Australian Army Museum of Western Australia > Records

World War 1 , Europe France Paris, 1919

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1919

Overview

Members of Railway unit on leave in Paris

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-P1978.82.1i

Item type

Photographs

Themes

War and Conflict
War and Conflict > World War 1

Contextual Information

From August 2023 to February 2025, the Australian Army Museum of WA is presenting an exhibition of Edwin Garbett’s technical drawings and watercolours relating to his wartime service with the Railway Operating Division.

Year

1919

Australian Army Museum of Western Australia

Organisation Details
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