English: Stephan Kallee:

Unusual Decauville Railways
Ungewöhnliche Decauville-Bahnen
Chemins de fer Decauville insolites

31. Internationales Feldbahntreffen FFM, Frankfurt und FGF, Solms Oberbiel, 5.-8. Oktober 2023

Table of Content, page 1
1. Construction of the Panama Canal, 1881–1889, page 2
2. Sousse–Kairouan Decauville railway in Tunisia, 1882, page 3
3. Tramway at Naphtha Hill, 1885-1889, page 4
4. Decauville railway of the Maréchaux quarries, 1885–1930, page 6
5. Cobazet Estate Light Railway, 1886–1950, page 7
6. Decauville railway at Tien-Tsin, China, 1886, page 9
7. Drinking water pipeline in Yokohama, Japan, 1886–1887, page 11
8. Exposition Universelle in Paris, 1889, page 12
9. Drying of pine cones in Modane, France, around 1892–1893, page 16
10. Tramway Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, 1897, page 17
11. Translocation of the Post Office in Tahiti, French Polynesia, 1902, page 18
12. Paleontological excavations at Trinil, Java, 1907-1908, page 19
13. Earth moving at the monastery of Mont des Cats, France, 1898, page 20
14. Mines d'Hatou in Tonkin, 1901, page 21
15. Karatzova Decauville Railway in Greece, 1916–1936, page 22
16. Kodza Déré Decauville Railway, 1917–1918, page 25
17. Conclusions and and historical review, since 1875, page 31
18. The author: Stephan Kallee, page 32

Paul Decauville invented a system of portable track and V-skip wagons in autumn 1875 to harvest sugar beet in wet and muddy conditions. The rails of the prefabricated track panels were rivetted to the metal sleepers. The most common gauges grew from initially 400 mm over 500 mm to 600 mm and beyond. Until World War I, a Decauville railway existed in nearly every French colony and further afield.

Decauville focussed on producing portable track and V-skip wagons. The company sold and later made locomotives and produced cars since 1898. The number of 1000 employees in 1957 declined to 560 in 1962 and less. They now produce and integrate parts for roll-off skip trucks and cranes.