One of the railroad aspects I’m interested in is the military railcars. The local hobby shop does not seem to have much on display but I see a number of them on the big auction site and some websites.
I am concerned about getting gimmicky junk I can’t keep on the rails just because it had a spotlight or a helicopter on a flatcar but I really want that spotlight and helicopter on a flatcar. Any model runs you all would recommend I steer myself towards or against?
Thanks again guys and a link to another thread would be fine if I just typed the wrong thing into the search box and did not find my answer.
Do a Google pic or video search for military trains - which will give you facts about what is actually in use. Then hit the Walthers site and do a search for military railcars. You might also do the Athearn (Horizon) site as well.
My initial venture into MR occured in 1954. I was 10, and had an avid interest in “toy soldiers” and the Marx train set I had. I decided to combine them on a table top in the basement, and that set the spark off!
There are a lot of military vehicles available in HO, so that’s a good point about military modeling. However, models of actual military rolling stock are relatively scarce, so that will require some serious model building unless you’re OK with close-enuf. There are some decals and other items that will be helpful.
A good source of info is the militaryrails Yahoo email group. It’s mostly prototype info, but some modeling, too.
are models of military flatcars. They were built by Magor in 1953 as USAX 38016-38665. That’s a lot of flatcars! The reporting mark was changed to DODX about 1966. There were still 9 of them listed in the ORER in July 2000. After being sold by the government, many can be found all over the country today.
There was an article on these cars in “Mainline Modeler” March 1993. And there is a whole lot of info online.
Going by what I saw at Fort Campbell, Ky, you can come very close by taking a bunch of standard 89 foor TTAX flats, painting them yellow and giving them DDOX numbers. Then you can load trucks, trailers, portable modules, tanks, APCs, Strykers or whatever - even helicopters, although those are usually flown to their destinations (inside C5s, or C17s, not on their own rotors.) If you arrange the loads to be removable you can mix and match to vary the train loads for different missions.
On my layout, in order to move a tank I would have to assign my 4-truck machinery flat. It’s the only flat on the layout that can handle that much weight. Of course, I’m modeling a narrow gauge prototype…
Few months ago, there were a lot of solid trains of MRAPs coming back from Iraq passing through DC. All of them, every single one, was a straight up ex-TTX 89’ flat with DODX marks.
So far in my 6 yrs in the Army i’ve only seen flats we use to move equipment and containers we store smaller items in (anything not a tank, brad, apc, trailor, howitzer etc). I know depots (munitions) still receive box cars once in a rare while and im not sure for what but ive seen some old tank cars. The Army was going to have a commuter train run between Ft Eustis and Ft Lee, VA for troops in basic and AIT however, the budget cuts axed that program.
Other than that the days of a rail gun or machine gun bunkers on a train are over my friend.
In what time period are you interested in modeling military traffic?
Modern- Iraq/ Afghanistan/ Desert storm era?
Cold war era?
World War II era?
World War I era?
Civil war/ U S Military Railroad?
Your tag mentioned “favorite army railcars”? In some time periods, regular railroad-owned freight cars handled military traffic. I model a WWII Navy blimp base, lasting into the transition-era 50s, so my favorite military railcar is the helium tankcar, followed by the postwar U S Navy 1 1/2 door 50’ PS-1 boxcar, the ONLY 50’ PS-1’s with 1 1/2 doors.
I’m skeptical about the military actually owning much in the way of railroad equipment, why would they, when for the short period of time they would need any, they could more easily pay the railroads to move their stuff. Been alive for 62 years and have watched every train I’ve seen since a very young boy and will have to say I’ve never seen so much as a Deuce and a half on a rail car! I think the ARMY moves on it;'s own wheels, at least we did when I was in it. I’m sure that equipment was moved by rail back during WW2. Germany did have some huge guns that moved by rail. Maybe I’m all wet on this; but, like I say, I have seen nothing military moved by rail in my lifetime! However armor would be a likely candidate for rail shipment, I’d think.
Well, I guess I’m wrong again! Still, I have never seen any military equipment ever being moved by rail! I must not have lived anywhere where military rail traffic occurs!
Tanks and hard-surface roads don’t mix. Eats up track pads, plus the 45mph top speed (governed) would irritate the road’s civilian users.
Of course, the last U.S. vs Canada action took place during the War of 1812, so there’s not much call for routing military cargo along the world’s longest un-fortified border.
Where did the 18 incher come from? The only ships that ever carried them were Japan’s two Yamato class battleships (sunk October 1944 and April 1945. RIP.) US battleships mounted 16s, and there were still a few spare barrels at Hawthorne the last time I drove past…
When the units at Fort Campbell moved out, for training or deployment, their equipment moved by rail. There were always a couple of those DODX flats parked at th
There aren’t that many big military installations in Minnesota with lots of rail traffic.
BNSF occasionally runs an extra train into or out of Camp Ripley (just north of Little Falls on MN 371).
If you go to some mapping service - say http://www.bing.com/maps, and search for Camp Ripley, MN, find 371 going north south and then find MN 115 going west, and then change to overhead pictures and zoom in, you will find Ripley Junction in the SE corner of that intersection.
Follow the tracks onto the military reservation, across the bridge, up along Bettenburg avenue and then down along both sides of Rosenmeier Avenue. You will find one track on the north side of the road for loading containers etc, and a track with an end loading and side loading ramp along the south side of the avenue for loading vehicles.
And here is a youtube video showing mostly non-armored vehicles on a long train of military vehicles near Yakima, Washington state, in May 2011: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSA6rc4W_wg
Man, thanks for all the links and what not. You all know your stuff!
At least in the early 2000’s the military moved all sorts of stuff on rails. It was tracked a little more diligently than a normal container of Playstations or whatever and had different levels of tracking depending on how sensitive the equipment was. I BELIEVE I even recall some British equipment moving on Union Pacific rails for some reason or other.
My era of choice is going to loosely be the last days of the Southern Pacific. My interest tends towards modern and the late SP will let me do semi-modern military equipment, Intermodal Containers, Tankcars, Bulktainers, and even have a new GNX Regal or Fox Body nearby for decoration. You would assume they did but I don’t know if the SP moved any military equipment pre “merger” but that level of accuracy is vital.
Interestingly enough it seems to be Patton Tanks and others on flatcars not newer Abrams.
Generally how would you compare Model Power with Bachmann railcars? My assumption is they are like car brands, there are cheap Chevrolets and cheap Hondas all out there.
Military rail equipment is basicly the same as its civilian counterparts.
Other than Railway Guns (phased out after WW2) the only noticeably unusual railcar I can think of was the Peacekeeper Rail Garrison Car http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peacekeeper_Rail_Garrison_Car and it resembled a boxcar. (at 87’ long, a very large boxcar).
depending on where your SP layout is will determine which military cargo is moved. the BNSF transcon that runs through AZ, NM, and into So CA will see larger equipment (tanks etc) and large volumes of military traffic due to FT Irwin being a major training site. CO sees some traffic due to FT Carson and the heavy units there. Any SP line in TX would see traffic from FT Hood and Bliss as they are also heavy units and would play into SP type traffic and eventually be handed off to BNSF for final movement. If you are modeling pre-1990 you will see more M60 tanks vrs the Abrams which was only initally fielded in the late 80s early 90s for the Army and the brats (Marines) in the Navy still held onto their M60s into the 90s.
As for the earlier comment about why the Army needs trains…its cheaper and easier to move by rail than by road. Even though the interstates where built for troop and supply lanes in the event another world war broke out; its expensive and as mentioned earlier takes a number on military maintainence. Tanks are moved by rail then put on HETTS (large traliors designed for heavy equipment), which then transport them to their range, training gound, or into a combat zone if need be.
Additionally, in the event that another world war breaks out, DoD has the right to take over rail operations for troop and supply movement. Partially the reason there is so much federal funding for rail repairs and railroad employee pensions get federal support. Every Army base has an engine shed and types/numbers depends on the unit there.
In all likelihood, yeah it was a 16" gun. Somewhere along the way, some old timer somewhere said “18 inch guns” on the battleships to me and that’s my default shorthand now. The general proportions and shape lead me to believe it was a Mark 7. I wish I’d been able to get a picture of it but I was too surprised to react. Its not every day you’re walking down the street in downtown DC and you see a train that’s just a handful of flat cars and…“that’s one huge pipe…hang on a second…” It had the mounting fittings and its breech too. There was nothing else it could have been. Except maybe a Mark 6. I wish I knew anything at all about it.
Wow, you live in Norway and I live about 60 miles from Camp Ripley and you feel the need to tell me about it! The old N.P. now BNSF tracks you speak of, I have literaly traveled along side of, 1000s of times. The tracks into the camp coming from the spur that runs along Hwy 371 I have passed over a few times, also. H
Yes, traffic to Ft. Irwin is significant. And flat cars do constitute the majority of cars one is likely to see in military service. There is pretty good coverage of DODX-marked cars here:
I’m not sure what the current status is of any DOD “right” to the rails is, but suspect its constrained by past experience. The USRA in WWI did that and it was generally considered a disaster. WWII did NOT see a gov’t takeover of the RRs. Instead, military shipments were prioritized and the normal car service rules suspended to improve car utilization.
Equipment moves by rail, but it is pretty unlikely that large numbers of personnel will ever move by rail again. There’s little in the way of equipment to do so and plenty of more likely alternatives.
There are still installations with considerable railroad operations still in place. However, many installations have had rail completely removed in the last couple of decades. Hill AFB in Utah is where the main military backshop and storage site is now for rail equipment.