by automobile, and I walked 
 over a few miles of track. Most of our journey was 
 through territory formerly occupied by German forces, 
 and I had the pleasure of crossing and recrossing many 
 sections of the old "Hindenburg line." It was a 
 wonderful trip. 
 
 My first ride was behind a 20-hp. petrol-tractor. 
 Starting from a point near the standard-gage railhead 
 of one of the British armies, we bowled along over a 
 fine straight section of track, but as we got nearer to 
 No Man's Land curves became more frequent. The 
 ground on either side was pitted with shell craters 
 of all sizes, and through half-closed eyes the barred 
 fields, with their mounds and depressions, looked like 
 a choppy, mud-colored sea. And yet it is through 
 areas of this sort that light railways must be built and 
 kept to fairly level grades. In the early days, I was 
 told, it was not uncommon for a steam locomotive to 
 get its boiler water from a shell crater. Now elevated 
 water tanks are provided at various points. 
 
 We stopped our train to watch the progress of the 
 air battle to which I have referred, and when we 
 resumed our trip I began to notice the very thorough 
 system of guide signs and warnings which the British 
 have installed along their light railways. In addition 
 to direction signs there were others such as "Unload 
 Here for Siege Battery." One of the first signs to greet 
 me as we got up toward the front was this: 
 
 If You Think Your Respirator Is Faulty Go to the 
 Gas Hut and Have It Tested 
 
 Mine was new, so we dispensed with this formality. A 
 little farther along, another white signboard with black 
 lettering bore this legend: 
 
 Steel Helmets To Be Worn and Gas Respirators 
 Carried at "Alert" Position Beyond This Point 
 
 There were other white signs along the route, little 
 crosses of two painted sticks, here planted singly, there 
 in groups of a dozen or more, signs which needed no 
 legend to tell of the brave sacrifice which had been 
 made in order that British light railways might run 
 where German trenches used to be. 
 
 It was at a grade crossing in the shelled area, where 
 an old highway and the light-railway line intersected, 
 that a certain grim-humorist sign painter had outdone 
 himself. It was in territory that might be upheaved 
 at any moment by a high-explosive shell, where gas 
 attacks were an every-day possibility, and airplane 
 bombs a constant menace. Here, where tiny tractors 
 passed occasionally, the arch wag had inscribed this 
 legend : 
 
 DANGER— RAILWAY CROSSING 
 
 Much of the country over which I passed on this 
 and subsequent trips had formerly been in German 
 aands. "We're running light railways now," said a 
 British officer to me, "where only a few months ago 
 we were crawling forward on our bellies." I saw a 
 number of enemy "pill boxes" along the light-railway 
 line, concrete structures with walls 4 ft. thick. Some 
 of these were built of molded blocks, while others, 
 apparently, had been cast in place, heavily reinforced 
 with steel. Here and there a branch would lead off to 
 38 ] 
 
OF LIGHT-RAILWAY TRACK ALONG THE FRONT, IN BOTH THE FORWARD AND THE REAR AREAS 
 
 a gun emplacement, and the variety of camouflage at 
 these points was almost unlimited. A most remarkable 
 sight was the crater of an old British mine. The hole 
 was. I should judge, nearly 300 ft. in diameter, and 
 from 50 to 75 ft. deep. 
 
 It was on the section operated by an American 
 detachment that I got closest to the enemy line. Tt 
 happened to be a cloudy day and we passed around a 
 loop which is about 3000 yd. from the first-line trenches. 
 Part of the way a hill sheltered us, but running beyond 
 it we were, for 15 minutes or so, under direct observa- 
 tion by German artillery. 
 
 "See that line of trees over there?" one of the officers 
 asked. "The Boches are on the ridge just behind them." 
 It had never occurred to me until then how slowly our 
 train was running! 
 
 That our troops are not working in what might be 
 termed a health resort is evident from a few excerpts 
 from the weekly reports of an American officer which 
 I was allowed to read. Here is one entry: 
 
 "On , while tractor was hauling cars of rations 
 
 and water, gas shell struck ration car and derailed it. 
 Another gas shell struck tractor as it was backing 
 away, derailing it also. One British and three Ameri- 
 cans gassed, but are recovering." 
 
 Farther on I read: 
 
 "Track blown out. While repairs being made track 
 near by broken in three places by shell fire. Two men 
 knocked down." 
 
 One of the surprising developments which have fol- 
 lowed in the wake of the light-railway work is the 
 salvage of material on old battlefields. Without light 
 railways it was difficult, if not impossible, to collect and 
 transport to the rear the equipment used in former 
 activities. In one army area where I studied the 
 salvage system — which, by the way, is of fairly recent 
 origin — about 250,000 tons of usable material had al- 
 ready been recovered and shipped back for reissue to 
 the British forces. All of this stuff was from ground 
 which the Germans had been forced to relinquish. The 
 principal products which the salvage forces had col- 
 lected, as shown in one of the photographs, were tim- 
 ber from old German dugouts, rail, corrugated iron, 
 barbed wire, chicken wire and expanded-metal trench 
 revetment, ties, duck-boards, old rifles, shell cases, 
 clothing, tools of various kinds, stakes, hose, bolts and 
 
 [ 39 
 
 nuts — in fact, the thousand and one odds and ends which 
 constitute the debris of battle. 
 
 A major in charge of a salvage dump which I in- 
 spected told me of the results of this work in his 
 own area. "We are now getting thousands of timber 
 setts from old dugouts and tunnels," he said. "In the 
 past 10 days, for instance, we have recovered about 
 1600 tons of wire, and before the Cambrai 'show' we 
 were responsible for 33,000 tons of recovered material 
 which was sent forward for reuse by British troops." 
 Timber is so exceedingly valuable at the front that 
 special crews of tunnelers are organized and trained 
 to recover it from old dugouts. 
 
 At the dump where we happened to be, I was told 
 that the weekly turnover of material averaged 1200 
 tons. On one day 3500 shovels were sent back to be 
 reissued. Shell cases to the number of 12,000, each 
 worth from seven to ten shillings, represented another 
 single week's haul. Three hundred rifles is considered 
 a normal week's return. Old rifles receive an oil bath 
 and a cleaning before being shipped back. Old tin cans 
 are a profitable source of solder. They are heated in 
 a homemade furnace, itself made of salvaged material, 
 and supply enough solder to keep a few large work- 
 shops in babbitt metal. The walls of the melting fur- 
 nace are made of old petrol cans filled with sand. 
 
 The salvage organization is left very much to its 
 own resources in the matter of its equipment. "Go out 
 and find it," seems to be the motto. It recovers rail 
 for its own trackage, and often must build its ovm 
 cars out of the old trucks and timber brought in from 
 the field. While most of the material from the field is 
 delivered to the salvage dump by the light railways, 
 some comes in by lorries. The dump itself is arranged 
 for lorry delivery on one side, and light-railway delivery 
 on the other. Material is all classified at the dump. 
 Here one sees a pile of duck-boards, there a mound of 
 wire, then some piles of shell cases, railroad ties, rails, 
 etc. Through the middle of the dump a standard-gage 
 railroad line runs for delivery to bases in the rear, 
 where the material is put in serviceable condition for 
 further use. 
 
 In the old days nobody paid much attention to the 
 possibilities of salvage, and for a good reason; there 
 was no way to recover material quickly and — the im- 
 portant point — with a low expenditure of man power. 
 
 ] 
 
 b 
 
British Official Photograpii 
 
 THIS IS THE KIND OF MATERIAL THE SALVAGE FORGJiS RECOVER BY MEANS OF THE LIGHT RAILWAYS 
 
 This condition light railways have changed. Into crater- 
 marked regions where highway building would be a 
 long and tedious operation, light railways can be ex- 
 tended without much trouble. With transportation 
 
 facilities available the whole economic situation with 
 regard to salvage on a large scale appeared in a new 
 light, and the work now returns an excellent income on 
 the comparatively small investment in labor. 
 
 [ 40 ] 
 
British Official Photograph 
 
 The Light Railway Along the British Front at Close Range 
 
 Where and How the Lines Are Built, How They Are Maintained and Operated, and What They 
 Accomplish — Highways Relieved of Their Overload 
 
 By Robert K. Tomlin, Jr. 
 
 War Correspondent of Engineering News-Record 
 
 Last week Mr. Tomlin related how he obtained the story of the light railways along the front. He also set 
 forth how these railways have revolutionized the salvage of material. This week he tells how the railways are 
 built, maintained and operated. — Editor. 
 
 THE primary function of the light railway, as ex- 
 plained in a former article (Engineering News-Rec- 
 ord of Mar. 14, 1918, p. 508) is to deliver ammunition, 
 troops, rations and supplies from standard-gage rail- 
 heads to points near the front, and by so doing relieve 
 the highways of the enormous burden of traffic which 
 they used to carry. The accompanying sketch plan 
 (Fig. 1), which is purely theoretical and does not con- 
 vey information as to any actual location on the ground, 
 will show the general relation to one another of the 
 parts of a light railway system for the battlefront, and 
 the area in the rear. 
 
 In the extreme forward section, it will be noted, rope- 
 ways or push trolleys may be provided, although many 
 situations demand the packing of ammunition and sup- 
 plies on the backs of animals or men. Where possi- 
 ble, spurs are run out to artillery batteries, to which 
 ammunition is delivered, one carload at a time. Fur- 
 ther to the rear, will be noted the various "dumps" for 
 ammunition and stores. The designation *'R. E." on 
 the sketch means "Royal Engineers," and when used in 
 connection with supplies refers to such material as tim- 
 ber, sand bags, wire mesh trench revetment, barbed 
 wire, corrugated-iron covering for dugouts and huts, 
 duckboards, etc. At the extreme left the letters 
 "C. C. S." signify "Casualty Clearing Station," to which 
 the wounded are brought back, on light railway cars. 
 
 The layout at the railhead (Fig. 3) provides for the 
 transshipment of material from the standard-gage rail- 
 road to the light railway, for the assembly of cars into 
 trains, and for the storage of ammunition, ordnance and 
 supplies. Fig. 2 shows a light railway delivering a 
 load of rations to wagon trains. 
 
 [ 
 
 The diagram shows also the loop system and cross 
 connections which are characteristic of British light- 
 railway practice. The idea is to have the loaded cars 
 move forward on only one side of the loop, and the 
 empties return on the other. Even where turnouts are 
 built, the British endeavor to prevent even short-haul 
 train movements in opposite directions on the same 
 side of a loop, and during my trip over the lines a non- 
 commissioned officer in charge of a gang building dug- 
 cuts was called to account for running a light push car 
 forward on the track over which our train was making 
 the inbound journey. 
 
 Although I saw some short sections of double track, 
 the general practice here is to construct single track 
 only, thus offering a smaller target for shell fire and 
 cutting down the time needed for repair work if the 
 track should be hit. 
 
 The mileage of light railway track per mile of battle- 
 front varies within wide limits. In a quiet sector it 
 may be as little as five miles, while in territory where 
 there is much activity there may be a mileage of 10, 
 12 or even more per mile of front. A single-track light 
 railway weighs about 72 tons a mile for rail, connec- 
 tions and ties, while, as a rough average, 800 tons of 
 ballast per mile is necessary, unless the ground is unu- 
 sually bad. I was told that the grading, laying and bal- 
 lasting of one mile of finished track requires, normally, 
 about 2400 man-days of labor. On some speedier work 
 1760 man-days of labor per mile of track were recorded, 
 while during the Cambrai "show" — every big engage- 
 ment is called a "show" over here — a Canadian lieuten- 
 ant colonel and his men laid six miles of track in 60 
 hours. 
 41 ] 
 
m^ 
 
 Repair work for all British armies 
 at the time of my visit was involving 
 the replacement each week of from 
 1500 to 2000 ft. of track broken by 
 shell fire. This is an almost insig- 
 nificant percentage of the total. In 
 one army, however, 95 breaks in one 
 day, due to shelling, were recorded, 
 but this army has a greater track 
 mileage than any other. 
 
 At the head of the organization 
 which is assigned to light railways is 
 the Director of Light Railways (D. 
 L. R.) who reports to the Director 
 General of Transportation (D. G. 
 T.). A mere listing of the various 
 rungs in the organization ladder, 
 however, would fail to convey an 
 adequate idea of its real character. 
 It is only when you circulate through 
 the headquarters offices, go out on 
 the line among the men, and see the 
 splendid work they are doing, that 
 you obtain a true appreciation of 
 the light-railway forces. Both Brit- 
 ish and American officers are all rail- 
 way specialists, hailing from every 
 corner of the world — men who have 
 built and operated railroads in Great 
 Britain, the United States, Brazil, 
 Canada, the Argentine, India, Mex- 
 ico and elsewhere. The American 
 force on one section of the line, for 
 example, had been recruited, whole 
 companies at a time, from such 
 American roads as the Boston & Al- 
 bany, Maine Central, New York, New 
 Haven & Hartford, and Boston & 
 Maine. The commissioned officers in 
 these various companies, as a rule, 
 came from the same railroads as the 
 enlisted men. 
 
 Having spent most of my time 
 among oflScers and observed the 
 splendid esprit de corps which pre- 
 vails over the whole front, I was in- 
 terested in getting the enlisted man's 
 point of view, and during a stop at a 
 siding I went up forward for a chat 
 with the engine driver and the brake- 
 man of our train. One, I found, had 
 served on the B. & A., and the other 
 on the New York, New Haven & 
 Hartford. 
 
 "Quite a difference between this 
 job and the one back home on the 
 B. & A.," I said to the driver. "What 
 gives you the most trouble in run- 
 ning one of these tractors?" 
 
 He didn't hesitate a minute. 
 "She's off the iron a little more than 
 I like." 
 
 Here was a man, who, by night or 
 by day, nosed his trainloads of am- 
 munition or supplies up into the dan- 
 
 EEE 
 
 EEE 
 <« 
 
 jRopewcpiys or 
 Ropeways or "Push Trolley 
 Push Jrolley i • / 
 
 F.A.BcxtVeries 
 
 p^js^rpjle^ 
 
 H.A.Srbup St'ns. 
 
 H. A. Batteries 
 
 /^. 
 
 \ 
 
 V- 
 
 ^ 
 
 :=cC 
 
 HP- 
 
 vMi 
 
 
 '^ta 
 
 ,? 
 
 !it^. 
 
 CCS. 
 
 FIG. 1. SKETCH PLAN INDICATES 
 
 RELATION OF VARIOUS PARTS OF 
 
 A LIGHT-RAILWAY SYSTEM 
 
 gzr zona v/hare high-explosive shells, 
 gas attacks and bombs from air- 
 planes were all part of the day's 
 work, and his chief concern was not 
 of these things, but of engine derail- 
 ments, of being "off the iron," of 
 delays which would slow up deliv- 
 eries. In answering my question, he 
 had, unconsciously, given me some- 
 thing for which I had been blindly 
 groping — a crystallization in words 
 of the spirit which animates the 
 light-railway organization. 
 
 In the location of light railways no 
 hard and fast rules other than those 
 given in the article in this journal, 
 previously referred to, can be laid 
 down. The basic principle is that 
 the line must follow the contour of 
 the ground as closely as possible, 
 although sometimes a trestle is built 
 (Fig. 4). Heavy cuts or fills must 
 be avoided. It follows, therefore, 
 that a light railway line, particularly 
 near the front, contains a good many 
 curves; the sharpest are of 30-m. 
 radius. An effort is made to keep 
 the ruling grade below 2i%, but in 
 some places 4% grades are required 
 by local conditions. 
 
 As to proximity to the front, prac- 
 tice varies considerably also. In very 
 quiet sectors, however, the lines may 
 run as far forward as the reserve 
 trenches. In others, single track 
 known as "trench tramways" are 
 used. Location depends upon the 
 ground and the conditions with re- 
 gard to observation by the enemy. 
 
 Fig. 5 gives a good idea of how a 
 light railway line is constructed. 
 Rail connections are made by fish- 
 plates and bolts, four bolts per 
 joint. A radical change in practice 
 has gone into effect recently involv- 
 ing the substitution of wood for steel 
 ties. I traveled over a great many 
 miles of line in the Flanders area, 
 and close contact with the all-prevail- 
 ing mud of that region indicated 
 quickly the reason for providing as 
 large a bearing area as possible for 
 the track. The wood ties are about 
 4i ft. long, 7 in. wide and 4i in. 
 thick. When steel ties were used 
 the track sections, built up com- 
 plete with ties, were delivered and 
 laid in lengths of 5 m. The change 
 to wooden ties, however, makes it 
 necessary to spike down the rails in 
 the field. I passed over long sections 
 of old construction where wooden 
 ties had been inserted under the rails 
 between pairs of the steel ties. ' 
 
 Much of the ground in the north- 
 
 [ 42 ] 
 
^^::- . 
 
 .'.■-)*: Ja&_«&. if,-,'-- 
 
 
 
 
 *^ .M 
 
 .^.^^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ;^ 
 
 ^ i 
 
 ^ > 
 
 ^-^^■^ 
 
 i 
 
 
 IT 
 
 HVH 
 
 
 rr^ 
 
 
 i 
 
 •4o. - 
 
 r ■ 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 EIHB .-_ .> - ^.-f^ Zjix^s 
 
 Hj^^^B 
 
 •s 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^:^n,^^ 
 
 
 i%l!' 
 
 
 ■'^ 
 ; 1 
 
 fr 
 
 
 
 
 *» 
 
 ^*^^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 W-'-m 
 
 «& , iMJIi^M ^^^ <ya a 
 
 2i - 
 
 ; 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 lL^*" m 
 
 mmZ. ^- ^.1-diL 
 
 IP 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 fr^ -m 
 
 1 : |--:|^»P- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ' ' 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 British Official Photograph 
 PIG. 2. THE PRIMARY FUNCTION OF LIGHT RAILWAYS IS TO DELIVER RATIONS, AMMUNITION AND SUPPLIES TO 
 POINTS FROM WHICH THEY CAN BE QUICKLY DELIVERED TO THE TROOPS 
 
 ern areas occupied by the British armies is a regular 
 morass, so that the drainage of the light-railway road- 
 bed is an extremely important part of the construction. 
 Ditches on one or both sides of the line are universal. 
 In looking over the weekly reports in an American cap- 
 tain's quarters, I found a record of a 17-ton locomotive 
 which had toppled over on its side when standing still, 
 due to settlement of the saturated ground on which the 
 track was laid. 
 
 The construction and maintenance problems are fur- 
 ther complicated by the scarcity of good ballast. The 
 most easily obtainable material is the chalk which is 
 characteristic of this region, and large quantities of it 
 are employed for track ballast if nothing better can be 
 had (Fig. 6). The chalk, fairly satisfactory in dry 
 weather, "turns to cream when it rains" — ^to use the 
 phrase of one of the officers who was discussing its prop- 
 erties with me. Another objection to chalk ballast is 
 that it shows up prominently in aerial photographs and 
 offers a good target for artillery fire or bombing. 
 
 Back of one of the American railway camps is a pit 
 from which sand is being taken for track ballast, and it 
 is proving very satisfactory. In this area the old chalk 
 ballast is either being removed and replaced by sand, or 
 else covered with sand. Another material for ballast 
 is what is called "mine earth," but this is to be had 
 only in places near the coal-mining regions. It is a 
 waste product, looks like slate, and serves fairly well 
 as ballast. 
 
 Traveling over certain sections in northern France 
 and Belgium, I looked down between the rails and read 
 there the tragedy of cities that are no more, for brick 
 and stone — all that remains of the buildings in what 
 used to be towns near the front — are used to a limited 
 extent near destroyed villages for ballasting light-rail- 
 way tracks. A Government permit is required for the 
 removal of this debris. 
 
 In spite of all the difficulties of' construction and 
 scarcity of materials, the track, in all of the regions 
 where I traveled, is in very good condition. Derail- 
 
 , [ 43 
 
 ments occur, of course, but with the comparatively light 
 rolling stock used it is not much of a job to get an 
 engine or tractor back on the rails. Rounding a curve 
 at Ypres, where the track makes sharp turns to dodge 
 the ruins of buildings, our petrol tractor — a 20-hp. ma- 
 chine — was derailed. With a few wood blocks and steel 
 bars, carried by every train, we got it quickly on the 
 rails. Another time, when our tractor became unruly 
 and jumped the track, it was lifted bodily and replaced 
 by a working crew which happened to be near — just a 
 case of "Off agin, on agin, gone agin — Finnegan." 
 
 Maintenance is consolidated with construction in the 
 extreme forward areas, while farther to the rear sepa- 
 rate gangs are assigned to these two duties. The chief 
 task is the relining and reballasting of track — for some 
 of the very muddy areas are great "ballast eaters" — 
 and the repair of breaks due to shelling. The mainte- 
 nance crew must also keep the drainage ditches and cul- 
 verts clear. During periods of frost and thaw a great 
 deal of resurfacing is called for, and at such times the 
 chalk ballast is particularly troublesome. Repair of 
 track broken by shell fire falls to the lot of the main- 
 tenance or construction gang, according to whether the 
 damage is at the front or rear. I was told at head- 
 quarters that for all the British armies the maintenance 
 work requires about 14 men per mile of track. Break- 
 age due to shelling at the time of my visit varied be- 
 tween 1500 and 2000 ft. of track a week for the entire 
 front. 
 
 The hauling of light-railway trains is done by several 
 types of engine. In the rear area three makes of coal- 
 burning steam locomotives predominate. Near the 
 front, where smoke and steam would draw enemy artil- 
 lery fire, petrol-electric and plain petrol tractors do the 
 work. Two of the types of steam locomotive weigh 
 about 14 tons each and the third 17 tons. The 40 to 45- 
 hp. petrol-electric, or "P. E.," as it is called, weighs six 
 tons. The light petrol tractor, 20-hp., weighs somewhat 
 less than two tons. There is, in addition, a tractor 
 weighing about one ton, which consists of a small auto 
 
 ] 
 
engine on a special truck; it is used for inspection trips 
 or for hauling single carloads near the front. The table 
 printed elsewhere in this article gives the load test on 
 different grades for the several types of machine. 
 
 The steam locomotives, on account of their visibility, 
 as before noted, and also the desirability of running 
 them on track which is fairly well aligned, are reserved 
 
 I asked one engine driver about the relative operating 
 difficulties with the light and heavy rolling stock.' He 
 replied, in substance, that the "P. E.'s" and steam en- 
 gines, if derailed, dug dovra into the roadbed, and, on 
 account of their weight, came to a quick stop. The 
 lighter machines, while easier to handle in case of acci- 
 dents, generally ran farther off the rails. 
 
 PIGS. 3 AND 4. THE LAYOUT 
 AT THE STAXDARD-GAGE 
 RAILHEAD PROVIDES FOR 
 TRANSSHIPMENT TO THE 
 
 British Officio^ Photographs 
 
 LIGHT RAILWAY CARS— OC- 
 CASIONALLY IT IS NECES- 
 SARY TO BUILD A TRESTLE 
 
 principally for the rear-area haulage, while the petrol- 
 electrics, and particularly the lighter petrol tractors, are 
 for use close to the front lines. The petrol-electrics are 
 equipped with internal combustion engines and gen- 
 erators, the motors being mounted directly on the axles. 
 As indicated in the table, they are for heavier work 
 than the plain petrol machines. 
 
 On the petrol-tractor trains the crew consists of two 
 men, driver and brakeman. With steam haulage, a third 
 man, the fireman, is required. The maximum speed al- 
 lowed is about eight miles per hour, with a limit of 
 three miles per hour at grade crossings. 
 
 A great many types of cars are used in light-railway 
 operation, depending on the kind of material to be 
 
 British Official Photograph 
 FIG. 6. IN CONSTRUCTING LIGHT RAILWAYS IT IS ALMOST UNIVERSAL PRACTICE NOW TO USE WOODEN TIES, 
 INSTEAD OP THE STEEL TIES FORMERLY MADE UP AS PART OF EACH TRACK SECTION 
 
 [ 44 ] 
 
Britisii uMcial Photograph 
 
 FIG. 6. A SECTION 
 
 OF TRACK BALLASTED WITH THE CHALK FOUND IN THE VICINITY 
 
 Note also the switches, the drainage ditch at the right, which is a very important feature in muddy ground, the type of steam 
 locomotive with water tanks on either side of boiler, the cars and the character of material carried in them 
 
 FIGS. 7 AND 8. GONDOLA 
 CARS OF THE FLAT-BOTTOM 
 AND WELL-BOTTOM TYPES 
 ARE USED IN LARGE NUM- 
 
 British Official Photoprapha 
 
 BERS— THE WOUNDED ARE 
 TRANSPORTED IN SPECIAL 
 CARS BY LIGHT RAILWAY 
 
 hauled. The bulk of the freight handled comes under 
 the following classifications : Ammunition, timber, coal 
 and coke, rations, ballast, R. E. stores, salvage, stone for 
 highway maintenance, with troops going to or return- 
 ing from the front. In one army which I visited about 
 
 LOAD TEST, IN LONG TONS, FOR LIGHT RAILWAY ENGINES AND 
 
 TRACTORS ON BRITISH FRONT IN FRANCE 
 Eauivalent 
 
 Gradfi, 
 Per Cent. 
 
 0.5 
 0.5-1.0 
 10-15 
 15-2 
 2 0-2 5 
 2.5-3 n 
 
 
 Petrol- 
 
 Petrol 
 
 team 
 
 Electric, 
 
 Tractor, 
 
 motives 
 
 40-Hp. 
 
 20-Hp. 
 
 164 
 
 82 
 
 33 
 
 105 
 
 53 
 
 21 
 
 78 
 
 39 
 
 16 
 
 62 
 
 31 
 
 12 
 
 50 
 
 25 
 
 10 
 
 44 
 
 22 
 
 9 
 
 a dozen different kinds of car were in service. The 
 prevailing car (Fig. 7) is a gondola about 20 ft. long 
 and 5 ft. wide, made in both the flat and the well types. 
 These cars can carry about 10 tons of ammunition, but 
 with lighter and more bulky material, such as R. E. 
 stores, the load per car may be only five or six tons. 
 With troops the load per car will average about three 
 tons. For perishable rations covered box cars are avail- 
 able. Then, too, there are small four-wheeled wagons, 8 
 ft. in length, for loads of 3i tons each. For the hauling 
 of heavy ordnance special trucks have been developed. 
 Hospital cars (Fig. 8), fitted up with banks of berths 
 for carrying the wounded, are included in the rolling 
 
 [ 45 ] 
 
Bi-i^ish Official Photopraphs 
 
 FIGS. 9 AND 10. WHEN THE HEAVIER STEAM LOCOMOTIVES ARE DERAILED, WRECKING CARS LIFT THEM BACK 
 The lighter petrol tractors can often be handled by blocking, steel bars or rerailing irons 
 
 stock. I was told by the Assistant Director of Light 
 Railways in one army zone that under normal operating 
 conditions he considered 75 tons per 10-ton car per week 
 a fair working average. 
 
 In addition to the car types enumerated, there are 
 wrecking cars and cranes (Figs. 9 and 10), for lifting 
 derailed engines and tractors, and special groups of four 
 or more cars, each 20 ft. long and 5 ft. 4 in. wide, con- 
 stituting machine shops on wheels (Fig. 11). The 
 equipment in the latter includes drills, grinders, hack- 
 saws, lathes and planers. These tools are operated by 
 power from one of the standard petrol-electric trac- 
 tors, which, if the occasion should demand, can haul the 
 machine shop forward or backward. The shop on 
 wheels remains in one location, however, unless it is 
 decided to change the light-railway base. The sides of 
 these machine-shop cars are hinged at the bottom and 
 open outward, forming a platform extension on each 
 side. 
 
 Where the repair work is too heavy or complicated to 
 be handled readily in the field, the rolling stock is shipped 
 to a large central repair plant, thoroughly equipped 
 with machine tools, spare parts and appliances of every 
 sort for rehabilitating engines or cars suffering from 
 "shell shock" or other ailments incident to light-rail- 
 way operation. We had intended to make a detour in 
 our route for a visit to this central plant, but our 
 schedule was so full that time did not permit an inspec- 
 tion of this very important feature of light-railway 
 work. 
 
 The information concerning light railways which I 
 had picked up in scraps of conversation here and there 
 before my visit to the front had led me to believe that 
 these systems were operated to some extent on the go- 
 as-you-please plan. An inspection of the field control 
 posts and central train-despatching offices in every 
 army on the British front quickly dispelled this impres- 
 sion. Traffic is closely regulated, and the system in 
 force allows the A. D. L. R. or his assistants to know at 
 every hour of the day where each engine, tractor or 
 car is, whether it is loaded or empty, what kind of 
 freight is being hauled, and scores of similar details. In 
 fact, one of our American railway operating detach- 
 ments has gone to the length of preparing a timetable 
 for its section. The operating scheme in all of its main 
 features is standardized along the whole front. From 
 the nature of things operation in the forward zone is 
 largely at night. 
 
 In every army zone there are a central control station 
 near A. D. L. R. headquarters and district control posts 
 at various points on the line, in direct telephonic com- 
 munication with the main station. The time of depar- 
 ture of a train from the yards is telephoned to the dis- 
 trict posts, with the approximate time of arrival at the 
 latter, and no train is allowed to pass a district post un- 
 less the attendant has been so authorized. 
 
 On one wall of every central control post is a long 
 board with slotted wooden strips corresponding to every 
 section of main track and siding in the system. Code 
 numbers are given to each "station" on the line, and 
 
 British Official FTiotograph 
 
 FIG. 11. ORDINARY FIELD REPAIRS TO ROLLING STOCK ARE MADE IN A MACHINE SHOP ON WHEELS 
 For heavy repair work and general overhauling equipment is sent to a central repair plant 
 
 [ 46 ] 
 
 I 
 
ii.B.r. A. 14 
 
 Looo 
 Tractor 
 
 No 
 
 Class.: — 
 
 
 l)epot>% 
 
 ,. Date:-<,— 
 
 18.... 
 
 
 
 ,„.. Orx'^ty:— ., 
 
 
 Fireman:— >... 
 
 
 On Duty :— __ 
 
 ._.., 
 
 Onard:— 
 
 
 On Duty:— 
 
 
 
 
 EB tM FWitCK »r A.P. * 8.S. 
 
 Statioh 
 
 Arr. 
 
 Dep 
 
 Attached. 
 
 PZTACIIED. 
 
 Mo 
 
 No. 
 
 Contents. 
 
 No. 
 
 Contontl. 
 
 ^ 
 
 C-l 
 
 
 m 
 
 5032 
 
 (Xffi/m/O' 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 154 
 
 „ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 <f^r 
 
 „ 
 
 
 
 
 C-^ 
 
 8^ 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 5033 
 
 dttunuo-; 
 
 
 C-5 
 
 SJO 
 
 155 
 
 
 
 154 
 
 ill'H/lftil' 
 
 
 c-q 
 
 mi5 
 
 a.35' 
 
 'Ci/aM' 
 
 
 
 
 C-103 
 
 
 
 
 
 /f7 
 
 ^imm^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 S.'lf 
 
 U/aZUy 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 VagonNo. \ol Class AT Date ii?^/D Train No _/(^^ 
 
 ( / (p l/^yi, f ""^ 
 
 T>ioe trodtlcd UciMTted 
 
 C J^f 
 
 6.^5 
 
 
 Arrl'vQd 
 
 Retnmi'rl 
 
 
 Timo 
 
 Ulato 
 
 c;o^jL 
 
 7^^ 
 
 'k to. K 
 
 JUQO. 10, » 
 
 (f.C. 
 
 FIG. 13 
 
 LIGHT BAILWAYS. 
 
 TO 
 
 LOABED AT' 
 MATERIAIi 
 CONSIGNOR 
 CONSIGNEE 
 
 DATE 
 
 i9 
 
 Tons 
 
 Owta. 
 
 
 
 nous. KM. auta. uu. 
 
 FIG. 14 
 
 these are lettered on the board Clips, with hooks which 
 fit into grooves representing the track, are hung up for 
 each train and moved forward or backward in accord- 
 ance with reports on movements. A glance at the chart 
 with its clips — red for "loaded" and green for "empty" 
 — shows the position of every train in operation. 
 
 When a train is made up a form (Fig. 12) is filled out, 
 showing the number of the engine or tractor, the names 
 of the crew, the destination, etc. For each car a "chit" 
 (Fig. 13) and waybill (Fig. 14) are prepared. Then 
 all the forms for one train are attached to the clip on 
 the main board and are moved back and forth with it. 
 This gives a complete and immediate record. In light 
 railway operation time is recorded according to a 24- 
 hour system, starting at midnight. Thus a train does 
 not leave at "9 p.m.," but at "21 hr." 
 
 At each "station" on the main board is a small tin box 
 with two divisions labelled "loaded" and "empty." 
 When a car is dropped from a train at any "station" or 
 siding this fact is reported by telephone to the central 
 control station. The "chit" for the car is then removed 
 from its clip and deposited in the "loaded" compartment 
 of the proper tin box and transferred to the "empty" 
 compartment at the right time. Thus, information as 
 to the location of the empties, for subsequent collection, 
 is always at hand. When an engine has finished its run 
 the chits are removed from the tin boxes on the control 
 board and given to clerks who keep complete statistical 
 records of the tonnage hauled. 
 
 In addition to this main train-despatching board there 
 are separate boards at the central control stations de- 
 signed to show the status, by districts, of each tractor 
 and of each car — the number loaded and empty and the 
 number working or idle. For each tractor or car there 
 is a perforated metal disk, numbered, and, in the case of 
 the cars, painted in two colors, red signifying loaded, and 
 green empty. The locomotive and tractor disks are hung 
 on hooks under three classifications : "Working," "spare" 
 
 FIGS. 12, 13 AND 14. THESE 
 
 FORMS TRACE EACH TRAIN 
 
 AND EACH OF ITS CARS 
 
 FIG. 15. THIS FORM OF 
 
 TRAIN SHEET IS KEPT BY 
 
 THE AMERICAN RAILWAY 
 
 DETACHMENTS 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 UlSrtt. 
 
 Q,r.^^ iOO «- 
 
 tM£M 
 
 -f. /I . 1 
 
 
 
 BRAdCH EAT 
 
 irA-^^/^ /9/^ 
 
 a.,U.Xly I/I Pflf 
 
 
 
 
 ftESTsARD 
 
 EASTKARa 
 
 Condaotor 
 
 / / / / / / / / /■/ / / 7 ' 7 / "■ ''^^' / / / / / / / / / / / / /' / 
 
 fii^ina 
 
 
 ' 7 ' 7 / '' / /" /■ /' /' /' ' ' ^ '^ ' r' / / / /'/' / // '' //'/ ' 
 
 , .' /' / .' / / / / / / V7J' 7ijs//Uu,^/s7/7i«s' / I , , , I ' 7 / / 7 / 
 
 / 
 
 ^^•~^:////f7W^'^/^f3^iM//y//t//r^^ 
 
 
 Tr»ln . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 i- 
 
 
 
 
 ,?f? 
 
 
 if 
 
 Train 
 
 /7 
 
 
 It 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Loads 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 Loads 
 
 /c 
 
 
 f 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 anpty 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 IZ- 
 
 
 7 
 
 Eupty 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 C-9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 C-l 
 
 /iM 
 
 
 llf) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 C-8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ii-r 
 
 
 7JS 
 
 C-5 
 
 fMO 
 
 
 iiH 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 C-6 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 I3fi 
 IflC 
 
 
 IS 
 
 in, 
 
 C-5 
 
 ff'o 
 
 
 /0^<( 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 .C-5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Iflt 
 
 
 yf< 
 
 C-6 
 
 fJ-3 
 
 
 'cn 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 CS 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 IffS 
 
 
 >o'i(\ 
 
 C-8 
 
 
 
 lof. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 C-l 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Wo 
 
 
 /03i 
 
 0-9 
 
 w 
 
 
 ps 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 pn 
 
 
 AM 
 
 
 UK) 
 
 
 An 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 C-1205 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 C-12U 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 er.^£Vl 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 C-1Z06 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 No 
 
 TM 
 Ca 
 
 Eng 
 
 No 
 
 rJTr 
 
 Z«, Mo 
 
 Ta 
 
 Ho 
 
 Tm 
 Oa 
 
 
 Tr 
 No 
 
 Tm 
 Ca 
 
 Eng 
 
 No 
 
 Tn 
 Ca 
 
 Tr 
 No 
 
 Tm 
 Ca 
 
 !ng 
 No 
 
 Tm 
 Ca 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 J L 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 47 
 
and "under repairs," assigned properly to their districts. 
 A similar scheme of metal checks and hooks is employed 
 for the cars, the classifications being "on hand," "loaded," 
 "empty," "in transit" and "demurrage." The American 
 railway detachments employ the system in vogue in the 
 British central and district control posts, and in addi- 
 tion keep a train sheet (Fig. 15). While the latter is 
 not officially recognized, it is the method which members 
 of the operating force had employed on their own rail- 
 roads in the States, and is kept up to date as a piece of 
 extra work. 
 
 A very necessary part of the control system is the tele 
 phone lines, and to each A. D. L. R. headquarters are 
 assigned a signal officer and men whose job is to keep the 
 wires, switchboards and instruments in working order. 
 
 The number of cars per train varies widely. In the 
 rear area one steam locomotive may haul on fairly level 
 track nine lO-ton cars of ammunition or 12 cars of R. E. 
 stores. These loads must be reduced in wet weather 
 As for the performance of light railways in carrying 
 troops, one British officer told me that in his army zone 
 alone as many as 160,000 had been carried, in one day. 
 
 As an indication of the relative amounts of the various 
 materials which the light railways haul, the following 
 figures, representing a month's traffic on a certain 
 section of line operated by American troops, is of inter- 
 est, although I do not know whether these figures could 
 be considered typical, for they are now several months 
 old: Ammunition, 4522 tons; rations, 6284 tons; per- 
 sonnel, 3281 tons; light-railway ballast, 7277 tons; sal- 
 vage, 4144 tons; miscellaneous, 6992; total, 32,500 tons. 
 
 I am, of course, not at liberty to state the tonnage 
 carried by the British light railway system, the figures 
 for which I saw, among other records, at the headquar- 
 ters of the Director General of Transportation, but in 
 lieu of something specific this observation is pertinent: 
 During the course of my trip over a good many hundreds 
 of miles of highway, the routes were unobstructed and 
 I noted scores of empty motor trucks, parked and idle 
 along the roadsides and in adjoining fields, both by day 
 and by night. They told a silent, though none the less 
 convincing, story of the work the light railways have 
 done in the relief of traffic congestion behind the 
 British front. 
 
 [ 48 ] 
 
Engineers Convert French Beet-Sugar Fields 
 Into Advance Depot 
 
 Build Railway Receiving and Classification Yards, Nineteen Warehouses and Balloon Shed — Regulating 
 Officer Controls Train Movement To and From the Battlefront 
 
 By Robert 
 
 War Correspondent, 
 
 K. ToMLiN, Jr. 
 
 Engineering News-Record 
 
 All Photographs by Engineering 
 
 NINETEEN warehouses, each 50 x 500 ft., railway 
 receiving and classification yards with 50 miles of 
 track laid and 50 miles more yet to be placed, two steel 
 ordnance structures which sprawl over about seven 
 acres of land, a big balloon shed 180 x 100 ft. in plan, 
 scores of smaller wooden buildings serving as barracks 
 for troops — this is an advance depot and regulating 
 station for the American Expeditionary Forces as I 
 saw it during a recent tour of the places in France 
 where our engineer regiments have been at work. 
 American construction genius has taken a string of 
 beet-sugar fields and in only a few months' time, has 
 converted them into one of the most important railway 
 and freight-handling centers in France. 
 
 An advance depot contains, in effect, the pulse of the 
 great arterial system of army traffic whose heart is at 
 our army's docking basins and railway yards on the 
 coast of France, for through it passes the daily flow of 
 food, ammunition supplies and men on their way to the 
 front. Much of our engineering work over here has, 
 until recently, been on paper or in the early stages of 
 construction, but now we have begun to strike our 
 stride, and things are moving rapidly. This advance 
 depot is already a going concern. "It is a job 125% 
 
 completed," said Colonel B , the commanding officer 
 
 of the engineer troops which did the bulk of the con- 
 struction work, when I called at his headquarters re- 
 cently. He went on to explain how the original plans 
 have been expanded to one-quarter more than the size 
 contemplated when the job 
 was begun, and how new proj- 
 ects for a big bakery, a power, 
 plant and acres of additional 
 covered storage space prom- 
 ised tc dwarf the volume of 
 work as first laid out. Look 
 at a map of France and 
 see that the front north of 
 Toul, which the first official 
 announcement stated was be- 
 ing occupied by American 
 troops, is something like 400 
 miles, in a straight line, from 
 the coast. By the railroad 
 routes over which supplies 
 must be carried the distance is 
 somewhat greater. In these 
 traffic chains which connect 
 our seaport terminals and 
 front-line trenches there are 
 three master links — the so- 
 called base, intermediate and 
 advance depots. At the base 
 
 News-Record War Correspondent. 
 
 depot, I was informed, there must always be on hand, 
 as a minimum, army supplies of all kinds for a 
 long period. The intermediate depot is a supply station 
 for a shorter period, while at the advance depot sup- 
 plies for a still shorter period must be held in reserve. 
 The names of the depots indicate their relative posi- 
 tions in the scheme of transport and storage. If, for 
 example, something should go wrong at a base or inter- 
 mediate depot, or on the railway lines running to the 
 advance section, the advance depot could continue mak- 
 ing deliveries of all essentials to combat troops for a 
 considerable period. Likewise an accident at the ad- 
 vance depot — a big fire, or damage by an air raid, for 
 instance — would not stop the flow of material to the 
 front, as the intermediate depot reserve would immedi- 
 ately be drawn upon. 
 
 The scheme is almost exactly the same as is followed 
 in the design of large water-works systems. For ex- 
 ample, in the Catskill Aqueduct system for New York 
 City's water-supply, we have the big Ashokan reser- 
 voir, or base depot, at the end of the line farthest from 
 the ultimate consumer. Then, the Kensico reservoir, or 
 intermediate depot, near the city, and finally the Hill- 
 view reservoir, corresponding to the advance depot or 
 regulating station, close to the city limits. It is with 
 the advance depot that this article will deal. 
 
 In place of a plan showing the relations of the rail- 
 way yards and warehouses to each other, which, of 
 course, cannot be published under present conditions, 
 
 THE NINETEEN WAREHOUSES ARE EACH 500 x 250 FEET IN PLAN AND ARE 
 ARRANGED IN SIX PARALLEL ROWS 
 
 [ 49 ] 
 
B. 
 
 AFTER THE WOODEN FRAMEWORK WAS SET UP THE BUILDINGS WERE 
 SHEATHED AND ROOFED WITH CORRUGATED IRON 
 
 I must give only a rather vague outline of the layout. 
 The storehouses are arranged in six parallel rcws, run- 
 ning north and south, one of these rows, half a mile 
 long, comprising five of the 50 x 500-ft. standard struc- 
 tures. There are two aisles for open storage between 
 the lines of buildings and a third larger open storage 
 space to the east of the last line of warehouses. Along 
 the sides of the warehouses run platforms flanked by 
 lines of depressed track on bclh the incoming and out- 
 going sides, as shown in the photographs. The ware- 
 house structures are of extremely simple design, having 
 wood frames sheathed with corrugated iron sheets. The 
 floors are of earth. The several rows of buildings are 
 connected at intervals by wooden drawbridges to per- 
 mit the handling of freight across the railway tracks. 
 There are in all 14 lines of railway track, such as that 
 shown in Photographs A and B, serving the warehouses 
 and uncovered storage strips. 
 
 South of the warehouse group are the main-liiie tracks 
 of a French railway from which connections have been 
 made to the new receiving and classification yards 
 (Photograph C), which American engineer troops have 
 built to the west of the warehouses. Some distance to 
 the north of the yards are the buildings of the engi- 
 neer's camp and the headquarters of the commanding 
 officer of the advance depot, while the two ordnance 
 buildings and balloon shed (Photograph D), previously 
 noted, are at the southeast end of the warehouse site. 
 
 When the engineer regiment 
 arrived at the site of this ad- 
 vance depot last October it be- 
 gan work on the receiving and 
 classification yards and the di- 
 version of about 1^ miles of 
 existing double-track French 
 railroad, which, to accommo- 
 date the new yard layout 
 planned, had to be moved lat- 
 erally about 400 ft. This job 
 required the removal of about 
 30,000 cu.yd. of rock by hand- 
 drilling and blasting, as prac- 
 tically no mechanical equip- 
 ment was then available. In 
 fact, in the early days the en- 
 
 gineers made most of their 
 own tools. About 200,000 cu, 
 yd. of earth were removed by 
 hand-labor methods before 
 horse-drawn scrapers arrived. 
 On the railway yard work 
 the American engineers were 
 assisted by a French engi- 
 neer company. For the 160 
 kilometers of track in the 
 yards, of which about 70 
 km, have been laid, 120 km. 
 of rails were received from 
 the United States and 40 
 km. have been borrowed 
 from the French. For the 
 first unit of the depot it 
 was necessary to provide 700,- 
 000 sq.ft. of covered storage 
 and 3,250;000 sq.ft. of uncovered storage. One of 
 the men of the American engineer regiment had for- 
 merly been connected with a large building construction 
 company in the United States, and his experience was 
 used to good advantage in organizing and directing the 
 work. It was not until the job was in full swing, how- 
 ever, that the engineer troops began to think about bar- 
 rack buildings for themselves. Up to Jan. 20 they lived 
 in canvas tents. After that date, however, wooden bar- 
 rack structures were set up, a water-supply system and 
 two electric lighting plants were installed. In addition, 
 a number of miscellaneous jobs were handled — the plac- 
 ing of plumbing fixtures in nearby hospitals, the build- 
 ing of a medical laboratory, and an extra job involving 
 camouflage warehouses and painting shed. 
 
 In connection with the latter job this incident is re- 
 lated: The officer who wanted the work done — it con- 
 sisted of two 50 X 250 ft. warehouses and a 50 x 250 ft. 
 
 painting shed — went to Colonel B , of the engineers,. 
 
 to explain his needs. The colonel agreed to help him. 
 In concluding his interview the camouflage officer said, 
 "Colonel, we would like to keep posted regarding the 
 headway your men are making. If convenient, I should 
 
 like to receive monthly progress reports." Colonel B ,. 
 
 whose men had become adept at just this kind of work 
 as the result lof their experience on the depot warehouse 
 sheds, smiled inwaVdly in acceding to this request. He 
 set his men to work on Monday morning and the build- 
 
 c. 
 
 THE RAILWAY RECEIVING AND CLASSIFICATION YARDS ARE THE 
 WORK OF AMERICAN ENGINEERS 
 
 [ 50 ] 
 
D. 
 
 ings were completed on Thursday of the same week. 
 The camouflage officer is still waiting for his "monthly" 
 progress reports. 
 
 On the long warehouses for the depot, 500 x 50 ft., the 
 normal time for completing one building was four days. 
 Much of the timber employed on this construction was 
 the product of American forestry companies which are 
 now operating in France. There was nothing elaborate 
 about the job. It was just a case of putting in the base 
 blocks, erecting the timber frames, sheathing the sides 
 and putting on the roof. Later, sheets of corrugated 
 iron were used to cover both 
 the roof and the sides. 
 
 After my talk with Colonel 
 
 B of the engineers I met 
 
 the commanding officer of the 
 advance depot, who has super- 
 vision of all activities at this 
 site; the regulating officer, 
 whose exacting duty is the 
 control of all train move- 
 ments, and the chief supply 
 officer in charge of the load- 
 quartermaster department 
 ing, unloading and storage of 
 supplies. "Our job," the regu- 
 lating officer explained, "boils 
 down to this : It is to keep the 
 fellows up at the front who 
 are doing the fighting from 
 worrying about regular de- 
 liveries of food, forage, ma- 
 terial and ammunition. No matter what happens, we've 
 got to get the supplies there and get them there on time." 
 
 No one can go through the advance depot and watch 
 the machinery of transportation and storage at work 
 without realizing that the depot commandant, the regu- 
 lating officer, and the supply officer have a man's size 
 job on their hands. For each combat organization there 
 is a rail-head in the advance zone where supplies from 
 the advance depot are delivered. From the rail-head 
 the army field unit, whatever it may be, is responsible 
 for getting the material to filling points, and thence to 
 the troops, and for this purpose a division, for example, 
 operates its own supply trains, which may be in the 
 form of motor trucks, horse-drawn wagons, light rail- 
 ways, etc. At the rail-heads small reserve stocks of 
 supplies and food are maintained to tide over the non- 
 arrival of a train from the advance depot. 
 
 But the regulating officer's duties do not stop with the 
 transportation of supplies and ammunition. He must 
 provide facilities for large-scale troop movements and 
 the delivery of the wounded from the front to base hos- 
 pitals. The regulating officer, therefore, must keep in 
 close touch with all army activities, not only at the 
 front, but at the ports. For example, he must know the 
 date of arrival of all troopships and supply transports, 
 the character and quantity of their cargoes, the amount 
 of material on hand at the base and intermediate de- 
 pots, the number of combat troops and their bcation at 
 the front or in the advance zone, the number of empty 
 beds at each base hospital, the intended movement of 
 forces from one sector to another, and scores of similar 
 data of the m.ost confidential nature. He is one of the 
 
 few men in France who know the total resouiccs in me.i 
 and material of the American Expeditionary Forces. 
 
 From the very nature of the war-time transport prob- 
 lem, the mechanism of the advance depot must combine 
 properties of great strength and elasticity with the ca- 
 pacity for sudden and tremendous expansion. Even 
 when conditions at the front are quiet the receipt and 
 transmission of supplies and personnel on regular sched- 
 ule make exactnor denands on the organization respons- 
 ible for this servics. Nevertheless, the wires at any 
 time may bring in word of some big activity at the front. 
 
 THE ENGINEER REGIMENT, ORGANIZED PRIMARILY FOR RAILWAY 
 MAINTENANCE, BUILDS A BALLOON SHED 
 
 Troops must be shifted from one point to another, the 
 supply of ammunition speeded up, supplies diverted 
 from their regular channels, the wounded carried back. 
 These are the times when the advance depot must work 
 at a tremendous overload and it must stand up under 
 the strain — a strain not applied gradually but with the 
 force of impact. In such circumstances, the clamor for 
 railway transportation comes in to the advance depot 
 from all sides, and the depot commandant, the regulat- 
 ing officer, the supply officer and the rest of the staff 
 must keep clear heads and assume the functions of a 
 priority board in the allotment of engines and cars and 
 supplies. 
 
 In the ordinary course of events, however, the supplies 
 go forward in what are known as automatic shipments. 
 For example, a certain number of men served by a 
 certain rail-head mean so many pounds of meat, bread, 
 vegetables, etc., every day, and a routine schedule of 
 shipments can be foreseen and established until there 
 occurs a large-scale movement of troops. By keeping 
 a close check on the stock on hand at the advance depot, 
 the amounts available at the intermediate and base de- 
 pots, and the daily requirements of the troops in the 
 advance zone, it is possible for the regulating officer to 
 exercise a judicious control over the movement of trains 
 and material. Even now, with American man-power 
 here in France far below what it will be ultimately, the 
 advance depot is handling every month something like 
 20,000 cars (this number including cars arriving, de- 
 parting, rebilled, loaded or unloaded) — and this volume 
 of business, I may state, is based on data obtained be- 
 fore the German drive developed its present proportions. 
 [ 51 ] 
 
E. HOW ONE OF THE STEEi^-FllAME ORDNANCE BUILDINGS, THE MACHINE SHOP, LOOKED O. 
 
 Everything- from the rear en route for the front must 
 pass through the advance depot. Of course, in the case 
 of supplies, not every car is unloaded. Sometimes it suf- 
 fices merely to rebill a car and send it forward. But 
 with the depot authorities rests the decision as to 
 whether a shipment shall be allowed to go onward or 
 shall be held for storage. In the conduct of this work 
 the regulating officer receives and transmits several 
 hundred telegrams daily, to say nothing of telephone 
 messages in equal numbers. 
 
 In the case of troop movements the regulating officer 
 
 WIRE GLASS REPLACES CHEESECLOTH IN THE 
 ORDNANCE BUILDING MONITORS 
 
 receives by wire a statement as to the number of men, 
 animals and tonnage of material, their present location 
 and their ultimate destination. It is then up to him to 
 get them there. At the time of my visit to the advance 
 depot the regulating officer told me that food and cloth- 
 ing constituted the bulk of the tonnage which he was 
 moving for the American forces. Ammunition, . of 
 course, varies from week to week according to the ex- 
 tent of the activity in the battle area. At every rail- 
 head the regulating officer has representatives, and 
 every train that leaves the depot for the front carries 
 a representative whose duty is to see that the train ar- 
 rives at its proper destination. 
 
 The actual loading and unloading of cars and the 
 storage of supplies is under the direction of representa- 
 tives of the quartermaster department, engineer corps, 
 signal corps, medical corps, etc., each department having 
 a certain number of warehouses assigned to it. The 
 quartermaster stores form the largest bulk of freight 
 handled by the depot. They include everything in the 
 way of food, fuel, forage, and wearing apparel, and a 
 good many miscellaneous side lines. The captain in 
 charge of the quartermaster stores, who conducted me 
 through his string of warehouses, receives daily from 
 the regulating officer figures indicating the numerical 
 strength of the forces in the advance zone. Adhering 
 to certain prescribed limits for the Army ration, the 
 warehouse officer loads cars with the proper quantity of 
 supplies for the men, and forage for the animals. 
 
 To simplify this task, each warehouse is marked off 
 in certain lengths for different kinds of supplies. Start- 
 ing at one end, for example, there will be a section for 
 flour, next a section for baked beans, and succeeding 
 sections for tobacco, jam, etc. Other warehouses, are 
 similarly apportioned, there being sections for over- 
 coats, shoes, socks, underclothing, etc. 
 
 In the storage scheme the total supply of one kind of 
 material is not put under one roof, but is distributed 
 among several warehouses. Thus, in case of fire, or 
 bombing by airplane, damage to one warehouse unit 
 would have no appreciable effect on the continuity of 
 dispatching supplies from the others. 
 52 ] * 
 
In the loading and unloading of cars, sections of ball- 
 bearing roller tracks are largely used. Boxes and crates 
 are thrown on the roller track, shoved along the ware- 
 house platforms, and removed at the proper places for 
 car loading or storage. A box car containing 570 cases 
 of baked beans was unloaded, delivered into the ware- 
 house and stacked by three men in 1 hour 35 minutes. 
 Both for incoming and outgoing material a checker is 
 stationed in each car and on each warehouse stack. 
 
 Si^ice that time there have been a number of impor- 
 tant changes affecting this work. In the first place, no 
 such extensive layout of buildings at a single site, as 
 was originally planned, has been carried out. Instead, 
 a few units are being built at one place, a few more at 
 another, splitting the job up. Then, too, in the actual 
 construction, there has been a change from the original 
 policy. The firm of Stone & Webster, which designed 
 the ordnance base structures, was to have handled the 
 
 G. 
 
 INTERIOR OP FINISHED ORDNANCE STORAGE BUILDING — COLUMNS SUPPORTED ON CONCRETE FOOTINGS OP 
 DIFFERENT HEIGHTS TO GIVE SLOPE TO ROOF. SINCE ALL COLUMNS ARE OF SAME LENGTH 
 
 Records are kept to show output, input and the amount 
 of supplies that is on hand in the advance depot. 
 
 After making the tour of the sustenance and clothing 
 warehouses, I examined the medical stores and, finally, 
 the engineer supplies. The latter were all grouped by 
 sections, and among the things I noted were stacks of 
 chicken wire, shovels, wheelbarrows, mining timber, 
 trench flooring, water pipe, demountable barracks build- 
 ings, wire rope, hemp rope, carpenters' tools, saws, a 
 few electric generators, water tanks, etc. 
 
 In contrast to the wood frame warehouses, with cor- 
 rugated iron siding, which are such a prominent feature 
 of the advance depot, are the two large steel-frame 
 structures for the Ordnance Department. One, 500 x 
 240 ft. in plan, which is practically finished, is serving 
 as a storehouse for ordnance material, while the other, 
 240 x 260 ft., which may later be expanded to the size 
 of the first, is still in course of construction, as shown 
 in Photograph E. It will be used as a machine shop 
 and repair plant. Both of these buildings are part of 
 the big ordnance building project which was described 
 in Engineering News-Record of Jan. 3, page 23. 
 
 [ 
 
 construction work also. A number of their men were 
 sent to France early this year, and when a final decision 
 had been reached regarding the sites of the buildings, 
 the job was started by them. However, the Army has 
 now concluded to complete the ordnance building pl-oject 
 with its own personnel, and at the time of my visit re- 
 lations with the Stone & Webster organization had been 
 practically terminated. 
 
 The storage building, or larger of the two units, was 
 started with Stone & Webster foremen and a detail 
 of 65 men from the i-anks of the ordnance service, while 
 the machine shop structure, now under construction, is 
 being built by a detail of infantry — about 100 men — 
 under the direction of an ordnance captain. The en- 
 gineer company which built the warehouses and yards 
 at the advance depot assisted in the ordnance work by 
 making a 4-ft. earth fill covered by a 3-in. layer of 
 gravel to form the floor of the storage building. 
 
 The buildings are of simple design — light steel mem- 
 bers with corrugated iron siding. Bolted connections are 
 used throughout, and all columns are of one length, the 
 roof slope being secured by carrying the concrete footings 
 
 53 ] 
 
for the columns to different elevations (Photograph G). 
 Bays are spaced 20 ft. apart along the longitudinal axis 
 of the building. On the erection work the practice orig- 
 inally was to handle the steel members singly. Later, 
 however, a steel column and rafter were bolted up on 
 the ground and raised by a gin-pole in a single opera- 
 tion. The purlins, however, were all raised by hand. 
 The progress on the 500 x 240 ft. storage building was 
 as follows : Footings completed Dec. 6, 1917 ; first steel 
 column erected Oec. 29; all columns, rafters and girders 
 placed Jan. 10. 
 
 For the roof the original plans contemplated a thin 
 concrete cover over corrugated iron. This scheme had 
 to be abandoned because of lack of concrete materials; 
 two layers of felt and a layer of roofing paper were sub- 
 stituted. Until very recently the roof monitors were 
 "glazed" with strips of cheesecloth. Now, however, a 
 shipment of wire-glass has been received and has been 
 substituted for the cheesecloth windows as shown in 
 Photograph F. 
 
 The machine shop building, unlike the one for storage, 
 is to have a concrete floor. When I inspected the work 
 going on one mixer was delivering the concrete into or- 
 dinary wheelbarrows which were moved along plank 
 runways to points of deposit on the floor. The progress 
 of the machine shop structure is shown in Photograph 
 E, which I took Apr. 5. 
 
 The construction was done under the usual conditions 
 which affected most of our early engineering work in 
 France — difficulties of transport, scarcity of mechanical 
 plant and shortage of labor. Added to these was the 
 fact the job had to proceed in spite of alternate periods 
 of extremely cold weather and rain. For one week the 
 mercury remained at zero (Fahr.) and made it hard 
 for the men who had to handle the steel columns, rafters 
 
 and girders. Holes worn in their gloves allowed the 
 skin of their hands to come in contact with the cold 
 steel, where it stuck fast and was torn off in patches. 
 Then, in the rainy periods, the fields would become vast 
 seas of mud, and in walking through this tenacious ma- 
 terial it was difficult for a man to keep a pair of rubber 
 boots on. The "office," where the administrative end of 
 the job was handled, was opened up in midwinter, and 
 consisted of a canvas tent lighted by a candle. Due to 
 the nonarrival of clips for attaching the corrugated 
 siding to the steel framework, a detail of men was as- 
 signed the job of rounding up a supply of wire for this 
 purpose. As a result, much of the corrugated iron sid- 
 ing is now held in place by scraps of wire taken from 
 old crates and boxes and other odd sources. A single 
 small auto was the sole means of delivering food from a 
 town a couple of miles distant. Then, too, few of the 
 men from the ranks of the Army had had any previous 
 experience in construction work of this sort, but owing 
 to the fact that the designers of the buildings had made 
 the work as nearly fool-proof as possible, foreseeing the 
 contingency of erection by unskilled labor — no serious 
 trouble was experienced on the erection work. The 
 officer in charge of the job, appreciating the trying 
 conditions under which his men were working, took 
 special pains to have them supplied with plenty of warm 
 clothing and good food, and this policy was a big factor 
 in maintaining the morale of the force. By the time 
 this appears in print the job will probably have been 
 finished. What these words mean can be appreciated 
 only by those who know of the game fight that has been 
 carried on in midwinter by the ordnance captain and 
 his men, not in the front line trenches, but in the mud 
 and snow of those beet-sugar fields which are now the 
 advance depot. 
 
 <[ 54 ] 
 
FIG. 1. HEAVY TYPE OP PORTABLE STEEL. BRIDGE — RESEMBLES LIGHTER STRUCTURE SHOWN IN FIGS. 5 TO 11 
 
 Army Engineer School in France Standardizes 
 
 Work in the Field 
 
 Gives Courses of Training to Men Recommended for Commissions — Operations Conducted Mostly in the 
 Open — Classes Trained in Mining, Pioneering, Bridging, Topography, Camouflage, Sound Ranging and 
 Interpretation of Aerial Photographs — Model Battle Sector Laid Out and Completely Equipped 
 
 By Robert K. Tomlin, Jr. 
 
 War Correspondent of Engineering News-Record 
 All Photos by Engineering News-Record 
 
 TO SUBSTITUTE standardization for improvisation 
 in the conduct of military engineering operations, 
 in both field and office, and to give the man in the ranks 
 an opportunity of becoming a commissioned officer, are 
 the two main objects of the Army engineer school of 
 the American Expeditionary Forces in France, which 
 was formally inaugurated Apr. 1 with a class of 110 en- 
 listed men from various technical units. This school is, 
 in effect, a super-Plattsburg, where facilities for in- 
 structing our men in the latest phases of military engi- 
 neering practice are being mobilized. 
 
 The need for such training is great, for many of the 
 standards of practice laid down in former engineering 
 field manuals have either become entirely obsolete or 
 need substantial revision to bring them up to date; and, 
 in addition, there is a host of new phases of the work of 
 the engineer under the conditions of modern warfare. 
 For example, the latest methods in the erection of 
 barbed wire entanglements, the location and construc- 
 tion of treflches, the excavation of dugouts by rock tun- 
 neling, the interpretation of aerial photographs, the 
 registering of enemy batteries by sound and flash 
 ranging, the detection of enemy sapping operations by 
 microphone, the rapid assembly and launching of new 
 types of bridges, measures for gas offense and defense, 
 the location and protection of machine-gun emplace- 
 ments, the camouflaging of gun positions — these and 
 scores of other subjects go to make up the curriculum of 
 our newly established overseas eng'ineer school. 
 
 [ 
 
 Where training camps in the United States gave 
 candidates for engineer commissions a grounding in the 
 duties of the engineer service, the work at the school 
 here on French soil begins where the others terminate, 
 corresponding to a postgraduate course for commis- 
 sioned officers and an intensive period of instruction for 
 noncommissioned officers aspiring to higher rank. Just 
 as the air-pilot candidate who has become proficient in 
 straight flying must master the "circus stunts" which 
 are an essential part of modern aerial combat, so must 
 the Army engineer's education be topped off with a 
 course in the less sensational, but equally specialized, 
 phases of the new military engineering which the war 
 has developed. 
 
 How Courses Are Conducted 
 
 It was my good fortune to be present at the opening 
 . of the American Army Engineer School over here and 
 spend the day in an inspection trip with its command- 
 ant, a colonel of engineers well known readers of this 
 journal by reason of his series of articles on the engi- 
 neer in war which appeared in Engineering Record 
 about two years ago. I say "an inspection trip," for the 
 school's work is not all done within the four walls of 
 the classroom which we generally associate with the 
 word "school." This engineer school conducts the 
 greater part of its operations in the open, by means of 
 practical demonstrations, and to cover its field of activi- 
 ties Colonel B and I started out in the morning and 
 
 55 ] - 
 
traveled over many miles of French highway by auto- 
 mobile before we got back to his headquarters late that 
 afternoon. Of course, it must not be supposed that class- 
 room work and lectures are omitted from the curric- 
 ulum. The indoor work is an important part of the 
 course, for, in addition to lectures by our own officers, 
 candidates have the opportunity of attending conferences 
 conducted by specially selected men from the forces of 
 our allies, so that the experiences of those who have been 
 playing the war game for a longer period than we have 
 are made available for our use. 
 
 Training Covers Many Specialties 
 
 The school of "military engineering" is department- 
 alized under three main subdivisions, as follows: (1) 
 mining; (2) pioneering and (3) bridging. Closely allied 
 with the so-called military engineering courses are six 
 others covering the fields of camouflage, flash and sound 
 ranging, topography, mapmaking and the interpreta- 
 ion of aerial photographs; orientation (artillery) and, 
 finally, gas attack and defense. From the nature of 
 things and the constantly increasing number of Ameri- 
 can troops in France, it is not possible to give every 
 officer a course at the engineer school. Nevertheless, 
 selected men are sent to the school for a period of train- 
 ing and are then available as instructors either in the 
 corps schools or in their own organizations, to pass 
 along to their fellow officers the knowledge they have 
 acquired. This applies to the men with commissions now. 
 
 In the case of the man in the ranks who is found de- 
 
 serving of promotion the mode of procedure is thus: 
 A regimental commander of engineer troops is author- 
 ized to recommend for promotion a certain small per- 
 centage of his enlisted strength. On reports from his 
 battalion and company commanders he chooses certaini 
 men, generally corporals or sergeants, whose work has- 
 been of a high order and who, it is thought, have the 
 qualifications of commissioned officers. These specially 
 recommended men are then temporarily detached from 
 their own organizations and sent to the engineer school 
 for a course of instruction. Their work is carefully 
 watched, they receive examinations of one kind and an- 
 other, and, if the tests are passed successfully, they re- 
 ceive their promotions. The future policy, I was in- 
 formed, will be to draw largely upon the ranks for all 
 new commissioned officers in the engineer service. 
 
 It is not necessary for every engineer officer or candi- 
 date for a commission to take all of the courses pre- 
 viously noted. The idea is to produce a supply of spe- 
 cialists for each branch of the service. Certain courses, 
 however, are obligatory, no matter what particular duty 
 is to be performed later in actual field service. Among 
 these is the course in gas defense. Nowadays, with the 
 tremendous increase in the use of gas shells, rather than 
 the gas-cloud form of attack, regions very far back from 
 the front lines are never safe, and it is considered ab- 
 solutely necessary that our engineer officers and men 
 be thoroughly versed in the measures of gas defense. 
 All officers on their way to the front, therefore, must 
 either pass directly through the gas school, or else re- 
 
 FIGS. 2 TO 4. AT ONE OF THE FIELDS 
 OF THE ARMY ENGINEER SCHOOL. 
 MANY DIFFERENT TYPES -OF PAR- 
 TIALLY COMPLETED WOODEN 
 BRIDGES ARE AVAILABLE FOR 
 STUDY BY STUDENTS. IN FIG. 4 
 NOTE PARTICULARLY THE FORM OB* 
 ABUTMENT, WHICH CONSISTS OF 
 CUBES OP STRUCTUFIAL STEBIi 
 BUILT UP LIKE BLOCKS 
 
 [ 56 ]- 
 
ceive instruction at the hands of graduates of the school. 
 During the time of my visit an experimental field was 
 being prepared for gas work, both defensive and offen- 
 sive, to take the place of a wooden gas hut located in the 
 courtyard of the engineer school, which had been used 
 principally to test the adjustment of gas masks. One of 
 the chief functions of the gas school is to qualify men 
 to act later in the capacity of instructors for their own 
 units. For instance, a group of prospective division gas 
 officers will arrive at the school, the commandant having 
 been previously directed to "give them a week of gas." 
 With the new facilities for instruction at the experi- 
 mental gas field, both this work and offensive training 
 can be readily handled. The week's course enables the 
 men to go back to their organizations well equipped to 
 take charge of all defensive gas instruction. The of- 
 fensive course is longer and more elaborate and is not 
 of universal application. 
 
 Model Battle Sector 
 
 In order to make the instruction as practical as pos- 
 sible a certain area of selected ground has been marked 
 off as a battle sector for a division, and is being de- 
 veloped exactly as it would be if it were part of the 
 front. In this sector one sees trenches in various stages 
 of completion; dugouts just begun, with entrances fin- 
 ished, and finally with all underground passages exca- 
 vated; machine gun emplacements; trench mortar bat- 
 teries properly located; barbed wire entanglements of 
 several different types; various exhibitions of camou- 
 flage work, and so on through the entire category of 
 defensive and offensive measures. All of these works 
 represent the efforts of students at the school. How- 
 ever, one man is not kept at trench digging day after 
 day. He puts in a certain number of hours, let us 
 say, on excavation, then he passes along to the point 
 where revetment work is needed, and works there 
 awhile. His next task may have to do with trench 
 drainage, and after that with barbed wire entangle- 
 ments, and finally with the more complex structures, 
 such as observation posts, machine gun emplacements, 
 and the like. And so it is with the dugouts. Successive 
 groups of men each do a little work on each type of 
 structure in each stage of the work — enough to familia:r- 
 ize themselves with the actual construction methods — 
 and then pass on to something else. 
 
 "The principal idea of the school," Colonel B ex- 
 plained, "is to capitalize for war purposes American 
 genius for quantity production. We have before us as 
 an example our achievements in the quantity production 
 of automobiles. Such results are possible only by stand- 
 ardizing parts and operations. We are trying to carry 
 this principle into the work of the Army engineer 
 school. We are trying to develop standard methods of 
 building trenches, dugouts, bridges, machine gun em- 
 placements and all of the other works needed at the 
 front. Of course I appreciate fully that many cases 
 will arise where our standards must be scrapped and 
 where we will have to improvise, and improvise quickly. 
 Nevertheless, the standards we are developing will be 
 good at least seven times out of ten. A man must use 
 his own judgment in departing from the routine way of 
 doing things. In the development of our field engineer- 
 ing methods, however, we are combining our own ideas 
 
 [ 57 
 
 with the best experience of our allies, and are evolving 
 a standard practice which will, I think, be a big factor in 
 saving time at the front — and time is the all-important 
 element these days. 
 
 "Take the matter of dugouts and underground pas- 
 sages, for example. We have a set of standard casings 
 or mining timbers which we are teaching the men at the 
 school to use. When they get out into actual service 
 they won't have to spend time devising a scheme of tim- 
 bering for a tunnel. All that is done beforehand, and 
 their job will be almost automatic, using the methods 
 and material with which they have become familiar here 
 at the engineer school. The same thing applies to 
 bridge work and to what we call "pioneer' work ; that is, 
 trenches, obstacles, etc. We think we are now in a posi- 
 tion to say what is the best way of doing all these 
 things, and it is this 'best way' that we are making 
 standard and driving home to the men by means of our 
 recitations, demonstrations and actual work in the field 
 by students." 
 
 Bridge Built in Eight Minutes 
 
 On the inspection trip of the field work of the engi- 
 neer school our first stop was at a point where in- 
 struction in bridging was in progress. In addition to 
 pontoon bridges, a number of other types of structure, 
 both wood and steel, were in various stages of comple- 
 tion. There were the heavy steel portable bridge made 
 of steel tubing. Fig. 1, and wooden bridges and trestles 
 as shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4. In Fig. 4 the abutment 
 should be particularly noted. It is made up of individ- 
 ual cubes of structural steel shapes piled one on top of 
 the other like a child's building blocks. This form of 
 abutment is of British origin, as is also the demountable 
 bridge shown in Fig. 1. The bridges in Figs. 1 to 4, in- 
 clusive, serve as models which are first studied and 
 then built by the students at the school. 
 
 Following the same design as the bridge in Fig. 1 is; 
 another, much lighter, which is especially adapted to 
 conditions where very speedy work is required — in 
 crossing a river or canal under shell fire, for example. 
 This is the light Inglis portable bridge (British) , which 
 is made up of sections of drawn or welded steel tubing, 
 with special pin-connected joints. The bays are 8 ft. 
 long. The parts of this bridge were placed along the 
 ground parallel to the moat of an old French fort when 
 we arrived. "If you want to see how we handle this 
 
 work," said Colonel B , "I'll have them set up this 
 
 bridge and launch it for you." I certainly did want 
 to see such an exhibition; so the colonel summoned the 
 lieutenant in charge of a detail of 34 men and gave 
 orders for the erection of the bridge. I had my camera 
 with me and the resulting photographs. Figs. 5, 6, 7, 
 8, 9, 10 and 11, will indicate more clearly than words 
 what happened. 
 
 Just a few words of explanation, however, are neces- 
 sary. The method is to erect the bridge on the ground 
 parallel to the watercourse, swing it around through an 
 angle of 90° and run it forward as a cantilever over the 
 moat. It will be noted that the structure is mounted 
 on a two-wheel truck, or "dolly," which makes the 
 launching operation very simple, and that the rear end 
 where the men are assembled, as shown in Fig. 10, is 
 counterweighted. When the far end of the bridge rests 
 
 ] 
 
Mm f ^tMSe ^m.-j' 
 
 i \aK| Alj^ 
 
 «e. -W^^^:^ 
 
 '^^^^^^■^Hnr ■Hi 
 
 
 ''* ^^^^^^^^"^^^^^^^H 
 
 r." 
 
 «■■: 
 
 
 < 
 
 fesr- 
 
 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 \ 
 
 / 
 
 ■^ v|/ \,^ 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 IM 
 
 1 
 
 t 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 g| 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 Hi 
 
 r-">__^' ^J.,'iiB 
 
 
 bh 
 
 Building a Bridge in 11 '/2 Minutes 
 
 FIG. 5. BEFORE ERECTION AND LAUNCHING. 
 
 PARTS OF THE LIGHT PORTABLE 
 
 BRIDGE ARH LAID OUT ON THE 
 
 GROUND PARALLEL TO LINE 
 
 OF STREAM TO BE 
 
 CROSSED 
 
 FIG. 6. AT ORDERS PROM COMMANDING 
 
 OFFICERS MEN OF BRIDGE BUILDING 
 
 COMPANY START THE WORK 
 
 OF ERECTION 
 
 PIG. 7. THE FIRST BENT ERECTED AT 
 
 ABOUT MIDDLE OF STRUCTURE, 
 
 DIRECTLY OVER TWO-WHEEL 
 
 TRUCK USED LATER FOR 
 
 LAUNCHING 
 
 FIG. 8. BY THIS TIME A CONSIDERABLE 
 LENGTH OF BRIDGE HAS BEEN SET UP — 
 NOTE BOTTOM-CHORD MEMBERS 
 LYING ON GROUND AND POSI- 
 TION OF JOINTS AT BASE OF 
 FOUR-LEGGED SECTIONS 
 
 FIG. 9. FINISHING ERECTION OF LAST BENT 
 — NOTE POSITION OF MEN, EACH HAV- 
 ING SPECIFIC PLACE TO OCCUPY 
 AT SPECIFIC TIME 
 
 PIG. 10. ERECTION HAS BEEN COMPLETED 
 AND BRIDGE IS BEING SWUNG ROUND 
 AND RUN FORWARD ON TWO- 
 WHEEL TRUCK LOCATED JUST 
 TO LEFT OF OFFICER iN 
 LIGHT RAINCOAT 
 
 FIG. 11. BRIDGE LAUNCHED ACROSS MOAT 
 
 OP OLD FRENCH FORTRESS AND IN 
 
 PLACE ON ITS ABUTMENTS 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 J 
 
 
 ~7\ 
 
 p 
 
 ~~m-~~yr-~^ 
 
 
 
 \A i\/a p- 
 
 i 
 
 ^ 
 
 y|^^ 
 
 
 tf 
 
 
 ■ 
 
 f 
 
 mn^ 
 
 
 1 
 
 [ 58 
 
on its abutment across the stream the dolly is removed, 
 the extra bays at the counterweighted end are knockeii 
 down, and tho near end is seated on its abutment. With 
 these bridges it is, of course, the practice, for the 
 launching operation, to construct a greater length of 
 bridge than is ultimately placed in service. In the pres- 
 ent case 104 ft. of bridge was erected to give an ulti- 
 mate useful span of 56 ft. It is practicable, however, to 
 place the bridge in position by means of a derrick on the 
 far side without cantilevering. This latter method is 
 slower than the cantilever method, but allows the launch- 
 ing of a longer span. 
 
 Here is how the work progressed on the bridge I sav/ 
 erected and launched: Thirteen bays, each 8 ft., or a 
 total of 104 ft. of bridge, were erected in 5 min. 10 
 sec. The launching required 1 min. 20 sec. The re- 
 moval of the "dolly" took 50 sec. In 4 min. 10 sec. more 
 the counterweights had been removed, the extra launch- 
 ing bays had been knocked down, and the bridge was 
 ready for service. In other words, exactly 11 min. 30 
 sec. was consumed in the entire operation. 
 
 / have just received a note from Colonel B saying 
 
 that on May 4 his men cut the time of this whole oper- 
 ation to 7 min. 50 sec. The erection of the bridge proper 
 required only 4 min. 12 sec, nearly a minute better than 
 the time made the day I saw the bridge-building demon- 
 stration. 
 
 64 Pounds per Foot of Span 
 
 This type of light portable bridge weighs 63.75 lb. 
 per foot of span, and can be used for spans as great as 
 '96 ft. when launched by the cantilever method, and for 
 spans up to 120 ft. when launched by derrick and tackle. 
 The flooring consists of portable wooden sections such as 
 those shown in the foreground of Figs. 6 and 10. The 
 bridge is" intended primarily for the use of troops on 
 foot, although horses are occasionally carried by it. In 
 the latter case, I was told, the practice is to use canvas 
 sheets stretched on siderails to cover up the openings 
 in the floor and sides; otherwise the horses become 
 frightened and it is difficult to get them across the 
 •structure. 
 
 The principal feature of this portable bridge is that 
 it can be assembled and launched without tools of any 
 sort, except several small spanner wrenches. The joints 
 are an important part of the design and are well shown 
 in Figs 6, 7, 8 and 9. Note also in Figs. 6 and 8 the 
 bottom-chord members lying on the ground. Their ends 
 are held fast, as are the ends of all the chord and web 
 members of the bridge, when in position, by pins which 
 ■extend through the holes shown. There is a steel tongue 
 welded into each end of each tube, and provided with a 
 screw and nut. To make the connection, the nut is run 
 back on the screw, and the tongue inserted into the 
 joint-box. The pin is passed through the hole in the 
 tongue and through the pear-shaped slots in the sides 
 of the joint-box. The nut is then screwed up, causing 
 the tongue to draw out of the box until further move- 
 ment is resisted by the pin. To prevent these pins from 
 being lost they are attached to the joint blocks by short 
 lengths of chain. 
 
 The heaviest single member of the bridge proper (ex- 
 cept the transom) weighs but 56 lb. To attain speed 
 In the assembling and launching of this bridge it is es- 
 
 [ 59 
 
 sential that each member of the crew have a specific job 
 to perform, and that the sequence of operations, by rea- 
 son of repeated performances, shall become practically 
 automatic. The heavy bridge in Fig. 1, which will carry 
 the heaviest of military loads, has a joint scheme simi- 
 lar to that described above for the light bridge. 
 
 Dugout Construction and Mine Warfare 
 
 From the bridge work we proceeded to the model 
 "front," where the school's members were busy on dug- 
 out construction, barbed wire entanglements, trench dig- 
 ging and other activities. The school's battle sector is 
 underlaid with rock, so that the du^rout work was a 
 rsgular hard-rock tunneling job. The entrances to two 
 of these underground works are shown in Figs. 12 and 
 13. They assume the form of inclines extending to such 
 depth that they have about 25 ft. of head cover over the 
 roof where a horizontal passage begins. The incline was 
 timbered solid with standard mining sets. Excavation 
 required rock drilling wiLh jackhamers fed by hose from 
 a compressor driven by a gasoline engine. This plant 
 was mounted on a steel frame so that it could be placed 
 on a motor truck and moved from place to place. Blast- 
 ing was done with light charges of explosives. 
 
 In addition to the construction of dugouts and shel- 
 ters the course of instruction given by the mining sec- 
 tion includes the principles of mine warfare and the 
 subject of demolitions. In mine warfare it is neces- 
 sary to gain information regarding the location and 
 progress of the enemy's underground work, and in that 
 way be in a position to forestall his plans of attack, or 
 by noting a defect in his defensive system take advan- 
 tage, for ofi^ensive action, cf his weak points. To ascer- 
 tain the enemy's underground positions it is necessary 
 to employ very sensitive listening apparatus which 
 greatly intensifies the sounds made in the rock during 
 the progress of the work. By noting at different points 
 the directions from which these sounds appear to come, 
 it is possible by means of triangulation to locate the 
 enemy's workings quite accurately. 
 
 The mining section is equipped with a listening circle 
 and galleries where detailed instruction is given in the 
 art of listening. The students are then given a practical 
 course in actual listening and plotting of results, after 
 which their papers are corrected and graded. 
 
 In connection with the listening work a course of 
 mine rescue is given by the mining section, in which 
 the students are required to wear oxygen helmets and 
 are taught the methods employed in rescuing men who 
 have become casualties in underground warfare. In 
 addition to these subjects practical instruction is given 
 in the employment of different kinds of explosives in 
 the execution of military demolition. 
 
 Wire-Entanglement Work 
 
 In front of the dugouts were the barbed wire bar- 
 riers. One of the most effective types consisted of cir- 
 cular hoops of stiff plain wire connected by strands of 
 barbed wire, forming an obstruction that looked like an 
 elongated squirrel cage, except that diagonal strands 
 crisscrossing from one hoop to another blocked up the 
 cylindrical longitudinal opening. This form of obstruc- 
 tion is made up in 20-ft. lengths behind the lines, and 
 before it is placed in position, it is packed close like a 
 
 ] 
 
PIGS. 12 AND 13. THESE 
 ARE THE ENTRANCES TO 
 TWO MODEL DUGOUTS 
 WHICH STUDENTS AT THE 
 ARMY ENGINEER SCHOOL, 
 ARE EXCAVATING IN ROCK 
 
 coil of wire rope. It is then carried forward and opened 
 out like the bellows of an accordion. 
 
 Iron stakes, of the screw type, are used to hold the 
 framing hoops upright. These screw stakes, or pick- 
 ets, possess an advantage over stakes that must be 
 driven with a mallet, in that they can be set noiselessly. 
 This is a very important feature when working in No 
 Man's Land. 
 
 Other types of wire obstacles are constructed in ad- 
 srantageous locations by the students. There are regu- 
 lar drills for the erection of these various forms of en- 
 tanglement, a certain crew being assigned to a definite 
 length of obstacle. Each man of the crew has certain 
 definite tasks, which he goes at in turn, so that the 
 placing of a stretch of wire is like a silent game. 
 
 Further along we find a real front-line fire trench — 
 this standard trench as well as the barbed wire en- 
 tanglements being the work of the pioneer section. 
 It is laid out to conform to the requirements of the 
 ground. In this trench are all types of standard revet- 
 ment, supporting the sides, there being several fire 
 bays in each type. A real observation post has been 
 put in, so cunningly concealed that it is impossible to 
 detect it from the enemy's side. The drainage of 
 trenches is always a problem — and here it is well worked 
 out, so that the students can get real practice for use 
 later when they are in charge of sectors at the front. 
 
 The tracing of trenches is worked out in this sector 
 by the students, both in the daytime and at night. 
 To be ready to do this work quickly and noiselessly when 
 under the observation of the enemy takes much prac- 
 tice, and it is of the utmost importance that an officer 
 should know just how to go about it. The method of 
 placing a working party on the job is also practiced, 
 after the trace of the new trenches has been laid down. 
 
 Under "pioneering" come also the construction and 
 maintenance of roads, always one of the most vital 
 problems with which military engineers have to deal, 
 and there are at present at the school roads in every 
 
 - [ 60 
 
 stage of construction, from the preliminary excavation 
 to the completed product. 
 
 A light railway connects the front line with the rear 
 of this "battle sector." When one sees the immense 
 amount of rock and gravel that has been hauled over 
 its rails, one realizes how important is the construction 
 of such means of transportation at the front, and here 
 again the student gets that practical instruction which 
 is the only adequate training to prepare men for actual 
 service in the field. 
 
 The conferences of the pioneer section not only pre- 
 pare the students for outdoor work in field fortification,, 
 construction of roads and communications and light rail- 
 ways, but also take up in detail the study of French 
 maps, billeting, construction of various types of huts, 
 and layout of water-supply systems. 
 
 To see a class of fifty students earnestly studying a 
 map to discover the best position for a strong point is 
 to convince oneself that they mean business. This map 
 study is of the greatest value, because an officer must 
 be able to orient himself quickly on the ground and — 
 with the aid of his map — ^know exactly how to lay out 
 and hold his position. 
 
 Billeting was a new proposition to our Army when 
 it came to France, and it really requires considerable 
 study. Conferences of the pioneer section study this 
 subject in detail, as well as methods of constructing huts 
 when billets are not available. 
 
Army Engineer School in France Standardizes 
 
 Work in the Field 
 
 Gives Courses of Training to Men Recommended for Commissions — Operations Conducted Mostly in the 
 Open — Classes Trained in Mining, Pioneering, Bridging, Topography, Camouflage, Sound Ranging and 
 Interpretation of Aerial Photographs — Model Battle Sector Laid Out and Completely Equipped 
 
 By Robfrt K, Tomlin, J-i. 
 
 War Correspondent of Engineering News-Record 
 
 THE British say that "an army advances astrids a 
 4-in. pipe." To familiarize our students with water- 
 supply, they are taught the organization of our water- 
 supply service, and the requirements of men and animals 
 in gallons of water daily, and they are warned of the 
 probable difficulties they will encounter. To make these 
 difficulties appear more real, they are worked into inter- 
 esting water-supply problems, approximating as closely 
 as possible those which occur daily in trench warfare, 
 ana which graduates of the Engineer School will be 
 undoubtedly called upon to solve. Working out such ex- 
 i^mples in a classroom has proved excellent training 
 for the efficient execution of water-supply schemes at the 
 front. The accompanying British official photographs 
 show the kind of water-supply work done at the front. 
 The inclusive heading of "Pioneering" takes in prac- 
 tically every subject in military engineering except 
 those specifically relating to mines or bridges, and every- 
 where at the Army Engineer School one sees encourag- 
 ing evidence that no point has been overlooked. 
 
 Sound Ranging 
 
 Students at the school are receiving instruction in 
 certain highly specialized phases of mapping and plot- 
 ting in connection with artillery work. Among these 
 is sound ranging — the registering of an enemy battery 
 by means of apparatus operating on the general prin- 
 ciple of a seismograph. It is disclosing no secret to 
 outline the general principles of this work as practiced 
 by the American Army, inasmuch as the scheme has al- 
 ready received publicity in the French press. In fact, 
 one of the papers gives to French sound-ranging ap- 
 paratus the credit for locating the long-range guns 
 which have been bombarding Paris since the German 
 drive began, although it is asserted in other quarters 
 that la grosse Bertha, was spotted by means of aerial 
 photographs. 
 
 Briefly, the sound ranging work involves the installa- 
 tion of recording apparatus at three points, some dis- 
 tance apart, the location of each being definitely known 
 in advance. The detonation of an enemy gun will be 
 heard at point A at a certain time, at point B, let us 
 say, a second later, and at point C, two seconds later. 
 Knowing the velocity at which sound travels, it is easy 
 to determine that the gun is a certain distance, x, nearer 
 A than B. By taking A and B as origins, plotting pairs 
 of circles, one radius always being longer by x than the 
 other, and connecting the intersections, we get a curve 
 on any point of which the enemy gun may be located. 
 This curve is obviously a hyperbola, for the difference 
 between the distances of any point on it from the two 
 fixed points, or foci, A and B, is always the same. 
 
 Repeating this performance for points A and C we 
 plot a new series of circles, the radii differing in this 
 case by a distance of y corresponding to the time elapsed 
 between the recording of the sound of the shot at A and 
 at C. Again connecting the intersections of these pairs 
 of circles, we get a second hyperbola which forms an- 
 other locus of points for the gun position. Obviously, 
 the intersection of these two hyperbolas gives the true 
 position of the battery which is doing the firing. 
 
 Of course the actual registering of a battery position 
 does not involve all of the clumsy details cited above to 
 explain the principle of the method. Graphical charts 
 have been developed for accelerating the interpretation 
 of the data, and the recording apparatus operates with 
 sensitized paper, which passes into a chemical develop- 
 ing solution and is ready for use in a very short time. 
 
 The first thought that comes to mind is that with 
 many guns firing along the front the work of inter- 
 preting the sound records would be exceedingly confus- 
 ing. To some extent this is the case, but with a proper 
 location of the recording posts and practice in reading 
 the records, surprisingly accurate results are obtained. 
 It must be remembered that a gun will probably fire a 
 number of shots from one position and that every time 
 the same series of time intervals will be recorded 
 at the three observation posts. Thus, by comparing 
 several records which are apparently complicated by 
 other sounds than that from the gun it is desired to 
 register, it is possible to identify the recurring series of 
 three marks on the sensitized paper, eliminate others 
 and spot the position of the battery. 
 
 Another aid to confirming the position of an enemy 
 field piece is the method of flash ranging ; that is, taking 
 the direction of the flash of a gun at night from two or 
 more posts of observation, the intersection of the azi- 
 muths, of course, disclosing the gun positions. 
 
 Aerial Pictures Aid Topographical Work 
 
 In a previous article, in Engineering News-Record of 
 May 23, p. 984, I touched on the subject of the interpre- 
 tation of aerial photographs for mapmaking and artil- 
 lery purposes. At the Army Engineer School I had an 
 opportunity of seeing a class being instructed in this 
 fascinating branch of work; the offcer in charge is a 
 former topographic engineer of the United States Geo- 
 logical Survey. 
 
 The aerial picture must be accompanied by data giv- 
 ing the approximate height of the camera when the ex- 
 posure was made, the date and time of day, direction of 
 north, etc. It is examined under lenses and stereo- 
 scopes, the latter bringing out objects in rcMef. The 
 study of shadows is a vital part of the work, for where 
 
 [ 61 ] 
 
camouflage covers up an object from a point of observa- 
 tion overhead ttie shadow it casts is often the telltale 
 mark by which important bits of information are dis- 
 closed. It is clear, therefore, that in the interpretation 
 of shadows it is desirable to know the time of day at 
 which the picture was taken. 
 
 Tracks or trails of any sort also are carefully studied, 
 for they always mean activity of some kind — possibly 
 the delivery of ammunition to a dump which is otherwise 
 
 protected from observation by camouflage. A favorite 
 enemy trick is to place "dummy" batteries in the field 
 to fool the mapmakers. Absence of a track or trai.. 
 leading to these places shows them up as "fakes.'' 
 Sometimes, too, "faked" tracks and blast marks are 
 fixed up with the white chalk so abundant in the war 
 zone of France. The canny interpreter of photographs^ 
 however, is not misled by these subterfuges. 
 
 All of these data are reduced to map form by means 
 
 THE BRITISH SAY: "AN ARMY 
 ADVANCES ASTRIDE A FOUR- 
 INCH PIPE LINE." AT THE 
 ARMY ENGINEER SCHOOL OUR 
 MEN ARE TRAINED IN WATER- 
 SUPPLY WORK, THE SCOPE OF 
 WHICH IS INDICATED BY 
 THESE BRITISH PICTURES 
 
 FIG. 14. BRINGING UP WATER 
 
 PIPES TO SUPPLY THE 
 
 FRONT LINE 
 
 FIG. 15. PUTTING UP A WATER 
 TROUGH FOR THE CAVALRY 
 
 FIG. 16. 
 
 TEMPORARY WATER 
 TANKS 
 
 PIG. 17. A BIG WATER DEPOT 
 British Official Photographs. 
 
 
 
 ■ - • > - ' " sar 
 
 
 , .^^^Hl!" 
 
 
 ; ^'f^'^" / 
 
 :L-„-.-J-:-^ "---.'^J 
 
 mmk 
 
 --r<r^'.^ r^:"^^ii^ 
 
 [ 62 ] 
 
of straight-line intersections, by the use of the camera 
 lucida and the appareils roussilhes. The first named 
 method is most generally used, and the several steps are 
 as follows : 
 
 On the photograph, select four points easily identi- 
 
 fied on the map, which are so situated that the lines 
 joining them intersect on or close to the particular de- 
 tail it is desired to fix. On the map, draw lines join- 
 ing the corresponding points. The intersection of these 
 lines will give the true position of the particular detail 
 
 ^^/Z'^^^^:^^ 
 
 A: ^\^^7h 
 
 
 ^^^^ 
 
 
 ^^^^^I^^^K^^^^^^H 
 
 si^^jbi^^^^^^^b 
 
 ^Hh 
 
 
 ^Hi 
 
 
 HH^^^^^S 
 
 VIE INTERPRETER OF AfiRIAL PHOTOS MAKES SUCH AS THESE (ON WHICH THE LETTERING HAS BEEN SUPER- 
 IMPOSED) TELL AN IMPORTANT STORY 
 
 [ 63 ] 
 
in question. The remainder of the detail can bs quickly 
 drawn in with the aid of proportional compasses. This 
 method simplifies the matter of adjusting errors. 
 
 The camera lucida is nothing more than a prism 
 mounted by means of extension rods upon a light wooden 
 framework comprising a base and a sliding easel. The 
 photograph is pinned on the easel, and the map on 
 the drawing board, the plane of the photograph being 
 perpendicular to the plane of the map. Looking verti- 
 cally through the prism, a faint image of the photograph 
 is projected down on the map, and with a pencil small 
 sections at a time are traced. 
 
 The appareils roussilhes method is carried out by 
 means of an optique cinematographique. A photo- 
 graphic plate is used and the image thrown on the map 
 in the same way screer. pictures are shown. By various 
 adjustments of the instrument the proportion of the 
 image projected on the map is reduced or enlarged until 
 it fits the map scale, and then the lines are traced. The 
 accompanying aerial photographs show the kind of ma- 
 terial that must be made to reveal its story. 
 
 The topographic section of the school, of which the 
 interpretation of photographs is a part, also gives in- 
 struction in map reading, surveying and landscape 
 sketching, and includes an artillery orienting course. 
 
 The camouflage section has a wider scope than any 
 other in the Engineer School, inasmuch as camouflage 
 
 must bs applied to every branch of the service. It in- 
 cludes heavy artillery; field artillery; trench mortars, 
 light and heavy; gas projectors; dugout and mine en- 
 trances with spoil banks ; observation and listening posts 
 of many types ; tanks ; snipers' posts, and the numerous 
 not-to-be-described "fakes" and front line work. 
 
 Many people have the idea that camouflage work is 
 mostly done by artists, painting in studios far removed 
 from the front. About one per cent of it is produced in 
 studios. The rest is military engineering erected under 
 fire, and the camoufleur must have a working knowledge 
 of all materiel of war. 
 
 On account of the broad scope of camouflage, the stu- 
 dents in this section of the school range from major gen- 
 erals to privates. Special attention is given to cam- 
 ouflage discipline. Another interesting study is the 
 camouflage of shadows, which are successfully concealed. 
 
 It is obvious that this subject can not be written 
 about in detail. The familiar illustrations often pub- 
 lished in magazines and newspapers are the obvious and 
 theatrical ones, seldom tised. The real camouflage would 
 not make an interesting picture, because no one would 
 see it i7i a photograph. 
 
 The Army Engineer School, to the technica. man, is 
 one of the most interesting places in France today. It 
 is, in effect, a museum where one sees the practical ap- 
 plication of the new military engineering. 
 
 [ 64 ] 
 
American-Built Docks in France Com- 
 pleted by Pacific Coast Engineers 
 
 Second Battalion Had 4100-Foot Timber Structure Ready April 15- 
 First Battalion at Work on Huge Storage Depot 
 
 By Robert K. Tomlin, Jr. 
 
 War Correspondent of Engineering News-Record 
 
 Photographs D, O, H and N from Committee on Public Information- 
 All Others by Engineei'ing News-Record 
 
 AT AMERICAN-BUILT docks in France transat- 
 lantic freight from American-built ships has been 
 unloaded, classified and routed to the front via Ameri- 
 can-built railway yards since the middle of April. With 
 brand-new berths for 10 vessels, in addition to an exist- 
 ing string of docks near by, previously constructed by 
 the French, the great marine terminal at Base Section 
 No. — of the American Expeditionary Forces, a tim- 
 ber structure supported by wooden piles, extends for 
 almost a mile over a site which was nothing but mud 
 flats half a year ago. Long, low classification sheds 
 flank the shore side of the docks; further inland a re- 
 ceiving yard and a departure yard for the handling 
 of empty and loaded freight cars are well along toward 
 completion; specially designed timber rigs, for the han- 
 dling of ships' cargoes, and heavy steel gantry cranes 
 are being erected; railway cars and motor trucks, in a 
 steady stream, flow along the quay, picking up their 
 burdens of freight for transport either directly to the 
 advance section, or for storage at the base or inter- 
 mediate depots. 
 
 Busy Scenes at the Docks 
 
 This is the scene at the docks : A solid background of 
 spars, rigging and weirdly camouflaged hulls motionless 
 at their moorings, and a foreground of action kaleido- 
 scopic in its variety. Booms are swinging crates from 
 ships' holds, engines are spotting cars along the quay, 
 negro stevedores are trucking loads into the classifica- 
 tion sheds. Motor trucks are darting to and fro over 
 the broad timber flooring, and labor gangs are grading 
 and laying railroad track back of the classification sheds. 
 Here is a group of Spaniards, in brown corduroys and 
 canvas slippers, unloading crushed stone from cars; 
 there, German prisoners in the faded remnants of field- 
 gray uniforms, piling lumber under the direction of a 
 blue-coated French guard with a long bayoneted rifle 
 
 slung over his shoulder. Back along the road which 
 parallels the waterfront pass truck-loads of Chinese 
 powder-factory employees, or negro .-stevedores going to 
 or from work. Things are moving down at the Amei'- 
 ican docks in France. 
 
 But what of the men who set the stage for this spec- 
 tacle — the engineers who took the plans of the docks and 
 transformed lines on blueprints into realities of timber, 
 concrete and steel? Their job on the main dock struc- 
 ture practically completed, these constructors have 
 stepped back from the center of the stage to make way 
 for the operating forces, but they have left behind them 
 a convincing record of achievement since they landed 
 in France last September. 
 
 Men from Pacific Coast Did Work 
 
 The construction of the new docks and yards at Base 
 Section No. — is largely the work of the second bat- 
 talion of an engineer regiment consisting of men from 
 the Pacific coast. It is a "hand-picked" organization of 
 volunteers, for the regimental quota of about 1700 was 
 culled from 6000 applications. Its commanding officer is 
 the chief engineer of Base Section No. — , and, in 
 addition to the dock and railway-yard construction, he 
 is responsible for a score of other big projects — an im- 
 mense general storage depot and rrailway yard, which 
 is in charge of the first battalion of his regiment; hospi- 
 tal construction, railroad extension, ordnance ware- 
 houses, engine terminals, car-erecting plants, repair 
 shops, a refrigerating plant, etc., all of this work being 
 scattered over an area of a great many hundred square 
 miles. The construction program in Base Section No. 
 — is staggering. For example, entirely separate from 
 the dock work — a huge job in itself — is the general stor- 
 age depot six miles distant, which will consist ultiniately 
 of 144 warehouses, each 500 x 64 ft. in plan, and a rail- 
 way yard with 170 miles of track. 
 
 G5 
 
To anyone familiar with the 
 army transport problem in 
 France, the fact that the 
 American docks at Base Sec- 
 tion No — have been built 
 and in operation for some 
 time past is big news. It 
 means more tonnage and, con- 
 sequently, a general speeding 
 up of construction work 
 throughout the areas of 
 France occupied by the Amer- 
 ican forces, for the big ob- 
 stacle in the way of more 
 rapid progress in the past has 
 been delay in the deliveries 
 of construction plant, con- 
 struction materials and con- 
 struction men. Everywhere I 
 
 have gone I have heard this same story — not a complaint, 
 but a frank statement of conditions as they have been. 
 Lacking peace-time facilities for the handling of large- 
 scale jobs, our engineers have succeeded in making prog- 
 ress without them. When machinery does not arrive the 
 only recourse is hand labor. When the erection of a 
 warehouse calls for a bill of timber of certain sizes and 
 lengths, and nothing of the sort is to be had, something 
 else must be made to do. It is no new experience for our 
 men to build up 4-in. timber members from 1-in. stuff. 
 
 And that is the important point about the engineering 
 work for the army in France. It must get along with 
 the tools and materials at hand. It would be mislead- 
 ing and unfair to the men who have accomplished such 
 wonders with the facilities available to picture the con- 
 struction program over here as a sort of triumphal 
 march over smooth roads. It has been nothing of the 
 sort. It has been pretty hard sledding all the time, 
 but never so hard as to make our men let up in their 
 efforts to put the job through. And. in the case of the 
 docks, they have put the job through splendidly, these 
 engineers from the Pacific slope, for there is a great 
 deal of the pioneer in their make-up, the sort of stuff 
 inbred by life in the great open country of the West, 
 which enables a man to face new and difficult conditions 
 with a calm confidence in his ability to win out ulti- 
 mately. And so, when they needed a sawmill for fram- 
 ing timber, for example, and could not get one ready- 
 made, they ferreted out a steam boiler here, an engine 
 
 A. WOODEN DOCKS ARE PROTECTED BY MOTOR-DRIVEN FIRE-FIGHTING AP- 
 
 '^PARATUS — IN FOREGROUND, MAJOR COMMANDING ENGINEER BATTALION 
 
 AND CAPTAIN WHO HAD IMMEDIATE CHARGE OF DOCK CONSTRUCTION 
 
 (Shed built In 12 Sections) 
 
 u 1^ U iJ U 
 
 FIG. 1. CROSS-SECTION OF DOCK STRUCTURE AND 
 CLASSIFICATION SHED 
 
 there, other accessories where they could find them, and 
 in a little while the outfit was assembled and cutting 
 timber, "See that two-story classification shed do-ivn at 
 the end of the docks?" asked Major R , command- 
 ing the second battalion during my visit to the job. 
 "The floor joists are the only sticks in it which are in 
 accordance with the blueprint plans!" But the building 
 was up and ready for service. 
 
 On the docks and railway yards the force comprised 
 about 2500 men, including the engineer troops, labor 
 battalions and a crew from the Phoenix Construction 
 Company. 
 
 At Base Section No. — large shipments of trans- 
 atlantic freight are being handled — just how large I am, 
 of course, not in a position to say — but it should be 
 realized that not all of our cargoes from the United 
 States are being received at this one port. However, in 
 the scheme of transport and supply to the front, this 
 terminal is playing a large part. In a former article on 
 the advance depot (see Engineering News-Record of July 
 4, p. 27) I outlined the general scheme of zoning and 
 distribution back of the front. There are, as the main 
 parts of the transportation and supply system, the ad- 
 vance depot, the point of distribution nearest the front ; 
 the intermediate depot, somewhere between the advance' 
 depot and the seacoast; and finally, the base depots,, 
 which are, of course, bigger than any of the others. 
 Freight from ships, in the case of Base Section No. — , 
 is passed either directly into railroad cars or into the 
 
 classification sheds along the; 
 inner wall of the quay, and 
 thence goes by rail either; 
 directly toward the front cr 
 into the huge base storage de- 
 pot, from which it is later re- 
 moved on requisition. The new 
 docks at Base Section No. — 
 parallel the waterfront and are 4109 ft, long, with 
 berths for handling 10 ships simultaneously, as pre- 
 viously noted. Timber flooring, 86 ft, wide, carrying 
 four parallel lines of standard-gage railway track and 
 one line of 44-ft gantry-crane track, is supported 
 by timber pile bents spaced 10 ft. on centers. As to 
 the choice of the type of structure, it was essential 
 to design something which could be built quickly and 
 
 [ 66 ] 
 
B. SPECIALLY DESIGNED CARGO-HANDLING DEVICE 
 
 BEING USED TEMPORARILY FOR DELIVERING 
 
 MATERIAL TO PORTABLE MIXER 
 
 with materials at hand or immediately in prospect. A 
 wood-pile dock seemed best adapted to these conditions. 
 Too much emphasis cannot be placed upon this phase 
 of the engineering work for the American armies in 
 France. Our men cannot pick up a telephone or a tele- 
 graph blank and send in a rush call for the delivery of 
 concrete mixers, locomotive cranes, cement, sand and 
 crushed stone, sawmills, timber piles of predetermined 
 lengths and sizes, dimension lumber, derricks and all 
 of the other plant luxuries of peace-time construction. 
 
 I say they cannot call for these things, referring to con- 
 ditions under which the dock work was started late last 
 year. Of course, the situation is improving every day,, 
 and our supplies of plant and equipment are now much 
 more satisfactory than formerly. But the engineer at 
 home must constantly keep in mind the fact that all of 
 our work over here v/as begun with mighty few of the 
 mechanical, material and transportation aids to which 
 the engineer in civil life is accustomed. This condi- 
 tion of affairs, however, developed no Micawbers in the 
 ranks of our engineer units; no one waited for "some- 
 thing to turn up." Instead, every one buckled down to 
 the job, with the result that sometning was made to 
 "turn up" — and that something is the string of classifi- 
 cation sheds and the long line of completed quay at 
 which loaded ships from the other side of the Atlantic 
 are now discharging. 
 
 The timber structure for the docks was chosen at 
 the beginning as being the only one possible under the 
 conditions imposed on the designers — speed of construc- 
 tion and use of available materials. There is a con- 
 siderable range of tide at the site (I am not allowed 
 to state this quantity in feet) and the foundation ma- 
 terial is a combination of silt and ooze, into which 9200 
 piles ranging in length from 45 to 70 ft. were driven 
 for the dock structure proper. Piles put down at other 
 places near by swell the total to about 13,000. A num- 
 ber of test piles were driven to refusal before the job 
 was begun, and it was found that they could be de- 
 pended upon to carry safely loads of 20 tons. The piles 
 are of untreated timber, as no creosoted material was 
 available for quick delivery. 
 
 The accompanying cross-section drawing, Fig. 1, 
 renders unnecessary any detailed description of the dock 
 structure. It should be noted, howr-ver, that a batter 
 pile, not shown on the main crosF-section, is driven 
 under the inner gantry crane rail. While the plans call 
 for three 12-in. steel I-beams under each gantry crane 
 rail, this type of construction was employed only at the 
 
 /2"x/2"Cap^ 
 %\21''5crew 
 /"x24"D.3:~. '• 
 
 l"x2"5crewBolf „ 
 f^-xd"Benf Spikes-..^ yvifh iVasher Ik 62 
 
 ix2i5frap,30/on^ 
 extending back fo 
 /nfersecf next Bent 
 \'i"Floorin<j ^j" 
 
 '^'x2^'5tmp^ I 
 - uncfer2"x4/}M 
 
 m^ 
 
 '"x 36" Bolts. 
 Countersunk 
 P I oi 
 
 Bo/f-..J 
 
 )2"xl2"5trinqers'}. 
 '8"x 10" Backlog 
 
 5"xl2"x24"-'] 
 4"xl2"x24'''-' 
 
 
 A -A 
 
 Cross -Section 14" F^nder-.^^ 
 * " Pile ^■ 
 
 I''xl2''xl0"— ^ 
 fx3"Boat-.^ 
 
 Spikes 
 
 ® 
 
 ® 
 
 Side 
 
 A 
 
 \-2.6"xi2"x2'-9" 
 '^\-2,6"x/2"x5'-e" 
 
 e V a t i o n 
 
 M 
 
 FIG. 2 
 O R I 
 P i L I 
 
 N G 
 
 >m^-l"x22"D.B 
 
 l"x22"D.B:—-- 
 
 ^I2"x 12'.'.. 
 x6' 
 
 \fl2''xl2''x/2' 
 
 lt...2'-e'^- ->U 2'-9"-pk---2'-9"'\, 
 FENDER PILE 
 
 PIGS. 2 AND 3. DETAILS OP THE MOORING PILE AND THE PENDER PILE 
 
 r 67 1 
 
 ■5"xl2' 
 
C. AT ONE END OF DOCKS SOME WORK REMAINS TO BE DONE 
 
 south end of the docks, where heavy steel gantries will 
 be used. For the northerly section 12 x 12-in. timber 
 stringers support the gantry rails, on which a special 
 and lighter unloading device, shown in Photograph B, 
 will operate. The piles are capped with 12 x 12-in. tim- 
 bers, the stringers are also 12 x 12 in., and the deck- 
 ing is 3 X 8-in. stuff carried by 4 x 10-in. crossties. 
 Practically all connections are made with 1-in. drift- 
 bolts. 
 
 For the standard-gage track on the dock flooring 80- 
 Ib. rails are used, but the gantry-crane rails are 100 lb. 
 per yard, and are fastened to the ties by hookbolts. The 
 pile bents are cross braced both transversely and longi- 
 tudinally with 3 X 12-in. timber. Figs. 2 and 3 show the 
 mooring-pile and fender-pile details. 
 
 An important feature of the design is the transverse 
 fire walls underneath the decking, at about 300-ft. in- 
 tervals. They are of solid timber planking to prevent 
 the sweep of flames underneath the flooring along a con- 
 siderable length of dock. From the photographs it will 
 be observed that the decking planks are brought up flush 
 with the tops of the rails, forming ? surface on which 
 motor trucks as well as railway cars may operate. Mo- 
 tor-driven fire-fighting apparatus, shown in Photograph 
 A, is part of the dock equipment. 
 
 To furnish at a proper level a foundation for the con- 
 crete flooring of the classification sheds and open stor- 
 age areas, it was necessary to make a fill of about 55,000 
 cu.yd. First, a concrete retaining wall, averaging about 
 8 ft. in height, was built back of the classification sheds 
 for the entire 4100-ft. length of the docks. At the in- 
 shore side of the dock structure a dike of puddled clay 
 was formed and faced on the waterfront slope with a 
 4-in. slab of concrete to prevent washing out by wave 
 action during periods of high water. Between these two 
 walls — the concrete-paved dike on 'he waterfront side 
 and the concrete retaining wall on the shore side — the 
 fill was made by hydraulic sluicing. The material is 
 sand-dredged at a point 40 miles from the dock site 
 and delivered by French barges. From the barges 
 moored along the timber quay wall the sand was pumped 
 out by a hydraulic dredge. This fill was compacted by 
 steam rollers before concrete was laid upon it. 
 
 The floors of the classification sheds and the open 
 storage spaces between successive pairs of buildings 
 
 are all concreted, this job in- 
 TOlving the covering of an area 
 4100 ft. long and 76 ft. wide 
 with concrete 5 in. thick. The 
 concrete was placed in trans- 
 verse strips 12 ft. wide and is 
 not reinforced. In all, three 
 mixers were employed. One 
 rig, shown in Photograph E, 
 consisted of a li-yd. mixer, 
 driven by a gasoline engine, 
 the whole outfit being mounted 
 upon a flat car which could be 
 moved along the dock as work 
 progressed. Distribution from 
 this mobile plant to the floor 
 area was by narrow-gage rail- 
 way and V-shaped industrial 
 cars. In addition there were 
 concrete mixing plants, as shown 
 The capacity of these mixers 
 
 used two smaller 
 in Photograph F 
 was 4 yd. ; they were driven by gas engines, both mixer 
 and engine being mounted on a low four-wheeled truck. 
 Aggregate and cement were brought in by railway cars 
 operating on the inner one of the four dock tracks. The 
 aggregate was dredged gravel and sand obtained at a 
 point some distance from the docks and delivered by 
 barges; the cement was shipped from England. With 
 160 men engaged on the work of concreting the classi- 
 fication-shed floors and open storage spaces, about 7500 
 sq.ft. of concrete 5 in. thick were laid each day with the 
 three mixers available. 
 
 The following summary shows the volume in cubic 
 yards of concrete required by the docks, yards and ac- 
 cessory structures, such as a new warehouse, 100 x 3000 
 ft. in plan, and a cold-storage plant. 
 
 Classification-shed floors 4,400 
 
 Retaining wall 3,800 
 
 Apron wail 4,400 
 
 New warehouse 7,200 
 
 Departure yards 2, 200 
 
 Cold-storage plant 4,000 
 
 Total 23,600 
 
 Paralleling the docks, the classification sheds are lo- 
 cated in a straight line with gaps between each pair 
 for open storage. There are, in all, eight of these sheds ; 
 two of them are 312 x 74 ft. in plan, while the other 
 six are 205 x 74 ft. They are timber-frame structures 
 sheathed with corrugated iron, Photograph C showing 
 one of the sheds partly completed. All are one-story 
 in height except the building at tht^ southerly end of 
 
 D. DREDGE PUMPING SAND FROM SCOW TO MAKE RAIL- 
 ROAD FILL — NOTE END OF ELEVATED PIPE LINE 
 AT RIGHT, THROUGH WHICH SAND IS PUMPED 
 
 [ 68 ] 
 
the string (Photograph C), which has a second story 
 which will be used as the administrative offices of the 
 dock-operating force The cross-sec^jon, Fig. 1, illus- 
 trates the prevailing type of structure. As a general 
 rule a gang of 50 men worked on one shed. The frame 
 was set usually in one day and the entire structure com- 
 pleted in one week. 
 
 All of the timber for these sheds came in the rough 
 from the States. It was framed by a homemade saw- 
 mill operated by a boiler obtained from Spain. The en- 
 gineers were successful in receiving from the States a 
 circular saw, but had to construct for themselves 
 wooden pulleys and mount these on a piece of shafting 
 obtained locally. On this makeshift sawmill most of the 
 framing of timber for the classification sheds was done. 
 The work was started by the making of templets for 
 each member of the building, and with these as pat- 
 terns the lumber was run through the mill in bunches of 
 half a dozen pieces at a time. The members for the 
 wooden roof trusses were bored by compressed-air tools 
 
 and connected by bolts. On the erection of the timber 
 framework double-block gin poles were employed. 
 
 Behind the string of classification sheds are three 
 lines of depressed railroad track, 3 ft. 4 in. below the 
 elevation of the floors. Then comes a platform 10 ft. 
 wide, set at the same elevation as the classification shed 
 floors, followed by a storage warehouse 100 ft. wide with 
 an 8-ft. platform on the inshore side. Flanking this latter 
 platform are two more lines of depressed track at the 
 same elevation as those previously mentioned. Another 
 accessory is a 25-ft. teamway for the use of trucks, fol- 
 lowed by two other team tracks, making, in all, six ad- 
 ditional miles of trackage in connection with the dock 
 facilities. 
 
 While work on the docks was in progress other de- 
 tachments of the engineer regiments, assisted by labor 
 battalions, were grading and laying track in the receiv- 
 ing and departure yards The plan of the whole project 
 is roughly in the form of a quadrilateral whose sides are 
 formed by the line of docks, the receiving yard, tne de- 
 
 
 E AND F. MOVABLE 
 MIXER PLANTS USED IN 
 
 CONCRETING FLOORS OF 
 CLASSIFICATION SHEDS 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 n 
 
 
 •«iiia1H 
 
 
 
 ^^ 
 
 G. CAPPING PILES AND LAYING THE TIMBER DECKING AT THE AMERICAN DOCKS 
 
 H. LOOKING ALONG DOCK SITE— PILEDRIVER ON LEFT, TIMBER CLASSIFICATION SHED IN CENTER 
 
 J. THE ENGINEERS HAD TO BUILD THEIR OWN PILEDRIVERS AND DERRICKS 
 
 [ 69 ] 
 
K. AT THE DEPARTURE 
 
 fARD THE PILL IS BEING 
 
 MADE BY HYDRAULIC 
 
 SLUICING 
 
 L. PLACING FILL AND 
 LAYING TRACK IN DE- 
 PARTURE YARD — ENGI- 
 NEERS BUILT ELEVATOR 
 COAL BINS IN CENTER 
 
 M. LABOR BATTALIONS 
 AID IN TRACKLAYING — 
 IN BACKGROUND TRES- 
 TLE - SUPPORTED PIPE 
 USED IN MAKING HY- 
 DRAULIC FILL 
 
 N. OPEN STORAGE FOR 
 
 SUPPLIES IS PROVIDED 
 
 AT MAIN DEPOT 
 
 O. 
 
 NEW RAILROAD, 64 MILES LONG, LEADING FROM DEPARTURE YARD AT DOCKS TO BASE STORAGE DEPOT- 
 NOTE GRADING FOR ADDITIONAL, TRACKS 
 
 [ 70 ] 
 
parture yard and the existing tracks of a French rail- 
 way to which connections have been made for incoming 
 •and outgoing traffic. 
 
 Build Piledrivers 
 
 On Oct. 1, exactly one month after the engineer regi- 
 ment arrived in France, the first shipments of piles and 
 lumber from the United States came. At that time the 
 men were without the cant hooks and peaveys with 
 which they had been accustomed to handle lumber, and 
 tools from home were arriving in mere driblets. A 
 batch of French axes and shovels was purchased locally. 
 One of the first jobs was to build p'ledrivers, derricks, 
 sawmills and planers out of such material as could be 
 found. For the railway yard excavation two 60-ton 
 :steam shovels were obtained from Spain. Purchases of 
 French track and piping also were made, while Spain 
 was drawn upon for railroad ties. 
 
 In all there were built two floating piledrivers, five 
 skid and two roller piledrivers, and eight skid der- 
 ricks for handling lumber. While working with the two 
 floating drivers and four of the skid drivers the prog- 
 ress amounted to about 150 piles per day. The first 
 pile was driven Nov. 12 and on Feb. 10 the driving of 
 the 9200 piles for the docks proper was completed. Not 
 all of the nine piledrivers, however, were working until 
 about Christmas. 
 
 The piles themselves were of longleaf yellow pine 
 which had been tapped for turpentine. They were 
 driven with 3000-lb. drop hammers by the floating and 
 skid rigs. The timber is not treated in any way, as 
 there was neither the time nor the facilities for any such 
 procedure. Taking into account the alternate wetting 
 and drying of the dock substructure, due to tide varia- 
 tions, the life of the piling is estimated at from 12 to 
 15 years. Including piling, capping, stringers and floor- 
 ing, Oe docks at Base Section No. — represent about 
 5,000,0l>0 ft. b.m. of lumber. 
 
 Where xhe gantry-crane rails are carried by 12 x 12- 
 in. wooden stringers rather than I-beams, which did not 
 arrive in time to be used throughout the entire length 
 of the docks, a special unloading device is to be used. 
 It is of timber construction, as shown in Photograph 
 B, and weighs considerably less than the 70-ton steel 
 gantry cranes which will operate at the south end of 
 the docks. This unloading device, called the "Boschke," 
 after the name of the captain of engineers who der 
 signed it, is about 20 x 44 ft. in plan and consists of a 
 timber-truss frame carrying a pair of 45-ft. ship's 
 booms, tackle and hoisting engine. The rig is mounted 
 on wheels which run on the regular gantry tracks, these 
 being spaced 44 ft. apart. The hoisting equipment, 
 electrically driven, is housed between the two overhead 
 trusses, as shown in the picture. With this rig a line 
 
 from the water-side boom is run 
 
 down into the ship's hold and made 
 fast to the load. The load is then 
 hauled up by the hoisting engine 
 and when clear of the ship's deck 
 is swung shoreward, the weight be- 
 ing transferred by means of suit- 
 able tackle to the second or inshore 
 boom, which deposits it on the plat- 
 form of a classification shed. 
 
 Pa rt 
 El evoi tion 
 
 A speed test of this apparatus, v/hich, its designer 
 explained to me, is merely an adapta^tion of the practice 
 of generations of seamen in handling freight by ships' 
 booms, resulted in a round-trip time of only 40 sec; 
 that is, 40 sec. for picking up a load from a vessel, 
 delivering it to the classification-shed platform and re- 
 turning empty to the point of starting. The device is 
 capable of handling weights of five tons, although in 
 the ordinary course of events the individual load.s will 
 average only two tons or less. 
 
 Railway Receiving and Departure Yards 
 
 The railway receiving yard immediately back of the 
 docks will, when finished, have a track mileage of 6.25. 
 From it connection is made to the main-line tracks of a 
 French railroad. At the receiving vard empty freight 
 cars will be delivered and sent forward along the track- 
 age system on the dock structure as needed. The four 
 lines of tracks on the docks are equipped with double- 
 slip switches, and the layout is such *^hat any one of the 
 ten berths can be pulled without interfering with oper- 
 ations at the others. The construction work at the re- 
 ceiving yard involved nothing unusual in the way of 
 grading and tracklaying, as the ground is fairly level. 
 
 The departure yard, where cars loaded at the docks 
 are made up into trains, contains about 18 miios of 
 track. The feature of the grading work here is the em- 
 ployment of the hydraulic sluicing method for making 
 the fill. Sand dredged at a point 40 miles from the 
 docks is brought up in barges and from them pumped 
 by a French dredge boat to the departure yard through 
 a 30-in. steel pipe line about one mile long, carried on 
 timber trestles. Photograph K shows this work in 
 progress. The dredge boat delivers at the rate of 2,250,- 
 000 gal. of water per hour, and the flow contains about 
 10% of sand. The fill required in all the yards amounts 
 to about 450,000 cubic yards. 
 
 A number of accessory structures are being built at 
 the departure yard. There are, for example, a group 
 of overhead coal-storage bins (Photograph L) and an 
 engine pit and repair shops of concrete construction, 
 with timber-pile foundation. When I went throueh the 
 yard, work was just about to start on a huge refriger- 
 ating plant. This structure is being built and equipped 
 for a capacity of 7500 tons of meat. 
 
 At both the receiving and departure yards much of 
 the grading and tracklaying is being done by American 
 negro labor battalions under the supervision of engi- 
 neer troops. Two 60-ton American-built steam shovels, 
 hailing from Spain, were cutting down banks prelimi- 
 nary to the grading of the roadbed for track. 
 
 Because of the increase of traffic between the de- 
 parture yard and the general storage depot for Base 
 Section No. — , 61 miles distant, it was considered nec- 
 essary to parallel the existing double-track line of a 
 
 Jj, Typical 
 Long. Section 
 
 Splice PI. 2\d"KZ' 
 
 ■Ra fters, 2"xd"x)d' 
 
 ^ Boards 
 
 \' ' ' ' ' ' I ''.Weej 
 
 Cross - Section 
 FIG. 4. CROSS-SECTION OF WOODEN WAREHOUSE AT BASE STORAGE PLANT 
 
 [ 71 ] 
 
P AND Q. AT THE BASE STORAGE DEPOT THERE WILL 
 BE. ULTIMATELY, 144 WOODEN BUILDINGS OF THIS TYPE. 
 
 French railway with a third track, which is shown in 
 Photograph 0. To provide for future contingencies the 
 new route has been graded for two additional tracks, 
 as shown at the left of the picture, thus constituting, 
 with the existing French tracks, a four-track railroad. 
 
 Base Storage Depot and Yards 
 
 The base storage depot, which it? connected with the 
 departure yards at the docks by the 61-mile railway 
 line referred to in the preceding paragraph, is an im- 
 mense project, designed to hold three month's supplies 
 for 2,000,000 men. In its essential features it will con- 
 sist of 144 wooden warehouses, each 64 x 500 ft. — 30 of 
 them were completed at the time of my visit — two rail- 
 way classification yards, two receiving yards, one de- 
 parture yard and three storage yards, involving a total 
 trackage of 117 miles — of which 30 miles have been 
 laid at this writing — and 815 switches, of which seven 
 are of the double-slip type. This construction is in the 
 hands of the first battalion of the engineer regiment 
 whose second battalion handled the docks and classifica- 
 tion sheds, the engineers being assisted by labor bat- 
 talions of almost every nationality and by big gangs of 
 German prisoners. The available labor force here num- 
 bered about 6000 on the day I called at the headquar- 
 ters of the engineer captain in charge of the job. 
 
 Trained Gangs in "Waves." Build Warehouses 
 
 The sight of row after row of these long wooden 
 warehouses brings to mind the picture of the big-scale 
 cantonment construction in the United States which was 
 begun a year ago. This job at the base depot in France 
 is one of quantity production and is being handled by 
 
 INTERIOR OF A SHED AT THE FRENCH DOCKS NEARBY 
 
 •gangs, each trained in a single specialty. The work has 
 been carefully analyzed and segregated into certain ma- 
 jor operations, as is the common practice in the manu- 
 facture of munitions, where a shell casing, for example, 
 will pass down a line of machine tools, each operator 
 performing a single operation upon it. Thus, in the 
 case of the 500 x 64-ft. warehouses we have "waves" 
 of construction crews passing in succession over each 
 building. The first gang digs post holes and passes on 
 to the next building. It is followed by a gang which 
 sets the foundation posts. Then come, in order, gangs 
 which saw off the posts at the corrf^'t elevations, erect 
 the timber frames, sheathe the sides and finally apply 
 the roofing material. On the warehouse construction 
 about 700 men are at work. 
 
 Figure 4 shows the type of structure used for the 
 base warehouses. It will be noted that it involves no 
 roof trusses — merely pofits, rafters and knee bracing. 
 The drawing shows the building at the ground level with 
 depressed track on either side, but as a matter of fact 
 many of the buildings I saw were supported on posts 
 to bring the floor and platform level flush with the floor 
 of the freight cars operating on track not depressed but 
 laid at about the general level of the ground. 
 
 Design Subject to Change 
 
 Of course, it must be understood that the publication 
 of a sketch of this sort does not presuppose a rigid ad- 
 herence to the theoretical design, particularly as re- 
 gards the sizes and lengths of the members. The con- 
 structors use what they can get. Rafters, for example, 
 are often built up of 1-in. plank. Railroad ties cheat 
 destiny by becoming foundation posts for warehouses. 
 Packing cases, weary with travel, find a permanent rest- 
 ing place as sheathing or bracing. As Captain S 
 
 remarked, "We must be ready to change our designs 
 with each new building erected, depending on the kind 
 of material available for our use." Interior and exte- 
 
 [ 72 ] 
 
rior views of one of the 500-ft. warehouses are shown in 
 Photographs P and Q. 
 
 While the dock and railway yard work has been essen- 
 tially a construction problem, it has made other and 
 exacting demands upon the engineer officers in charge. 
 Upon the fund of experience available in such a regi- 
 men as the one which is in charge of operations at Base 
 Section No. — , it is possible to draw for the solution of 
 almost any technical problem. But in the case of the 
 dock and railway-yard project, not all of the difficul- 
 ties the major in charge of the first battalion had to face 
 were technical. What textbook or field manual gives 
 the construction man the slightest hint of approved 
 practice in mollifying an irate French housewife who 
 has been informed that her house must be torn down to 
 make way for American railway tracks? Over here the 
 little one-story stone dwelling, with its red tile roof, 
 which has been passed down from one generation to 
 another for centuries, is something almost sacred. 
 Surely les Americains will not be so stony hearted as to 
 destroy it! The fact that they will pay the French 
 
 handsomely for the privilege is a matter of secondary, 
 though not of minor, importance. And so the scene in 
 the engineer's office proceeds through the several stages 
 of indignation, entreaty and tears. But our major has 
 had his orders to let nothing interfere with the progress 
 of the job, so he must remain obdurate — and sometimes 
 this is one of the hardest decisions he must make. 
 
 Just as I was leaving the docks on my journey back 
 to Paris the Major of the second battalion of the engi- 
 neer regiment who had tramped over the whole job with 
 me pointed to one of the ships lying along the new tim- 
 ber quay. "She's one of our new vessels," he said, 
 "turned out at a yard in Seattle. Quite a coincidence — 
 she's carrying a cargo of lumber from Seattle, and here 
 she is unloading at a dock in France built by Seattle 
 boys." As he looked out over the line of docks his men 
 had built and spoke of the ship newly arrived from 
 across the Atlantic, there was just a touch of wist- 
 fulness in the Major's voice. I discovered later that he, 
 too, came from Seattle. 
 
 [ 73 ] 
 
Roads in Base Section of American Forces Require 
 Widening and Resurfacing 
 
 Heavy Traffic by Motor Trucks and Artillery on Practice Marches Necessitates Continuous Maintenance— 
 I Many Narrow Roads Were Never Designed for the Traffic They Are Now Carrying 
 
 " ' By Robert K. Tomlin, Jr. 
 
 ' War Correspondent of Engineering News-Record 
 
 Photographs hy Engineering News-Record 
 
 AS A result of the occupation of large areas in France 
 by troops of the American Expeditionary Forces, 
 existing roads are being subjected to more intensive 
 traftic than they have ever before carried. It goes 
 without saying that upon the highways in the advance 
 section a heavy burden is imposed, and in a former 
 article I dealt with the work of our Road Service in 
 this forward zone (see Engineering News-Record of 
 May, 16, p. 953). Somehow or other, it seems to be 
 taken for granted that the problem of road reconstruc- 
 tion and maintenance is confined to the territory im- 
 mediately behind No Man's Land. I know that before 
 I arrived over here I had a rather vague idea that most 
 of the engineering activity of the armies was confined 
 to that mysterious region known as "the front." This 
 is by no means the case. In so far as the duties of the 
 highway engineer are concerned, the road problem 
 begins at the French seacoast and 
 extends from there to the trenches. 
 
 Let us remember that the 
 trenches which American divisions 
 are now occupying and the west 
 coast of France are separated by 
 several hundred miles. Let us re- 
 member, also, that practically all of 
 our supplies must be delivered from 
 America at French ports and trans- 
 ported across this stretch of land, 
 several hundred miles long, before 
 they can reach the combatant troops. 
 We have, therefore, a main base of 
 supplies some 3000 miles across the 
 Atlantic, certain places in France 
 where ships carrying these supplies 
 dock, and then this distance of sev- 
 eral hundred miles between the ma- 
 rine terminals and the points of 
 ultimate consumption. This condi- 
 tion of affairs is one which has a 
 very decided bearing on the upkeep 
 of the roads. 
 
 Of course, most of our material is 
 shipped across France by railroad 
 to the advance section. Yet, strung 
 along in a wide band between the 
 seacoast and central France is vil- 
 lage after village crammed full of 
 American troops. There are our 
 cantonments, artillery training 
 camps, forestry camps, aviation grounds, storage depots, 
 railway yards, ordnance dumps, repair shops — all of 
 these groups marking the way between our base sec- 
 tions and forward lines. The creation of these new 
 
 THE SUPERINTENDENT OF ROADS 
 WAS FORMERLY CHIEF ENGINEER, 
 BUREAU OF HIGHWAYS, BOR- 
 OUGH OF MANHATTAN. 
 NEW YORK CITY 
 
 together with the practice of billeting American troops 
 in scores of old French villages, means, of course, a sub- 
 stantial increase in motor-truck traffic on roads which 
 were never designed for such hard usage as they are 
 now receiving. Between towns where two-wheeled 
 oxcarts proceeding at a snail's pace used to supply the 
 bulk of the traffic, one sees now lines of motor trucks 
 hauling supplies, or big powerful French camions pull- 
 ing 6-in. field artillery pieces in long convoys. 
 
 In the immediate vicinity of the newly built American 
 docks in the base section traffic has become specially 
 heavy. Motor trucks are arriving and departing con- 
 stantly on short-haul trips. Then, too, the presence of 
 American troops in this region means a great deal of 
 fast moving traffic in the form of army cars carrying 
 officers from one point to another. The roads subjected 
 to this ever-increasing heavy traffic are for the most 
 part either dirt or plain macadam, 
 and labor, material and plant for 
 maintenance or reconstruction are 
 extremely scarce. 
 
 I have recently returned from a 
 tour of inspection of the roads in a 
 base section which includes the new 
 docks which our engineer troops 
 have built, huge storage depots and 
 railway yards, a big artillery train- 
 ing camp and scores of other im- 
 portant army centers. The super- 
 intendent of roads for this section 
 is a major of engineers who was 
 formerly chief engineer of the 
 Bureau of Highways of the Borough 
 of Manhattan, New York City. Ac- 
 cording to his analysis of the situa- 
 tion the road work in this base sec- 
 tion includes the construction of 
 20 km. of new roads, the complete 
 maintenance of 120 km., and the 
 partial maintenance of 180 km., re- 
 sulting in a total of 320 km., or, 
 roughly, 200 miles of road. This 
 mileage includes all of the standard 
 types of French road: (1) Route 
 nationale; (2) route departmentale ; 
 (3) chemin de grande communica- 
 tion; (4) chemin d'interet local and 
 (5) vicinal ordinaire. These roads, 
 all of the water-bound macadam or 
 plain gravel types, vary in width from 6 or 7 m. in the 
 case of the routes nationales to as little as 3 m. for the 
 vicinaux ordinaires, which correspond, roughly, to an 
 American dirt road through farming country. At the 
 
 centers of population along our lines of communication, present time the French Government, through the Ponte 
 
 [ 74 ] 
 
^ 
 
 .' '^. 
 
 FIGS. 1 AND 2. TWO VIEWS AL^NG 
 FARM ROAD THREE METERS WIDE 
 NOW BEING USED BY OUR FIELD AR- 
 TILLERY TROOPS FOR PRACTICE 
 MARCHES — NOTE MARKS LEFT BY 
 CATERPILLAR TREADS OP BIG GUN 
 CARRIAGES AND NOTE ALSO HOW 
 TRAFFIC HAS BEEN FORCED OUT ON 
 SHOULDERS AND INTO DITCHES 
 
 FIG. 3. PASSAGE OF AN ARTILLERT 
 
 TRAIN THROUGH A SMALL FRENCH 
 
 VILLAGE HAS BROKEN CULVERT 
 
 et Chaiissees and Departmental forces, is endeavoring to 
 do the bulk of the maintenance on the national roads 
 and departmental roads; but as American Army activi- 
 ties over here in France expand, much of this work 
 will have to be taken over by the United States. 
 
 The problem of the American road force in the base 
 section resolves itself mainly into the upkeep of exist- 
 ing roads, and the building of new roads in the camps, 
 and can be classified under the three main heads of 
 (1) ordinary maintenance, consisting mainly of the 
 filling in of holes; (2) repairs, involving complete jobs 
 of resurfacing, and (3) widening. Many of our cen- 
 ters of military activity in the base section are off the 
 lines of main traffic, with the result that ordinary farm 
 roads are the only existing routes available for motor- 
 truck traffic and practice marches and maneuvers by field 
 artillery with their heavy guns, limbers and camions. 
 In the case of the vicinal ordinaire, or farm road, the 
 width of only 3 m. is insufficient for the passage of two 
 trucks, and sometimes, in fact, difficult even for the 
 passage of a single line of the wide artillery carriages. 
 Fig. 1 shows how a practice march of field artillery 
 over these narrow dirt highways chews up the shoulders 
 of the road, even when running on caterpillar treads. 
 
 whose marks are clearly shown. In Fig. 2, note from 
 the wheel tracks how traffic has been forced off the 
 road into the ditches. Then, too, these artillery loads, 
 amounting to 7 tons per axle, must be hauled over cul- 
 verts never designed for such weights, with results such 
 as those shown in Fig. 3. This broken culvert was a 
 cement pipe about 13 in. in thickness and a foot or so 
 in diameter. For such traffic the demand is for wider 
 roads, or for turnouts at frequent intervals. Then, too, 
 the intersections of these farm roads are not designed 
 for vehicles with the long wheel bases that now use 
 them, so that our road force must build out the edges 
 to provide easier curves at crossroads. 
 
 In the case of the wider trunk roads the foundation 
 course of blocage ranges from 6 to 10 in. and the top 
 course is about 6 in. On the town and village roads 
 which are now receiving so much American traffic, how- 
 ever, the top course is very thin, often only about 3 
 in., and often there is no special foundation course. 
 The problem of maintenance of these routes is com- 
 plicated by the difficulty of getting crushed stone de- 
 livered on the job. It is necessary to resort as far as 
 possible to local material. Fig. 4 shows a gravel and 
 sand pit opened up by the American Army Road Service. 
 
 [ 75 ] 
 
PIG. 4. SAND AND GRAVEL PIT BEING WORKED BY 
 SPANISH LABOR, DIRECTED BY A DETAIL OF 
 ONE OP OUR ROAD-BUILDING REGIMENTS 
 
 It is being worked by Spanish labor under the direction 
 of a detail of our roadbuilding regiment. Owing to the 
 scarcity of materials it is not always possible to re- 
 surface roads with as thick a course as would be de- 
 sirable. 
 
 For handling the work of complete and partial main- 
 tenance on the 320 km. of roads in the base section, the 
 force at the time of my visit consisted of the superin- 
 tendent of roads, two other engineer officers, 225 men 
 of a roadbuilding regiment, and a labor force of 350 
 Spaniards. The equipment included one passenger 
 automobile, one light truck, 18 dump wagons, three road 
 rollers, 36 animals and 20 motor trucks, including a 
 number borrowed from the French, a certain proportion 
 of which, however, were always in the repair shops. 
 
 The superintendent of roads of the base section re- 
 cently prepared a statement of the personnel and equip- 
 ment which, in his opinion, the needs of the work in 
 his district for the next six months demanded. It was 
 essentially as follows: One superintendent of roads, 
 12 engineer officers, 1500 men. As for plant desired, 
 the following were the chief items: 12 steam rollers, 
 50 5-ton back-dumping motor trucks, eight light trucks, 
 85 wagons, 188 animals, 15 sprinkler wagons and a 
 large quantity of small tools such as wheelbarrows, forks 
 and shovels. During the next six months estimates have 
 placed the amount of crushed stone needed at 50,000 
 tons, or about 5000 carloads. For purposes of inspec- 
 tion there were requested eight passenger automobiles, 
 and nine motorcycle side cars. The present situation in 
 France with respect to the available supply of men and 
 materials is one which has resulted in the giving of 
 priority to requisitions from the zone of the advance 
 section, so far as road matters are concerned. 
 
 The labor problem is being partly solved by the em- 
 ployment of Spaniards, who receive 11 francs per day 
 of 8i hours. These men must house and feed them- 
 selves — not a difficult matter, in view of the proximity 
 to the work of a large city and innumerable villages. 
 The army, however, must transport these men, generally 
 in motor trucks, to and from their jobs, or at least to 
 aTid from points where transport by electric railway is 
 possible. The Spaniards, I am told, are proving to be 
 fairly good workmen. They are not under military 
 control and can be hired and fired as desired. Their 
 wages of 11 francs daily is big money for them, and 
 most of them seem eager to hold down their jobs by 
 doing a real day's work. 
 This is not the case, however, with some of the Chinese 
 
 [ 
 
 labor which has been imported into France and is under 
 French control. I had an opportunity of seeing a great 
 many hundreds of newly arrived Orientals on French 
 jobs in and near a large camp. They were sprawled 
 along the roadsides, asleep, or squatting in groups, talk- 
 ing. Several times I saw these fellows start out with 
 wheelbarrows containing one-third of a real load. They 
 would take a dozen steps, and then, when the French 
 boss of the gang had his back turned, would flop down 
 on their knees, lay their heads in the bodies of their 
 wheelbarrows, and go to sleep. The only sign jf real 
 activity among these Chinamen was along a road- 
 side where a gang, presumably on work of spreading 
 crushed stone, was clustered around a cage containing 
 two canary birds — which I suppose were the mascots of 
 this crew. They had brought the birds out on the job 
 with them, hung the cage on the limb of a tree, and were 
 sitting around like an audience at an open-air theatre, 
 watching their pets jump from one perch to another ot 
 the wire cage. I understand that there is some clause 
 in the agreement . under which these Chinese "work" 
 which prevents their being disciplined. 
 
 After seeing them in action I could appreciate the 
 humor of the scene enacted the next day in the office 
 of the American major of Engineers who has charge 
 of our road work in the base section. The door opened 
 and a French officer entered. After greeting the major, 
 he said, "At last I can help you with labor for your 
 road work. I have 500 Chinamen I will let you have." 
 
 The superintendent of roads shook his head in a 
 decisive, unmistakable negative. 
 
 "Mon Dieu!" exclaimed the Frenchman. "Why do you 
 not want them?" 
 
 "Mon Dieu!" countered the American. "Why do you 
 want to get rid of them?" 
 
 One of the solutions of the labor problem for road 
 work in the base sections may be the use of French 
 refugees from areas in the zone of the armies. A 
 bureau has been established in Paris, and the plan is 
 to organize labor battalions which will be paid, housed 
 and policed by American interests. 
 
 "There is this difference between the road problem 
 of the French and American armies," said the super- 
 intendent of roads of the base section. "For the for- 
 ward areas the French have their special engineer 
 troops, while in the zones of the rear the work is 
 attended to by civil organizations, such as Fonts et 
 Chaussees, and departmental and vicinal services. The 
 equivalent of our own Fonts et Chaussees is 3000 miles 
 
 d ^^H 
 
 
 d 
 
 •^ 
 
 HKh 
 
 
 PIG. 5. FRENCH ROAD OF "GRANDE COMMUNICATIOH* 
 
 TYPE— USE BY ARTILLERY IS PRODUCING RUTS AND 
 
 HOLES WHICH WILL SOON NEED ATTENTION 
 
 76 ] 
 
away, in the form of the Federal OiTice of Public Rrjds 
 and the various state, county and town highway bureaus. 
 The result is that the American Expeditionary Forces 
 must perform work, in the territory they take over, 
 with their own roadbuilding forces, while this job for 
 ihe French is done by an existing and thoroughly well- 
 crganized department of civilians, leaving the army 
 engineers free for work immediately bshind the front. 
 
 I'lG. 6. 7 AND 8. WIDEN- 
 ING A NARROW ROAD 
 LEADING INTO AN IM- 
 PORTANT AMERICAN AR- 
 MY CAMP — MOTOR 
 TRUCKS DELIVER 
 CRUSHED STONE TO THE 
 JOB, AND THE STONE IS 
 SPREAD ON EITHER SIDE 
 OF THE ORIGINAL ROAD 
 
 th3 traffic over it continues in a steady stream all day, 
 and sometimes far into the night, and there is no 
 opportunity for putting the road out of service for 
 reconstruction, even during a comparatively short 
 period. About the only thing that it is possible to do 
 with this road under present conditions is to fill up 
 the ruts with broken stone as they develop. 
 
 On another rather heavily traveled road the main- 
 tenance force in the base section accomplished the feat 
 of making a 3-ft. fill under traffic. This fill consisted 
 of sand and gravel, and was spread in thin layers be- 
 tween the movement of vehicles. 
 
 Particularly in the vicinity of large American army 
 camp centers for the repair of machinery and equip- 
 ment, it has been necessary to do a considerable amount 
 of road widening. Figs. 6, 7 and 8 give an idea of 
 the problem and how it is being handled. This road 
 was originally only about 3 m. wide and of macadam 
 construction with rather thin surfacing — too thin, in 
 fact, to stand up under the motor-truck traffic which 
 it will soon have to bear. The widening process consists 
 of adding about one meter of paved surface to each 
 shoulder, and putting on a top surfacing of about 4 in. 
 Crushed stone for this job has been delivered by motor 
 
 trucks as shown in the 
 pictures. This process of 
 widening generally is not 
 complicated by the necessity 
 of providing new drainage 
 ditches, inasmuch as French 
 practice generally places 
 these ditches some distance 
 from the shoulders of the 
 road, leaving space for ad- 
 ditional paved widths when 
 this becomes necessary. 
 
 In another route which 
 had to be resurfaced, the 
 following scheme of con- 
 struction has proved effica- 
 
 To get results equivalent to those of the French we 
 must look forward to a considerable expansion in the 
 A.merican roadbuilding personnel in the regions back 
 from the advance section." 
 
 One rather difficult job which the road service is 
 handling is the maintenance of a road leading to our 
 new docks. This route is, in places, flanked by houses 
 which extend flush with the edges of the road, so that 
 at some points there is no opportunity for widening. The 
 traffic of motor trucks to and from the docks is very 
 heavy, and all that can be done is to throw crushed 
 stone into the holes which develop in the road surface. 
 In one place, to secure better drainage, it was necessary 
 to tunnel under a barn, for these buildings form regular 
 walls along both sides of the road, there being no 
 room even for sidewalks. This road is particularly 
 difficult to maintain, because in addition to the almost 
 endless stream of traffic it carries it is frequently 
 inundated during high tide, being fairly near the water. 
 Under conditions of lighter traffic the superintendent 
 •of roads in the base section told me he would like to 
 try some form of road construction other than mac- 
 adam — ^possibly a concrete road — but inasmuch as this 
 is practically the only route leading to our new docks, 
 
 [ 
 
 ^ 
 
 • t it ■-••'''' '"^IBS^MBhw^".*. 
 
 ''^Sl 
 
 
 "' 
 
 
 cious: The road is first scarified, and upon it a layer of 
 hard blue stone 4 in. thick is spread. For binder 
 material there is added a thin layer of soft limestone. 
 The surface in this condition is then watered and 
 rolled with a 17-ton roller until it becomes sloppy. 
 Then a layer of sand is sprinkled over the top ana 
 the material rolled again. When it dries .out this form 
 of construction makes a hard, smooth road. 
 77 ] 
 
One of the difficulties of the road work in this base 
 section is the matter of securing an adequate supply 
 of crushed stone. Plans are under way for the opening 
 up of several quarries by our forces. The rights for 
 these must be secured from the French property owners, 
 and it is not always an easy task to reach an agree- 
 ment on prices, particularly as the negotiations must 
 be conducted in French, either directly or through in- 
 terpreters. 
 
 Of course, the local quarry owners are losing no 
 opportunities of getting as high prices as possible 
 for their rock, and our superintendent of roads is 
 equally vigilant in his efforts to secure a fair price 
 from the standpoint of the American Army. I hap- 
 pened to be present during one of these quarry-buying 
 negotiations, and I noted particularly that the major 
 of engineers who is looking after our interests in this 
 section has learnt enough French to judge of values 
 when stated in francs, and to say "trop cher" when 
 an exorbitant figure is quoted to him. 
 
 In addition to the road work proper, there is the 
 matter of bridges. Our work did not include the build- 
 ing of any new bridges, for in this region there are 
 numbers of structures of all types, some of them built 
 more than 100 years ago. In walking over one of the 
 
 oldest bridges (suspension type, 250-ft. span), in the 
 wake of a two-wheel ox-cart, the floor could be seen 
 to rise and fall in a regular wave, and there was a 
 noticeable creaking and swaying of the bridge. ( The 
 road superintendent is responsible for keeping our 
 troops off such structures as he considers to be unsafe. 
 Among his many other duties he must examine these 
 eld bridges and reach a decision as to whether or not 
 they are suitable for use. 
 
 On the subject of types of roads over here the super- 
 intendent of roads in the base section has authorized 
 me to quote him as follows: 
 
 "The French national and departmental roads are 
 masterpieces of thoroughly first-class construction. The 
 alignment, gradients, curves, drainage and roadbed are 
 perfection, and the water-bound macadam surfaces have 
 been developed to the last degree in both use of mate- 
 rials and execution of the work. Water-bound macadam, 
 however, has proved in France, as in the United States, 
 to be unfit for heavy motor-truck traffic, and many 
 millions of dollars would have been saved and much 
 greater efficiency in the motor transport service would 
 have resulted had these loads received a hard-paved 
 surface before the war. This is the lesson to be derived 
 from an intensive study of the roads of France." 
 
 liflv; 
 
 [ 78 ] 
 
American Army's Water- Works Projects in France Number 
 
 About Four Hundred 
 
 Great Range in Size and Character of Systems of Supply — Several Mechanical Filters Under Way- 
 Laboratory Division Controls Quality of Water 
 
 By Robert K. Tomlin, Jr. 
 
 War Correspondent of Engineering News-Record 
 
 THREE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-FIVE sep- 
 arate water-works projects — ranging in scope from 
 the utilization of a shallow farm well to the building 
 of a curved concrete dam, pipe line and mechanical filtra- 
 tion plant — represented the volume of work on hand in 
 France early in June by the water-supply division of 
 the American Expeditionary Forces. These activities 
 are entirely distinct from those described in the article 
 "Water-Supply at the Front" in Engineering News- 
 Record of May 9, p. 892. The figures given above indi- 
 cate the extent of the program which 'is being carried 
 out by our water-supply engineers, and should disil- 
 lusionize those to whom "the front" and "France" have 
 
 taken as a matter of course. In France, however, con- 
 ditions are vastly different. Water-supply systems with 
 house connections are decidedly the exception in all but 
 large cities. Small towns often are supplied from wells 
 or from springs by means of pipe lines and public taps 
 at various points in the village streets or squares. 
 
 With the coming of the American Army into France, 
 it became necessary at the very outset to prepare an 
 extensive program of water-supply for hundreds of lo- 
 calities. For example, there are the cantonments, train- 
 ing areas, railroad yards and terminals, aviation fields, 
 supply depots, ordnance plants, repair shops and hos- 
 pitals — to say nothing of the big developments required 
 
 I Cotmnittee on Public Information 
 
 FIRST AMERICAN WATER-FILTRATION PLANT FOR USE OF THE AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES IN PRANCE. 
 
 1. GENERAL VIEW OF TANKS. 2. PUMPING MACHINERY 
 
 become synonymous terms. As I pointed out in a former 
 article, there is, between the coast and the so-called 
 zone of the armies, an area containing hundreds of im- 
 portant centers of one sort or another, all essential 
 parts of the military machine, where the .services of 
 the engineer are in demand. It is natural, however, 
 that there should be a tendency for interest to focus 
 upon the great drama which is being played in the im- 
 mediate vicinity of No Man's Land and to pass by the 
 less sensational, but highly important, activities which 
 are being conducted in the areas of the services of 
 supply. 
 
 Troops in large numbers are stationed in or near 
 French villages or at sites which have been developed 
 from farm land into large centers of population since 
 our entry into the war. All demand water-supplies. 
 Where existing systems are available, they are used 
 or enlarged, but over here there is no such general 
 provision of water-supply systems in small towns as in 
 the United States. By the American at home the finding 
 •f running wate*., even in houses of small towns, is 
 
 [ 79 
 
 at base ports where, according to the official figures 
 made public in July, American troops were landing on 
 French soil at the rate of a quarter of a million per 
 month. It is clear, therefore, that the problem of water- 
 supply in the areas back from the front is one of segre 
 gated projects in great number rather than of a single 
 large project. 
 
 An engineer organization reporting to the Director 
 of Construction and Forestry, a brigadier-general, at 
 the headquarters of the services of supply, has been 
 formed to handle the water-supply work. At its head 
 is a captain of engineers who was formerly principal 
 assistant engineer in charge of the design of the $200,- 
 000,000 Catskill aqueduct for New York City. Assist- 
 ing him are other engineers, experienced in the various 
 special lines of water-works construction, filtration, ster- 
 ilization, pumping machinery, etc. An important part 
 of the work is the control of the quality of the water- 
 supply. Laboratories for the chemical and bacterial 
 analysis of water have been established at a number of 
 points and are under the control of a director of labora- 
 
Present cons+rucHon shown in 
 solid lines. Possible future 
 CKPiciii-ions shotvn doii-ed. Pump 
 Station dnd Filter House to be 
 omitted from emergency con- 
 struction and temporary stied 
 to be erected over pumps 
 
 e'Maln ^ 
 Collector.' 
 Tapped for 
 li "Laterals 
 
 l^^aterals rdd 6',' 
 
 Ends Capped 
 ■§"/toles in dottem 
 
 Plan of Underdrai nage 
 
 :f- 
 
 t ^ 
 
 Conn 
 10" Filter Sand 
 -------- 6'-3"- 
 
 wm^G^^^^^^^mi 
 
 O O Q O 00 OOQOOOOaO 
 
 
 2"iyood-' 
 
 Sheet- 
 Jrorr 
 
 ll 
 
 Alternative 
 Section of 
 
 Trouqh 
 (Mot to Scale) 
 
 S e ct- i o n 
 
 ''-6" Larcje Stones 
 of Filter 
 
 FIGS. 1 AND 2. DETAILS OF FIRST MECHANICAL FILTRATION PLANT BTTILT BY AMERICAN ENGINEERS IN FRANCE 
 
 *iOries who was formerly director of the Illinois State 
 Water Survey. 
 
 All projects designed to obtain supplies from navi- 
 gable streams or to pump water into existing French 
 pipe lines required, originally, the approval of the 
 French Ministry of War and also that of the local 
 French officials. In the early stages of the work 
 progress was delayed by the necessity of attending to a 
 great many formalities, but recently the procedure has 
 been simplified, and in the matter of requisitions of 
 land, permits, etc., we are now dealing directly with 
 French local officials, such as representatives of Fonts 
 et Chaussees, prefects and mayors. This change in 
 practice followed a request by the French Ministry of 
 War for the submission of complete reports and plans 
 on all water-supply projects contemplated for the use 
 of the American Expeditionary Forces. With the lim- 
 ited force of men available and the huge number of 
 projects in hand, the granting of such a request would 
 have meant practically the shutting down of regular 
 work for a good many weeks to prepare reports and 
 wait for them to pass through official channels and 
 receive the necessary approval. An understanding has 
 been reached lately, however, whereby cumbersome pro- 
 cedure of this sort may be by-passed and our dealings 
 conducted directly with the local authorities in the 
 town or village where we are planning to operate. 
 
 As to the types of water-supply installations on which 
 our engineers are engaged, there are, first of all, the 
 large hospitals. At most of the 10,000-bed hospitals 
 the water requirements are estimated to be 460,000 gal. 
 per day. On these projects there are generally two al- 
 ternatives, pumping from a river or obtaining a supply 
 from wells. The use of liquid chlorine for water steril- 
 ization is included in many of the American Army 
 projects. 
 
 Near the docks at one of our base sections an artesian 
 well 700 ft. deep has been driven and is yielding about 
 
 [ 
 
 500,000 gal. per day of excellent water, requiring no 
 purification or sterilization. 
 
 Railroad water points must be established at frequent 
 intervals. Negotiations are under way with the French 
 railroads for increasing or supplementing their supplies 
 along lines to be used by the American Army. The 
 actual needs at these points are determined by the di- 
 rector general of transportation and the work is then 
 turned over to the director of construction and forestry 
 for whom it is handled through the water-supply di- 
 vision. 
 
 One of the more elaborate installations has involved 
 the construction of a curved concrete dam 50 ft. high 
 and a new mechanical filtration plant. At another point 
 an old French slow sand filter plant is being remodelled 
 as a rapid filter. 
 
 At a port where American troops arrive in large num- 
 bers it has been necessary to supplement the existing 
 water-supply by pumping from a river 800,000 gal. daily. 
 The pumping station has been installed and 600 ft. of 
 10-in. pipe and 2200 ft. of 8-in. pipe laid. Sterilization 
 here is by means of liquid chlorine. The French require- 
 ments as to the quality of water which we introduce into 
 their mains are very high — no b. coli in one liter. Wit^ 
 the liquid chlorine sterilization methods in use, we have 
 been successful in meeting these requirements by ap- 
 plying a heavy dose of liquid chlorine and, later, de- 
 chlorinating with a thiosulphate solution. 
 
 The first filtration plant built in France by American 
 engineers is situated at an aviation production center, 
 and its general features are shown by Figs. 1 and 2. 
 It supplies about 100,000 gal. of water per day (and 
 may ultimately be enlarged to a capacity of 500,000 
 gal. daily), and it consists of an 8-ft. wooden tank con- 
 taining about 30 in. of sand and from 12 to 15 in. ot 
 graded gravel. The main collector is a 6-in. pipe tappsd 
 for 2i-in. laterals. It was, of course, impossible to se- 
 cure strainers, so holes were drilled at 6-in. interv?/"^ 
 
 80 ] , - 
 
in the under side of the lateral collectors. The annular 
 wash-water trough is made of old biscuit tins. For 
 cleaning the filter sand a straight water wash is em- 
 
 6"Di5chcirqe above 
 
 6 Wash Wafer be/otv "'Ari 
 
 Knowles, consulting engineer, Pittsburgh. Speaking oj 
 the design of this first filter plant and other water 
 works projects, he summed up the situation about ii 
 
 i'4"Var/ve' 
 
 Bushing 
 
 FIG. 3. 
 
 Elevation of* Wash 
 Wa+er Shield 
 ONE OP THE LARGER CONCRETE WATER-PlLTRATION PROJECTS ON WHICH THE AMERICAN ARMY 
 
 ENGINEERS ARE AT WORK IN FRANCE 
 
 ployed, the velocity of the upward flow being about 2 
 ft. per minute. 
 
 In this plant the raw water is pumped from a river, 
 and first passes through a circular sedimentation tank 
 with a vertical baffle. The coagulant is an alum solu- 
 tion applied at the suction lift at the rate of 2 grains 
 per gallon. The clear-water basin is concrete-lined, and 
 wash-water is taken care of in a wooden tank whose bot- 
 tom is elevated about 30 ft. above that of the filter floor. 
 The filter effluent is treated with liquid chlorine. 
 
 One of the novel features of this plant is the pump- 
 ing layout. Both the low-lift and the high-lift centrif- 
 ugal pumps are driven by the same motor by means 
 of belting and pulleys from a single shaft. The high- 
 lift pump works against a head, including friction in 
 the distribution system, of 160 feet. 
 
 The engineer officer who had immediate charge of 
 this project was formerly on the staff of Morris 
 
 these words: "We must work with the materials a^ 
 hand — not with what we might like to order in norma 
 times, but with what we can get quickly. The procedurf 
 in design resolves itself into these steps: Get a copj 
 of the stock list of materials at the storage yards ii 
 France, see that machinery, pipe and fittings are avail 
 i.ble and prepare a design which will fit them together.' 
 A more elaborate filtration project is one serving { 
 large hospital site, which is supplied from a 120,000, 
 000-gal. reservoir formed by a curved concrete dan 
 about 50 ft. high. From the dam a 6-in. pipe line de 
 livers by gravity to a float chamber at the end of th( 
 coagulating basin. The water for this plant has lov 
 alkalinity and it is necessary to apply both soda asl 
 and alum. The tank inlet is a concrete trough. The un 
 usual feature is that this trough is filled with larg< 
 stones which serve as baffles and cause a thorough mix 
 ture of the chemical solutions with the raw water befor< 
 
 [ 81 ] 
 
entry into the coagulating basin. The latter is fitted 
 with two baffle walls, as shown in the drawing, and 
 the floor inclines toward a pump and blow off. 
 
 While the design (Fig. 3) provides for four me- 
 chanical filter units, with a combined capacity of about 
 330,000 gal. daily, only two of these units are being 
 equipped at present. Each filter tank measures 4i x 
 461 ft. and contains 30 in. of sand and 18 in. of gravel. 
 The collector system is, in type, the same as that used at 
 the aviation production center plant previously noted. 
 The header is a 6-in. pipe into which 1-in. laterals, per- 
 forated with holes on the under side, are tapped. The 
 filtered water is sterilized with liquid chlorine applied 
 on the suction lift line of the pumps delivering to the 
 distribution system. 
 
 'The filter effluent passes through rate controllers of 
 the type shown in one of the details of the drawings. 
 These maintain a fixed head on pairs of 2i-in. orifices, 
 the latter discharging into the clear-water basin. 
 
 The chemical feed control is another detail that should 
 be noted. It is of a very simple type — a constant-head 
 tank discharging through a flexible tube, the elevation of 
 whose orifice end may be varied by the series of steel 
 pin supports shown. 
 
 Another water-supply and purification project at an 
 important base point has involved the creation of 1,500,- 
 000,000-gal. storage capacity in reservoirs 15 miles from 
 an existing French slow sand filtration plant. This 
 water is delivered about 10 miles of the distance by 
 canals, and the remaining 5 miles by a 24-in. cast-iron 
 pipe line laid on the ground surface. The old filter 
 plant is being remodeled into a rapid mechanical filter. 
 Before the pipe line was completed, it was necessary — 
 SO heavily was the existing plant capacity taxed — to 
 bring water in tank boats to a point where it could 
 be pumped into the reservoir supplying the old filter 
 plant. The remodeled filters will have an output of 
 3,000,000 gal. daily. 
 
 Other Water-Supply Projects 
 
 Other places at which water-supply projects are com- 
 pleted, under construction or contemplated are the en- 
 gine terminals and yards, the depots and repair shops, 
 
 the remount stations where large numbers of horses art 
 stabled, the aviation and the motor-truck assembly and 
 repair centers. From these places demands for a supply 
 of water come, and it is the duty of the water-supply 
 division to investigate the needs and design the works. 
 Construction is generally carried out under the direc- 
 tion of the commanding officer at the place where the 
 works are to be installed. In a general way, the water- 
 supply division performs a triple role — state department 
 of health, consulting engineer and purchasing agent. 
 
 Not the smallest of its tasks is the obtaining and dis- 
 tributing of water-works supplies. From scores of 
 places come calls for pipe, fittings, pumps, motors. 
 Before the work of allocating these materials was con- 
 trolled, it sometimes happened that one locality would 
 attempt to "corner" the available supply of cast-iron 
 pipe by direct requisition on the storage depots, leaving 
 other water-works projects at a standstill for lack of 
 supplies. Someone would hear that "they have just re- 
 ceived some pumps down at " and the result was a 
 
 rush to get there first and bring them back home. This 
 method of scrambling for water-works supplies has been 
 eliminated by compelling all requisitions to pass through 
 the headquarters office of the water-supply division. 
 One engineer spends all his time examining these 
 requisitions and assigning the available stock where it 
 is most urgently needed. Of course, there is generally 
 not enough to go round. Then, too, requisitions often 
 call for an excessive amount of material, the canny 
 man at the other end of the line having evidently de- 
 cided to put by something for the future. The result 
 is that the engineer who allocates the material, snip- 
 ping off items here, canceling whole requisitions there, 
 is probably the most cussed-out individual in France 
 today. 
 
 It is necessary for the water-supply division to look 
 far ahead as to its needs. At the present writing its 
 forecasts are completed up to April, 1919, and a regu- 
 lar schedule of priority for transatlantic shipment of 
 material has been prepared. The method of requisitions 
 for material to be placed in stock on wharves in Amer- 
 ica, with monthly tonnage priority cables, appears to 
 be the only practical way to handle the matter, accord- 
 ing to the chief of the division. 
 
 82 
 
Army Motor Trucks Carry Water Purification Plant 
 
 Provided with Mechanical Filter, Chlorinating Apparatus and Testing 
 Laboratory, They Insure Safe Water for Troops , 
 
 By ROBEJiT K. TOMLIN, Jr. 
 "Weir Correspondent of Engineering News-Record 
 
 FOR emergency filtration, sterilization and analysis 
 of wi»,*;er supplied to American troops at the front 
 in France, specially designed mobile plants, mounted on 
 standard motor trucks, have been placed in service. The 
 first outfits of this sort were sent to a division in an 
 American sector early in June. They are the forerun- 
 ners of others which, it is planned, will be used pretty 
 
 tively large scale, to the special needs of Army service, 
 the features of the new outfits being mobility and such 
 compactness in arrangement that a complete water 
 purification plant and analytical laboratory are carried 
 on the chassis of a 3-ton truck. 
 
 There are at the present time three different types 
 of these motor-truck plants. The first is known as the 
 
 ALL. THE STERI-LAB EQUIPMENT IS COMPACTLY ARRANGED AND CARRIED ON A THREE-TON TRUCK 
 
 generally by the American Expeditionary Forces for 
 producing temporary supplies of potable water pending 
 the creation of the more or less permanent "water 
 points" which present military engineering practice has 
 developed for the advance zones. While they embody no 
 principles of water treatment which have not been em- 
 ployed for years past in the United States, the portable 
 plants are nevertheless unique in so far as sanitary 
 engineering practice of the allied armies is concerned. 
 They represent an ingenious adaptation of standard 
 American methods of water purification, on a ccmpara- 
 
 [ 83 
 
 "Steri-Lab" and comprises a pump, a pressure filter, a 
 chlorinating apparatus and a laboratory. The second, 
 the "Chloro-Pumping" outfit, is like the first, except that 
 it carries no pressure filter, and has a pump of greater 
 capacity than the "Steri-Lab." The third is essentially 
 a laboratory on wheels for the chemical and bacterial 
 analysis of water. These mobile plants were designed 
 and equipped by the Wallace & Tiernan Co., Inc., of New 
 York, working in collaberation with officers of the Corps 
 of Engineers. 
 
 The details of the "Steri-Lab" truck are shown in the 
 
 ] 
 
..THIOSULPH/)TE 
 
 ' DECHL0RJN/ITIN6 
 
 .■,apP/lRATUS 
 
 CHLORINE y 
 SOLUTION VALVE 
 
 Eieva+\on 
 
 SIDE ELEVATION AND PLAN STIOW DETAIL OF MOBILE WATER PURIFICATION PLANT 
 
 accompanying drawing and photographs. At the rear 
 end is a gasoline-driven pump of the double-acting pis- 
 ton type with a rated capacity of 20 gal. per minute 
 which may be operated against a pressure of 100 lb. per 
 square inch. It is equipped with 50 ft. of 2-in. hose, 
 foot-valve and strainer. The pump delivers direct to a 
 Roberts mechanical filter of the pressure type, a 30-in. 
 diameter vertical tank mounted over the rear axle. This 
 filter has a hand agitator and is fitted with an alum pot. 
 An alum storage bin is mounted over the right rear 
 wheel of the truck. 
 
 Chlorine gas is applied at the pump suction, and th< 
 dose generally is much heavier than that employed ii: 
 ordinary municipal water-works practice. It may vary 
 from 4.5 to as much as 10 parts per million. A contact 
 period of from 10 to 15 minutes is afforded by cylin- 
 drical tanks mounted under the work bench of the lab 
 oratory compartment of the outfit. With such an inten- 
 sive application of chlorine, which is adopted to insure 
 absolute safety in the quality of the treated water, it 
 will frequently be necessary to dechlorinate with a thio- 
 sulphate solution applied through an adjustable sight 
 feed The chlorine is carried in 105-lb. cylinders. To 
 
 a large extent our water-supply sterilization will be car- 
 ried on with chlorine obtained from the gas service ot 
 the American Expeditionary Forces. 
 
 The filtered and sterilized water passes either to a 
 discharge valve, where it can be fed to tank carts or 
 stationary storage, or it may be left in the contact tanks 
 for storage there. These four tanks have a capacity of 
 30 gal. each, and are tested for a pressure of 100 lb. per 
 square inch. 
 
 The forward part of the truck body is occupied by the 
 testing laboratory. This room is completely inclosed, 
 and provided with a door from the rear and wire-glass 
 windows en the side. It is completely equipped as a 
 water-testing laboratory, with working bench, wash 
 sink, water under pressure through faucets, hot air 
 sterilizer for sterilizing glassware, autoclave, bottle and 
 instrument rack, and a full line of laboratory utensils. 
 The laboratory will be used to test waters before and 
 after treatment and for such tests as are required on 
 other occasions. 
 
 This type of machine will be able to sterilize 1200 gal. 
 of water per hour when operating through its full sys- 
 te*"", A bypass is providod around the filter, so that if 
 84 ] 
 
CORNER OP WATER ANALYSIS LABORATORY— PUMPING PLANT, PRESSURE FILTER AND DECHLORINATOR 
 
 a water supply is encountered which does not require 
 filtration to remove turbidity and color, but simply chlo- 
 rination to make the water bacteriologically safe, the 
 capacity may be increased. 
 
 The second type of mobile plant, or "Chloro-Pumping" 
 outfit, is carried on a li- instead of a 3-ton truck. Here 
 there is no pressure filter. The pump has a capacity 
 (40 gal. per minute) double that of the "Steri-Lab" 
 machine. This outfit is designed for emergency work 
 during an advance or a retreat where filtration may be 
 
 dispensed with. The chlorinating and thiosulphate ap- 
 paratus is of the same kind as that previously described. 
 The "laboratory," or third, type of truck is also car- 
 ried on a li-ton chassis. It is fitted with the usual 
 equipment for making chemical and bacteriological ex- 
 aminations of water. All racks and cases are felt-lined 
 to prevent glass breakage. Water for laboratory use is 
 contained in a tank fitted with a hand air pump to supply 
 pressure. On this truck will be carried a bicycle for the 
 use of the laboratory assistant in collecting samples. 
 
 [ 85 ] 
 
Army Intermediate Depot in France Problem in 
 Getting Labor and Supplies 
 
 Project Covers Site Six Miles Long — Three Types of Warehouse Are Being Built — Chinese Labor Used 
 on Railway Grading — Installation Completed for Storing 5000 Tons of Beef at Zero Temperature 
 
 By Robert K. Tomlin, Jr. 
 
 War Correspondent of Engineering News-Record 
 Photographs not otherwise indicated are from Committee on^ Public Information. 
 
 TO PROVIDE storage and railroad yard facilities 
 at a point midway betwen the front line trenches 
 and the United States Army seacoast bases in France 
 where supplies and equipment are unloaded, engineer 
 troops, assisted by labor units of several nationalities 
 and German prisoners, have partially completed the 
 construction of what will be, eventually, the largest of 
 the so-called "depots" for the American Expeditionary 
 
 WJIREHOUSES 
 SCO 
 
 Sec+ior» I 
 
 Sec+'ior» t 
 
 Seo+'ion 3 
 
 PIG. 1. SKETCH SHOWS TYPICAL. LAYOUT OF WARE- 
 HOUSE SECTION OF ARMY INTERMEDIATE DEPOT 
 
 Forces. This is the intermediate depot, where reserve 
 stores for the engineer, quartermaster, medical, signal, 
 ordnance and the various other special services of the 
 Army are delivered, held until needed, and then shipped 
 to points of use. 
 
 In previous articles, on the advance depot and the 
 docks, storage and railroad yards at one of our base 
 sections, I have outlined the general purpose and re- 
 lation to one another of the several "depots" for our 
 overseas supplies. It is, therefore, unnecessary to go 
 into details as to the function of the intermediate de- 
 pot. Suffice it to say that it is, in effect, a vast storage 
 and regulating reservoir of materials of all sorts upon 
 which the draft from day to day varies, depending upon 
 the needs at the front and at other places in France 
 where American army activities are under way. 
 
 The intermediate depot must be equipped to meet 
 hurry calls for almost anything in the form of food or 
 supplies. On the heels of a requisition for canned beans 
 in car-load lots may come a demand for a shipment of 
 cast-iron pipe, specials, and valves for a water-supply 
 project. To meet such demands involves the provision 
 of millions of square feet of covered and open storage 
 and the creation of railway yard facilities for deliver- 
 ing and taking away the almost endless variety of 
 products called for by the war program upon which 
 we are engaged. Aside from its tremendous size the 
 .intermediate depot is unique in that it contains the larg- 
 
 [ 
 
 est refrigerating plant in France — a plant with a ca- 
 pacity of storing at a temperature of 0° F. 5000 tons 
 of fresh beef. 
 
 Even over here in France it is hard to visualize the 
 vast extent of the construction program which our en- 
 gineers have laid out, and of which the intermediate 
 depot, though a big project, is only a part. One journeys 
 from place to place between the seacoast and the front, 
 and all along the line the work of the engineer is in 
 evidence. I have covered by railway, motor car and 
 "hiking" a good many thousand miles since I landed 
 in France, and even to-day there are many sites where 
 construction is in full swing which I have not visited. 
 There are others, too, I will venture to say, of whose 
 very existence I am ignorant — and this in spite of 
 fairly steady contact for six months with engineer of- 
 ficers grading in rank from second lieutenant to major 
 general. The thing is appallingly big to "cover" in 
 any comprehensive way. We can pick out jobs here 
 and there for description, in an attempt to give our 
 engineers in America some idea of the main types of 
 construction which our technical troops in France are 
 doing, but under present conditions it would take a 
 sizable staff of men to record in adequate fashion the 
 
 FIG. 2. 
 
 WOOD-FRAME WAREHOUSE HAS HOLLOW 
 TILE WALLS 
 
 engineering work which is being done for the Amer- 
 ican Expeditionary Forces. 
 
 Take for example the single project of the interme- 
 diate depot. In plan it is a diamond-shaped layout 
 6i miles long and 11 miles wide. The plans provide for 
 more than 200 warehouse buildings, each about 500 ft. 
 long and 50 ft. wide. These dimensions are only approx- 
 imate, for there are buildings of several different types, 
 but, on the average, they are of about the size indicated. 
 Coupled with the building construction is the matter of 
 laying about 225 miles of railway track to serve the 
 warehouses. 
 
 With the exception of the refrigerating plant, how- 
 ever, the depot problem presents nothing difficult in 
 the matter of engineering design. The wooden buildings 
 86 ] 
 
Purlins ly$ where 
 Sheets Iap;l'k4- 
 iejisewhere , ^ 
 
 I \ 
 
 Corruqatecf 
 Sheafh/ng';. 
 
 
 ^7:'^7?^WiW^^^^^-^r-^ 
 
 B/ocks /Bx/Sx3 
 or ecfuiyer/err^ 
 
 f'IG. 3. TYPipAL CROSS-SECTION OP "WAREHOUSE SHED 
 
 are of extremely simple types, and the railroad yard 
 grading and track layir;? has been principally a job of 
 obtaining materials and handling labor, rather than one 
 of elaborate technical dt tail. This does not mean that 
 the work has proceeded in any haphazard way, but 
 
 As to the layout of the warehouses and the tracks 
 the plan shows the work divided into five sections, four 
 of these being parallel )dnaa running in an east and 
 west direction, and the fifth extending diagonally along 
 the western ends of the others. In addition, there is a 
 special yard for the storage of engineer material. Be- 
 tween pairs of parallel east and west track the ware- 
 houses, generally in groups of three, are placed end to 
 end as shown in the accompanying sketch (Fig. 1). 
 At the time of my visit ^arly in June there had been 
 laid about 60 miles of track, and 80 warehouse buildings, 
 were finished. During the early stages of the job about 
 15 miles of rail had to be obtained from the French, but 
 at the present writing 80-lb. steel rail from the states is. 
 being employed exclusively. The same situation ex- 
 isted in the case of wooden ties but now, with the work 
 of our forestry service speeding up the production of 
 lumber from local sources, the tie shortage is being 
 relieved. 
 
 The grading of the railway yards has been done 
 both with small hand tools, pick, shovel and wheel- 
 barrow, and with the aid of heavier plant such as loco- 
 motive cranes and clamshell buckets, and road graders 
 
 FIG. 4, 
 
 ENDS OF WOOD-FRAME WAREHOUSES ARE SHEATHED WITH CORRUGATED IRON BUT SIDES HAVE ONLY 
 
 CANVAS COVERS 
 
 rather that it has been studied with a view to elim- 
 inating anything savoring of "fancy" engineering or 
 construction. The main large-scale map of the yard 
 layout, for example, is one on which all unnecessary 
 draftsmanship has been omitted. It is a straight 
 "working" drawing. Tacked down upon the rough 
 plank table in the shack which serves as the head- 
 quarters of the commanding oificer of the engineer 
 troops and his principal assistants, the paper has been 
 worn through in spots by the elbows of the men who 
 have to consult it regularly and mark up progress. 
 No one has had time to make a new drawing. The 
 holes in the old one are patched up with adhesive tape 
 as they develop, and the work goes on. 
 
 hauled by caterpillar tractors. The labor represents 
 many nationalities. In addition to our own service bat- 
 talions there are large gangs of Chinese on the job. 
 While the site of the yards is fairly flat, large areas 
 were originally covered with brush and small trees, 
 necessitating a considerable amount of grubbing. On 
 this work of clearing and grubbing, as well as that of 
 digging drainage ditches and grading the earth floors 
 of the warehouses, the Chinese were used. Labor of 
 higher grade, both negro and while, was reserved for 
 the more difficult jobs of track laying and ballasting. 
 However, a few of the Chinamen were employed on tasks 
 demanding some degree of mechanical skill; for ex- 
 ample, in assembling a few road graders and concrete 
 
 PIG. 5. STEEL FRAME WAREHOUSES ARE SIMPLE IN APPEARANCE 
 
 [ 87 J 
 
mixers. The major of engineers who made this ex- 
 periment told me that the Orientals became intensely- 
 interested in putting together the parts of American 
 machinery, and often they worked hours overtime tin- 
 kering with the equipment which had been entrusted 
 to them. 
 
 The track layout of the yard involves the provision 
 of two humps and two separate groups of receiving, 
 classification and departure yards, one for east-bound 
 
 ing operations and stripped of their bark. The ends of 
 each warehouse are sheathed with corrugated iron 
 sheets, as shown in Fig. 4. The sides are not sheathed. 
 As a means of protection for the material placed beneath 
 this form of shelter large sheets of canvas are hung 
 from a point beneath the eaves and extend down to the 
 ground level, as shown in the picture. On this job, as 
 on all others which have been undertaken by our en- 
 gineer troops in France, scarcity of materials was one 
 
 FIG. 6. ONE OF THE VERY I^ARGE STEEL FRAME WAREHOUSES SHEATHED WITH CORRUGATED IRON 
 
 and the other for west-bound traffic. The hump starts 
 v/ith a 4-per cent grade which is eased off in 100-ft. 
 stretches to 1 per cent. Among the accessory structures 
 for the railway yard are engine sheds, coaling stations, 
 inspection and repair pits. 
 
 For the warehouses there are three different types 
 of structure: (1) wood frame with open sides and 
 corrugated iron roofing; (2) steel frame entirely 
 sheathed with corrugated iron; (3) wood frame with 
 walls of hollow clay tile or cement blocks. The steel 
 
 of the conditions which we had to face. As one of 
 the majors of an engineer regiment at the intermediate 
 depot expressed it to me, "Our principal difficulty has 
 been to put the job through using only about one-half 
 the original bill of material." 
 
 In the sketch showing a typical cross-section of a 
 warehouse shed (Fig. 3), it will be noted that the sizes 
 of the various members are given. This means that 
 such sizes are used when they are available, which is 
 not always the case. In this type of warehouse no roof 
 
 PIG. 7. GRADING DONE BY AMERICAN ROAD GRADER HAULED BY CATERPILLAR, SHOWN ON LEFT, AND ROAD 
 
 ROLLED BY AMERICAN MACHINE, IN VIEW AT RIGHT 
 
 and the clay-tile warehouses are used to store sup- 
 plies which would be damaged by wetting, such as 
 flour and sugar in sacks. The open wood-frame houses, 
 on the other hand, are suitable for the storage of canned 
 or boxed goods. The steel-frame structures serve as 
 fire-stops, being interposed here and there between the 
 wooden structures. 
 
 The wood-frame warehouse is merely a shed formed 
 by timber bents and corrugated roofing, as shown in 
 Fig. 3. Most of the posts are young pine trees, 6 in. 
 or less in diameter, obtained on the site during the clear- 
 
 truss is employed. The rafters, 2 x 5 in. in section, are 
 kneebraced to the vertical posts. It is practically im- 
 possible to obtain in France to-day long timber, and 
 in the case of the warehouse rafters a splice is intro- 
 duced as shown. The purlins are spaced on 3 ft. centers 
 and are usually of very light material. The corrugated 
 roofing is nailed to them. 
 
 Many of the storage warehouses at the other depots 
 of the American Expeditionary Forces in France are 
 raised above the ground level on posts, or are provided 
 with depressed railroad track along both the incoming 
 
 ' ] 
 
(<- 3B7-r- 
 
 FIG. 8. LAYOUT OF THE HUGE REFRIGPJRATING PLANT BUILT BY AMERICAN SOLDIERS IN HEART OF FRANCT! 
 
 and outgoing platforms, thus making the warehouse 
 floor level the same as that of the freight car. In 
 the case of the present wood-frame warehouses at the 
 intermediate depot this practice has not been followed; 
 ^s a general rule, there is no flooring other than the 
 earth at the original ground level. In some cases, logs 
 are placed on the earth floor in parallel rows to raise 
 cases of goods a few inches above the ground. 
 
 More substantial types of warehouse are shown in 
 Figs. 5 and 6. Those of the hollow-tile type were built 
 for us by French contractors. In the steel-frame type 
 of warehouse all connertions are bolted rather than 
 riveted, and the structure is sheathed on roof, ends and 
 sides with corrugated iron. 
 
 The first lumber for the warehouse construction came 
 from the United States, but since these early shipments 
 a certain quantity has been secured from Swiss and 
 French sources and from American forestry regiments. 
 As a general rule, about five warehouses of the wood- 
 frame type are under construction at one time, and to 
 each building a gang of 60 or 70 men is assigned. 
 Portable saw-rigs have been used for the framing work 
 and have proved decidedly useful. Very little concrete 
 is used on this job, the principal demand for it being 
 at the refrigerating plant, in the footings for the col- 
 umns of the steel-frame warehouses and for the in- 
 spection and engine pits for the railroad yard. 
 
 At the time of my visit to the intermediate depot, 
 \varehouses of the three different types, wood-frame, 
 steel-frame and wood-frame with hollow-tile walls, had 
 been built and were in service. About 25 locomotives 
 were being used on the railway yard operation and con- 
 struction, and shipments in large volume were being 
 received, stored or routed for the front. One of the 
 depot's biggest days occurred on June 13, when 520 
 cars were loaded and hauled out. 
 
 A very large labor force has been required on the 
 depot construction work. I was told that the force, at 
 times, has exceeded 10,000 men. Of course, this number 
 does not remain constant. The situation over here is 
 one that is characterized by shifting, sometimes sud- 
 den, of units from one place to another. For example, 
 the work at the intermediate depot was begun by one 
 of the regiments of railway engineers which were among 
 the first to arrive in France a year ago. A few of them, 
 
 [ 
 
 principally officers serving in administrative capacities 
 or as superintendents of big labor gangs, are still on 
 the job. The rank and file, however have left for other 
 parts. While a great deal of the grading work for the 
 railroad yards has been done by hand labor, mechanical 
 plant is to be seen at work here and there. For ex- 
 ample, in one section the roadbed for the track is 
 
 FIG. 9. SECRETARY BAKER AND GENERAL PERSHING IW 
 FRONT OF BOILERS OF REFRIGERATING PLANT 
 
 being formed with a road grader hauled by a cater- 
 pillar tractor (Fig. 7). The method is to make two 
 cuts, one on either side of the center line, thus form- 
 ing ditches, and at the same time throwing the material 
 into subgrade where it is levelled off by hand prior to 
 the placing of the ties. A certain amount of road build- 
 ing is required at the intermediate depot. One of the 
 views in Fig. 7 shows a gasoline roller which was put 
 to work as soon as it had been received from the United 
 States. 
 
 One of the features of the intermediate depot is the 
 
 big refrigerating and ice-making plant which has been 
 
 in operation since May 2. It serves as a cold-storage 
 
 house for meat and other perishable products required 
 
 89 ] 
 
FIG. 10. REFRIGERATING PLANT UNDER CONSTRUCTION LAST WINTER 
 
 by the Army, and was designed originally to have a ca- 
 pacity of 5000 tons of frozen meat at a temperature 
 of 12° F., in addition to the production of 500 tons of 
 ice daily. The first plans have been altered to some 
 extent as regards the temperature in the cold-storage 
 rooms. In order to obviate the necessity of icing the 
 railway cars in which the meat is transported from the 
 refrigerating plant to the front, a lower temperature 
 than that originally contemplated is being maintained 
 in the cold-storage rooms. During my visit to the plant 
 the thermometer indicated 1° below zero. By main- 
 taining this zero temperature — which is the present 
 operating practice — meat can be delivered to points of 
 consumption without the use of iced cars. 
 
 The refrigerating plant consists of a group of 12 
 principal buildings, some of which are of the following 
 sizes: beef storage, 112 x 896 ft.; ice-making, 100 x 218 
 ft. ; ice storage, 68 x 218 ft. ; engine room, 60 x 170 ft. ; 
 boiler room, 53 x 170 ft.; pump room, 25 x 38 ft.; 
 machine shop and store room, 64 x 96 ft.; laundry, 
 24 X 50 ft. In addition there are a few miscellaneous 
 buildings and a concrete reservoir 65 x 65 ft. in plan. 
 For its operation the refrigerating plant requires 4,000,- 
 000 gal. of water daily, which is obtained from a river 
 § of a mile distant, by means of a 16-in. pipe line and 
 a pumping station. A general layout is shown in 
 Fig. 8. 
 
 The engine, boiler and pump-room equipment in- 
 cludes eight 225-hp. boilers (Fig. 9), four refrigerating 
 machines with a total capacity of 1100 tons refrigera- 
 tion, equivalent to the cooling effect obtained from the 
 melting of 1100 tons of ice daily. There are two 150 
 kva. electric generators and three turbine-driven cen- 
 trifugal pumps, each with a capacity of 1800 gal. per 
 minute, or a total capacity of 5400 gal. per minute. 
 
 Refrigeration is by direct expansion of ammonia cir- 
 culating in coils hung from the ceiling of the refrigera- 
 tor building, which is divided into five rooms, each with 
 a capacity of about 1000 tons of meat. Means are also 
 provided for storing vegetables and other products at 
 a somewhat higher temperature than the zero degrees 
 maintained in the meat-storage rooms. As an indica- 
 
 [ 90 
 
 tion of the immense size of this plant, it may be noted 
 that for the refrigerating coils alone 30 miles of 2-in. 
 pipe were required. 
 
 "While the original plans for the manufacture of 
 ice, as distinguished from the provision of refrigeration 
 in the meat-storage rooms, have been modified for a 
 smaller output, the plant is nevertheless equipped to 
 produce ice. In the ice-making building, there are six 
 freezing tanks, each with a capacity of 62J tons of ice 
 daily. The freezing tanks contain a solution of brine 
 cooled by 26 miles of li-in. iron pipe. 
 
 Into the construction of the refrigerating plant 4,000,- 
 000 ft. b.m. of lumber, equivalent to about 6000 tons, 
 have entered. Insulation for the cold-storage rooms, 
 roofing paper, insulating paper, and brick for boiler 
 settings, represented a tonnage of 2600, while 2000 
 tons is the weight of the mechanical equipment for the 
 plant. Then, too, there are items of 400 tons of salt 
 and 200 tons of ammonia, including the weight of the 
 drums in which it is shipped. Summing up, the re- 
 frigerating plant represents a tonnage of 11,200. This 
 figure is important when it is recalled that practically 
 everything which entered into the construction of the 
 plant had to be shipped from the United States. In 
 addition, concrete for footings, walls, engine founda- 
 tions, etc., was required, most of the cement for this 
 purpose having been obtained from Europe. Exclusive 
 of the cost of transportation from the United States — 
 itself an item of no mean size under present conditions 
 — the refrigerating plant represents an outlay of more 
 than $2,000,000. 
 
 Obviously, such work as that required for the in- 
 stallation of a large plant of this kind could have been 
 handled only by specialists. This fact was appreciated 
 last year, and while the designs were being prepared 
 at Washington there was organized a so-called ice plant 
 company of engineers of about 350 men, most of whom 
 were recruited from the personnel of the large packing 
 com.panies of the Middle West. Actual work on the re- 
 frigerating plant was started in France in December, 
 1917, but the promise by those in charge of the instal- 
 lation that operation could be begun in five months 
 was regarded with skepticism in some quarters. Never- 
 
 ] 
 
theless, in spite of all the difficulties which surround 
 construction work in -France these days, this promise 
 was fulfilled ahead of schedule, and the placing of the 
 works in operation on May 2 of this year is a splendid 
 tribute to the men of the ice plant company. 
 
 In explaining to me the plans for the refrigerating 
 plant, which were prepared under the direction of the 
 cantonment division of the Quartermaster Department 
 — now known as the construction division — a major 
 of the Quartermaster Corps who is an expert on re- 
 frigeration mentioned a few of the outstanding features 
 ot the design. Great pains have been taken to insure 
 flexibility in the layout of the piping. A break would 
 be serious, especially over here where ammonia losses 
 eannot be so easily replaced as in the United States. 
 Horizontal return-tube boilers were selected on the 
 grounds of ease of installation and ease of shipment. 
 On the liquid ammonia lines ample provision is made 
 for expansion and — a very important point — these lines 
 are sectionalized by the introduction of valves at fre- 
 quent points ; in case of a break a section of piping may 
 be at once cut out of the system and ammonia losses 
 thereby greatly reduced. 
 
 Provision is made for the use of exhaust steam for 
 distilled-water ice which may be needed for special 
 purposes, as, for example, in hospitals. In the m.anu- 
 facture of ice which, in the case of the plant at the in- 
 termediate depot, is accomplished by suspending cans 
 of water in a brine solution, the impurities in the water 
 are forced toward the center of the block as the freezing 
 operation progresses from the outside inward. To offset 
 this trouble pipe lines are introduced which, when the 
 block is partially frozen, suck out the impure water at 
 the core, and replace it with clean water. A clear block 
 of ice is the result. 
 
 By maintaining a zero temperature in the freezing 
 rooms, and allowing meat to remain there four days 
 before shipment, it will be possible to dispense with 
 special refrigerating cars and to forward the frozen 
 meat in plain box-cars. This feature of the plant op- 
 eration is an exceedingly important one in view of 
 the present car shortage in France and the undesirabil- 
 ity of introducing special cars for special purposes. 
 
 Provision is also made in the operation of the plant 
 for salvaging oil. Judged by many other engineering 
 structures which have been built by our engineers in 
 France, the plant occupies an almost unique position. 
 1 was told that it had been built exactly in accordance 
 with the drawings. 
 
 A view of the refrigerating building (Fig. 11) from 
 the roof of the ammonia condenser shows that the fea- 
 ture of our plant, so far as the layout of this building is 
 concerned, is the use of a long, low, single-story struc- 
 ture, rather than a more compact building of several 
 stories as is common elsewhere. The advantage of the 
 layout adopted is that long trains can be quickly loaded 
 and unloaded. The main refrigerating building, meas- 
 uring 896 x 112 ft., will accommodate 25 freight cars 
 on each side. 
 
 The successful completion of the refrigerating plant 
 is due in no small measure to the precautions taken in 
 America in the crating, marking and shipping of the 
 multitude of mechanical parts required. At Washing- 
 ton the delivery of the material ready for shipment 
 
 Photograph by Engineerino News-Record 
 
 FIG. 11. HOW CARS ARE HANDLED AT THE BEEF 
 STORAGE BUILDING 
 
 abroad was controlled by charts, and shipments were 
 well coordinated, and as a result the machinery arrived 
 in France when and as needed — a most remarkable per- 
 formance when one considers the unprecedented volume 
 of transatlantic freight now being carried and the diffi- 
 culties involved in avoiding mistakes and delays. 
 
 [ 91 1 
 
% « « • ^ 
 
 5':;': 
 
THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE 
 STAMPED BELOW 
 
 AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS 
 
 WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN 
 THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY 
 WILL INCREASE TO 50 CENTS ON THE FOURTH 
 DAY AND TO $1.00 ON THE SEVENTH DAY 
 
 RETURN TO the Circulation desk Of anv 
 University Of California Ubrar' 
 
 R'chmona CA 94804-4698 
 
 (5)0) 642-6753 ^ '^"^^^^ '^y calling 
 * bo'* to NRLr' ^ ^""^-^^^ed by bringing 
 ^'o;7S^r?oSr-^Vbe.ade4 
 
 DUE AS STAIVIPED BELOW 
 
 N ev 1 2000 
 
 |;402s) 
 
 12,000 CD /95) 
 
YE 03346 
 
 rlAiA^Um^ur,- t^rJ^-,^iiij*H 
 
 »i^. 
 
 386941 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA UBRARY