Trans-Hertogenwald Narrow-Gauge Railway Route

Here you are on the route of the Decauville railway. This narrow-gauge railway - named after the French inventor - formed a rail network in the Hertogenwald that was built by the German army during the First World War. The aim of the railway was to quickly transport the wood felled in the western Hertogenwald to the sawmill in Perkiets (Membach) and then to the Yser front. Thanks to this railway, the Hertogenwald was completely overexploited in just four years of war.Russian and Italian prisoners of war provided most of the workers in the construction of the Decauville Railway.After the First World War, the forestry administration expanded the rail network to a total length of 60 km. The railway network was finally dismantled in 1952.

beautiful forest; after the flood in July there was a lot of rubbish here, thankfully a big clean-up operation has obviously taken place since then

In the period between 1916 and 1918, the German military command had Russian and later Italian prisoners of war remove large quantities of hardwood (oak and beech) from the western, then Belgian, part of the Hertogenwald in order to fortify the trenches on the 700 km long Yser front. For this purpose, a narrow-gauge railway network with a total length of 60 km was created through the Hertogenwald, which was given the name "Trans-Hertogenwaldbahn". At the same time, a powerful sawmill was set up in the Weser Valley near Membach, where the wood was processed.