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Railway Artillery

Dean Goods 0-6-0 ROD 2330 and BL 18 inch Railway Howitzer

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The BL 18-inch railway howitzer (formally Ordnance BL 18-inch Mk I howitzer on truck, railway) was a British railway gun developed during World War I. Part of the progression of ever-larger howitzers on the Western Front, it did not enter service until 1920.

Five guns and two complete equipments on railway wagons were produced. After World War I there was no use for such large but relatively short-ranged weapons and they were placed in storage. In World War II the two wagons were used to mount 13.5-inch guns, which were capable of engaging targets on the German-occupied Channel coast of France. In late 1940 one 18-inch howitzer was mounted on the railway mounting nicknamed "Boche Buster" which had been used in World War I to carry a 14-inch gun. It was deployed at Bishopsbourne in Kent on the Elham to Canterbury Line as a coast defence gun as a precaution against possible German invasion. The gun's range was insufficient for cross-Channel firing and hence it was never fired in action.

The Museums Display Piece:

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Oxford Diecast Dean Goods 0-6-0 ROD 2330 and
​BL 18" Railway Howitzer "Boche Buster"

Other Resources:

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