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Armoured Trains

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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"ARMOURED TRAINS. - In the earliest days of the application of railways to war uses, the idea presented itself both to inventors and to practical soldiers of utilizing the weight-carrying capacity of the railway and the pulling power of the locomotive for tactical as well as for strategic purposes. " Railroad batteries " figured in the American Civil War, and in the war of 1870; and armoured trains have appeared thereafter sporadically in most wars. Their utility, though it was confined within rather narrow limits, was unquestionable until the development of mechanical road transport. Nowadays, however, in countries where the rail system is sufficiently developed to give such trains real freedom of movement there exists an even fuller system of main roads on which armoured cars can operate, and in the World War period the fighting train has only figured in such theatres as those of the Russian civil wars, in which roads fit for heavy traffic are as a rule rarer than railways. As against the armoured car working on good roads the train must always suffer from being limited to certain tracks which are very easily interrupted by raids, air bombing, or artillery fire, and in the future, as cars of the four-wheel drive or caterpillar types improve, the freedom of movement of the armoured car cannot but increase even in theatres of war in which roads are few. Considered as a self-contained fighting unit, therefore, it is improbable that the armoured train will be of much practical utility in the future.

On the other hand, the old " railroad battery " considered as a form of gun-mounting possessed, and more than ever now possesses, many intrinsic advantages over other forms of mounting heavy ordnance for field warfare. In the well-laid bed of a railway track, organized to distribute heavy strains equably, such mountings have their firing platform ready made, and the power of the locomotive gives heavy artillery a mobility that otherwise it would lack. In this form, then, the train represents the battery vehicles of horsed or motor artillery. The central member is the heavy truck carrying the gun, and the others are arranged for ammunition and for the accommodation of the gun personnel. Light armour is frequently used for the protection of the vehicles against shrapnel bullets, and in some cases the gun itself is provided with a shield. These railway mountings are referred to under Ordnance.