ARMOURED TRAINS. In the earliest days of the appli cation of railways to war uses, the idea presented itself 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 1870-71 and armoured trains have appeared thereafter sporadically in most wars, particularly in South Africa, 1899-1902. Their utility, though confined within narrow limits, was unques tionable until the development of mechanical road transport.
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 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 easily interrupted by raids, air bombing, or artillery fire, and in the future, as cross-coun try cars of the six-wheeled or caterpillar types improve, the limita tions of the armoured train will be accentuated in comparison.
On the other hand, the old railroad battery, considered as a form of gun-mounting, possesses many 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 repre sents 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. (See ORDNANCE.)