Does anyone have any information about the trains they used to transport troops durring World War II, particularly east coast. Any information would be helpful
Thanks[swg]
It’s a pretty big subject, which has come up before on the forum. Good place to start would be Classic Trains recent special issue on trains in WW2.
There was an ep of the Trains and Locomotives that followed a troop train. As far as consist, your gonna be able to just start pulling coaches and baggage cars. If it wasn;t in survice, it is now.
Troops got prioirty on every train running. In addition to what trains the railroad could schedule troop train specials were run all over the country with dedicated equipment. At any given time almost every car in service was probablyused in troop train service. I doubt you would ever have seen the Broadway limited or the 2oth century Limited in troop train service or other top of the line trains for other roads. There was such a shortage of cars that Pullman made the famous trooptrain cars from box cars they had plans for. they have been covered numerous times in the publications.
During WW2 many of the top trains ran as “sections”, there might be say 6 different trains that were all “Broadway Limiteds” or “Super Chiefs” running 5-10 minutes apart. On the Great Northern, the Empire Builder often had to divide up into two sections, one with the coaches and another with just the Pullman cars. It wasn’t unusual for there to be a third section which would actually be a troop train running as a section of the Builder.
Pullman built some 50’ passenger cars which were basically converted 50’ boxcars. They had sleepers and dining cars (generally troops in trains were fed by the military onboard, they didn’t eat in a regular dining car). After the war many of these cars were converted to baggage or express cars for head-end service.
When my Dad completed basic training in Texas in Jan. 1945 and took the train back to Minneapolis he got to see the diversity of rail service during the war. From Dallas or Ft.Worth to Kansas City they rode in freight cars. I showed him pictures of those 50’ Pullmans and asked if that was what he meant, he said those cars were “way to nice” to be what they rode in - these were boxcars he was in.
On the way, they stopped in a siding and they all got to the doors to see what would be passing them. They figured troop trains had No.1 priority it must be something important like the President or something. So, here comes the train rolling by them - filled with cattle!! He said from then on they knew where they stood on the pecking order of things. [swg]
In KC he transferred to the streamlined Rock Island Rocket for the rest of the trip - one of the top passenger trains around.
I have link for you to find a troop train video.
http://www.archive.org/movies/details-db.php?collection=prelinger&collectionid=18999
That should do it.
Here’s a link to that Kalmbach / Classic Trains Special edition:
The troop “pullmans” had three tiers of bunks on iron stanchions filled to capacity.
I always volunteered for KP because that was where the food was.
On a trip from Biloxi, MS to Bakersfield, CA to begin pilot training in the U.S Army Air Corps, we stopped at about 9:30 PM at Phoenix for oil and water. I was sitting on the floor at the center opening door hanging on the safety chain.
I looked out at Phoenix and said “That is the worst looking cow town I have ever seen”.
Never dreamed that some day I would be living here and loving it.
I’ve got some photos showing my father and “associates” in uniform and in transit in a baggage car on the Colorado Eagle–my guess would be 1945.
Ed