I am looking for trains that are period appropriate for WWII in the North African Theater. I don’t have a lot of knowledge of what trains were around in use and when, I was hoping that people here might possibly be able to help. Thanks for any help you can offer.
Joshua Fisher
I read an article in an old Railroad magazine of a British train moving up to the front in North Africa. Drop me a line and I will see if I can dig it up.
There is an article in the March 1951 issue of Railroad Magazine titled “Flight into Egypt” pages 34-51. This illustrated article by Cecil H. Gledhill details operation of the railroad between Mersa-Matruh and Tobruk. This stretch of railroad was operated by the 16th and 17th Companies of the New Zealand Operating Group, New Zealand Engineers. Hope this helps and you should try English and New Zealand sources to follow up.
From what I have seen in documentaries such as “Trains Unlimited” most of what we sent overseas in WWII appear to be switcher types like small to medium sized steam 0-6-0s, 0-8-0s.
Just curious, why are you asking? Not to be nosey but someone here or on another forum might be able to give you a better answer/place to look depending whether it “just needs to look right” or has to be “historically accurate”.