Australian Army Museum of Western Australia > Records

World War 1, Europe, 1918

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1918

Overview

Wrecked railway engine plastered with Australian graffiti

Historical information

The Railway Operating Division (ROD) was a division of the Royal Engineers formed in 1915 to operate railways in the many theatres of the war. It was largely composed of railway employees and operated both standard gauge and narrow gauge railways. The ROD operated their first line on a section of the Hazebrouck–Ypres line.
The ROD requisitioned many diverse locomotives from Britain's railway companies and leased several Belgian locomotives sent to France in 1914, but as the war dragged on adopted the Great Central Railway's Robinson Class 8K 2-8-0 as its standard freight locomotive to become the ROD 2-8-0. Some locomotives were also purchased from Baldwin in the United States. They also operated narrow-gauge engines (meter gauge or 600 millimetres (2.0 ft) gauge trains).
Australian Imperial Force units within the Railway Operating Division were
 Headquarters Australian Railway Group
 1st Light Railway Operating Company
 2nd Light Railway Operating Company
 3rd Light Railway Operating Company
 4th Broad Gauge Railway Operating Company
 5th Broad Gauge Railway Operating Company
 6th Broad Gauge Railway Operating Company

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-32-P1900.326

Item type

Photographs

Themes

War and Conflict
War and Conflict > World War 1

Year

1918

Australian Army Museum of Western Australia

Organisation Details
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