Jump to content

Decauville Tramway at Exposition Universelle in Gent, 1913

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Stockton & Ione Railroad
"Depot du Tramway de la Societe Nouvelle des Etablisse­ments Decauville Ainé, Bruxelles 58-60 Bv du Nord"
Technical
Line length3 kilometres (1.9 mi)
Track gauge600 mm (1 ft 11+58 in)

The Decauville Tramway at Exposition Universelle in Gent, 1913 (French Tramway de Decauville Ainé) was a temporary narrow gauge railroad with a gauge of 600 mm (1 ft 11+58 in), which was operated during the World Fair held in Ghent from 26 April to 3 November 1913.[1]

History

[edit]

After the success of the Decauville railway at Exposition Universelle (1889) in Paris, the Belgian subsidiary of the French company Decauville in Corbeil-Essonnes exhibited their products also at the Exposition universelle et internationale (1913).

Route

[edit]

The route passed amongst others the following stations:

  • Palais de Beaux Arts
  • Ville de Paris
  • Delhaize Freres & Cie ‹Le Leon›
  • Modern Village
  • Rue Belvedere
  • Chateau d’eau[2]

The Depot was between the Modernen Village and the sport fields.[3]

Operation

[edit]

Eight Montania locomotives of the Paris branch of Orenstein & Koppel and Arthur Koppel were used on the temporarily laid line. They could be operated with benzene, petrol, alcohol or petroleum. On the side of the engine cover they had a discreet lettering of the company 'Decauville', which was responsible for the distribution of this locomotive in Belgium.[4]

The operation was carried out by a 24-strong team of 10 locomotive drivers, 12 uniformed conductors, a railway attendant dressed in white and the train dispatcher.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Davy Depelchin: "The Ghent Universal and International Exhibition of 1913: Reconciling Historicism, Modernity and Exoticism", in Cultures of International Exhibitions 1840-1940, edited by Marta Filipova (Farnham, 2015), p. 185. Partial preview on Google Books.
  2. ^ Claude Faseur: Gent geprent: Bezoekerstreintje.
  3. ^ Billen Jos: Tramway Decauville.
  4. ^ Catalogue "Locomotives 'Montania' au Benzol, a la Benzine, a l'Alcool, au Petrole etc, O&K et Arthur Koppel, Paris" with postal stamp of 15 March 1919.
[edit]