Landships II

Poilu · Sergeant

French Light Railways

Ian P · Major

That looks very nice. Is it a static model or does it run?

Poilu · Sergeant

Hi Ian,

It runs. In the picture below, you can see the motorised mechanism in the background.

... and this is the original locomotive:

Cheers,

Jeroen

ALVF · Major

Hello,

The colour scheme for french "locomotives � voie de 0,60 m" is the "gris artillerie" during the war because "Artillerie" was in charge of light railways from 1888 to 1919 (after 1919 the light railway is in charge of "G�nie" (engineers).
Some locomotives (requisitionned and some Decauville) were in black.
See some papers in french Review "Voie Etroite" with photographs of Kerr-Stuart and other locomotives during the war.
The name "Joffre" for Kerr-Stuart locomotives is not used in french Army, this name is given in England, have you the origin of this name?
Yours sincerely,
Guy Fran�ois.

ALVF · Major

Hello,

If the Kerr Stuart factory called "Joffre" their locomotives, this name was not used in french Army and I have never seen this name in french official texts.
Since the 19th century, the french Army used the name "vert olive" and not "vert arm�e" to call the colour scheme of Artillery guns and other vehicles, the name "vert arm�e" is used more recently.
The colour scheme for the locomotive "P�chot-Bourdon mod�le 1888" was first in 1888-1900 years in "vert olive" and "noir" ("peinture noire � l'huile") with inscriptions in white or black for the letters as "Place de Verdun").
The "gris artillerie" was used for the french "75 mm mod�le 1897" and after 1897 for other guns, before 1897 the main colour scheme of the guns was "vert olive" and black.
But the french coast guns were also in "gris artillerie" and many other colours because these guns were painted on colour scheme similar to the surroundings ground since the late years of the 19th century.

P.S: they were 58 locomotives "P�chot-Bourdon" in 1914 and not 48, the last were built in 1909.
Yours sincerely,
Guy Fran�ois.

-- Edited by ALVF on Wednesday 13th of June 2012 03:02:25 PM

Poilu · Sergeant

Hi Guy,

Yes, I know that it was called the Joffre Type by the Kerr Stuart factory (as is also mentioned by C. Cenac in La Voie de 60 Militaire de la Guerre de 14-18 en France) and presume that the name is derived from Gneral Joseph Joffre.

As for the colour, I agree that the Joffres were repainted to 'gris artillerie' at a certain moment during te war. They were however most likely delivered in 'vert arm�e'. The specifications which are listed in post on my blog, come directly from Kerr Staurt and were commissioned by the French (Colour as per Paint No 33255 (French Commission)).

As you might be aware, the 48 pre-war Pechot-Bourdon locomotives, which were built in France itself, also had a dark colour. Wheter this was black or 'vert arm�e' is not known. The moved to 'gris artillerie'�when the French ordered the 280 Pechot-Bourdon locomotives from Baldwin in the U.S. in 1915.�

This is around the same time when the uniforms were changed from blue-red to 'bleu horizon' ...

Cheers,

Jeroen

CharlieC · Legend

�

"gris-artillerie" approximately "pearl-grey"

"vert-olive" - "olive green" - the shade seems to be mid-olive green.

Regards,

Charlie

�

-- Edited by CharlieC on Thursday 14th of June 2012 02:20:33 PM

baldwin · Hero

Jeroen

A nice model,please keep us informed.

As to the colour of the Joffre and other French LR stock could someone tell me the colours in plain English.

baldwin · Hero

Charlie

Cheers,French was never my strong point !!!!! Any sugestions to any Humbrol/Tamyia colours ?????