delta Posted 6 March , 2022 Share Posted 6 March , 2022 Grateful for help in locating the site of the Loop railhead; this was a station on the Plateau line which was originally built to resupply ammunition to artillery units supporting the attacks during the First Battle of the Somme in 1916 and also to evacuate casualties. The newly built branch line, which was built to standard gauge, started near Dernancourt and initially reached Maricourt before being extended to Trones Wood. The Loop railhead, which was collocated with a French metre gauge light railway, was built to offload tanks used during the Battle of Flers-Courcelette. The Loop remained a tank support base until Dec 1916. The Loop was built to the east of the road from Bray sur Somme to Fricourt (now the D329 and 147) near the Vallée Raison. The Plateau line crossed this road in the area of the Bray Hill British Cemetery although I am not sure exactly where. I have attached an extract from a line map below which dates from mid 1917. Has anyone got an earlier (i.e, Autumn 1916) trench map which shows the area from Grovetown to Bronfay Farm? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay dubaya Posted 7 March , 2022 Share Posted 7 March , 2022 Map dated August 1918, not sure if the aerial obliques the map relates to have survived. And added as a google earth overlay which shows the stations proximity to the Bray - Fricourt road Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Michelle Young Posted 8 March , 2022 Admin Share Posted 8 March , 2022 Photo taken from The Tanks at Flers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delta Posted 9 March , 2022 Author Share Posted 9 March , 2022 Thank you, both, most kind and useful Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth Davies Posted 9 March , 2022 Share Posted 9 March , 2022 Hopefully the images I posted on the FTC group page on FB have given you the info you need. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianmorris547 Posted 9 March , 2022 Share Posted 9 March , 2022 I found this French map dated July 1915 in the WD of the CRA 5 Div which might be of interest. Courtesy TNA WO 95/1521. Ancestry p 1172. Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianmorris547 Posted 11 March , 2022 Share Posted 11 March , 2022 (edited) And another from the WD of 7 Div HQ GS. Courtesy TNA WO 95 1630 - Ancestry p 60/563. I think it dates to early 1916. The Loop is named. Brian Edited 11 March , 2022 by brianmorris547 typo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delta Posted 16 March , 2022 Author Share Posted 16 March , 2022 On 09/03/2022 at 12:10, Gareth Davies said: Hopefully the images I posted on the FTC group page on FB have given you the info you need. Indeed and thank you so much Gareth for your ongoing support Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delta Posted 16 March , 2022 Author Share Posted 16 March , 2022 On 11/03/2022 at 15:17, brianmorris547 said: And another from the WD of 7 Div HQ GS. Courtesy TNA WO 95 1630 - Ancestry p 60/563. I think it dates to early 1916. The Loop is named. Brian Thank you - much earlier but extremely interesting to see the area pre 1st Jul. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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