As a post-war baby boomer, I don't remember seeing much of military trains. Now that microtrains et al. have produced their troop cars and a variety of other military oriented loads, I am curious if any of the old timers remember the makeup of troop trains. Were troop carrying cars and military loads of ammunition or equipment ever in the same train? Since troop cars carried wounded at times I would guess not, but I am unsure and haven't seen any photos. Does anybody know of any websites or photo sites of troop or military trains druing the period?
I can't think of any site specific to troop trains. There is one fellow who had a lot of information on the US military RR operations. His name is Tim Moriarty. Believe he had a web site. If you could track him down, perhaps he would be a good resource. Boxcab E50
It is my understanding that most times the troops would be on different trains than equipment and that ammunition would be on another train entirely. Hospital trains were a different train also. I have heard that every now and then, that if a special unit was not very large, they may have included their equipment in the same train. Both my parents were in the army and traveled a lot on troop trains. Mom was an Army nurse, so when her 44th General Hospital unit shipped out from Fort Sill, Oklahoma for the South Pacific, they packed all their gear on another train and did not see it again until they were in Australia. She came back state side all bandaged up on a hospital ship and was transferred to a hospital train in Long Beach for a trip to a hospital in Springfield, Missouri to recover. That was an exciting trip because the train was hit by and avalanche in the mountains of Colorado and it took a few days to dig them out so the train could continue on to Denver. Fortunately it was not pushed off the rails.
As far as I remember (I was 6-10 during WW-II), the troops were moved with whatever coach and sleeper equipment was available, even on named trains. Most of today's model news makes a big deal of the "Troop Train" equipment that looked like box cars, but I believe this was used in a relatively small percentage of the movements. Also, those troop cars didn't show up until very late in '43 or early '44. There may be a few TB members in the service during WW-II who can give correct info.
Most of the photos I have ever seen, show the troops moving in heavyweight cars. Other than possibly some ammunition for any guards sidearms, I doubt many munitions were on the same train. Although there is probably an exception to any rule.... Boxcab E50
Troop trains All active service military were entitled to First Class (Pullman or Parlor) rail passenger transportation. Munitions were and are always freight. I won't say they never moved in the same train, but it is highly unlikely. Believe me, when a unit moved overseas, it did not move in one train, probably more like a dozen. The "code" on many roads for a military movement was "main train". During the Cuban Missile Crisis, when a buddy on the IC told me that 9 "main trains" had passed Jackson, Miss. enroute to the New Orleans P.O.E. in the past six hours, I decided to spend the weekend away from New Orleans. mg:
http://www.lakemirabel.com/Railroad/TroopTrain1.html http://www.rrmuseumpa.org/visitors/seasonal/troopstrains/troops.htm http://www.chuckhawks.com/troop_trains.htm http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=troop+trains&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2
Many thanks to all of you for the replies and websites. I assumed that weapons and troops would be separate as far as possible. Troop cars are indeed overplayed as most of what I recall seeing was with heavyweights. Again...many thanks for your insights! Steve
However if you want to run a train with a mix of troop cars and equipment, you can. I picked up 3 of the MT troop cars and one kitchen and mix them with some Rivarossi heavyweight sleepers, diners and baggage cars.
