Ho war trains

[Anonymous]

Is anyone else into having a war train or creating a miltary post? I am rebuilding my layout and making a special section for a miltary base. I have tanks, Miltary railroad cars that I bought from Roco and Markiln and Trix. They seem to have the best out there. I have a ho DCC layout but those RR cars work just fine. I dont belive this exact topic has ever been discussed. I would love to see some pictures of war sceans of other layouts. In all the magizenes and peoples layouts I never have seen anything about war.

thanks all,
Train2525

[Jetrock]

There is quite a bit of wartime modeling being done out there--a wartime diorama was a subject covered in the 2003 Walthers catalog, and that catalog has an entire section dedicated to military miniatures. You can also get WWII era troop sleeper cars, mount those lovely Roco HO scale tanks on flatcars for transport, etcetera. If you're modeling a WWII era layout, be sure to put hoods on your locomotive's headlamps! These were used on the West Coast, at least, to minimize visibility of a train from above in case of air attack.

There are ample opportunities for wartime modeling, either on the "home front" with supply trains and materiel (both passenger and freight equipment were pushed to their limit during this era, great for those who like high-intensity railroading!) or on the European theaters--both have been discussed here and in other forums but it is indeed an interesting topic.

I'm not sure if there are model railroading scale versions of the various German railway guns, but they'd certainly look interesting in a train consist...

One thing you might consider is having a small switcher in dedicated service to your military base--a 44-tonner or other small diesel or a small steamer, depending on your era, labeled "U.S. ARMY" or what have you, whose dedicated job is to switch the base. Could be interesting--or the focus of a whole layout, with an off-base connection to provide "through traffic."

Probably the weirdest "war scene" modeling idea I have seen was some photos of a British narrow-gauge "kiddie ride" railroad on the eastern English coast that was armor-plated and equipped with machineguns to guard against a German invasion.

[lupo]

This is how a small switcher as mentionned by jetrock could look like:



it is restored an is still in service in the netherlands, where it was left, after WW2 by the US transportation Corps

[Eriediamond]

Excellent idea by jetrock, I can only speak from my own experience in the military and of my observations. I would assume it would be simular or all branches of the sevice. Our Navy bases had their own switcher and rolling stock that served individual bases. There was usually a small "drop off-pick up" yard inside the base, guarded by a chain-link fence and gate, where a local would drop off and pick up cars. The rail traffic within the base was done by Navy switch engines operated by civillian civil workers. The Navy also had a roster of various freight cars and these would normaly be use within a base but would ocasionally be shipped to other bases via what ever railroad served that particular area. Navy railroad equipment was painted that good old "battleship gray" and stenciled in black "U.S. NAVY". As far as I know, there were no "miliary" trains, in this country anyway, except back during the civil war. Yes, there were "troop" trains and trains with large blocks of flat cars hauling tanks and other military vehicles from bases to debarkation points and from factories. These were operated by regular railroads though and not by military engines. During the war, WW-ll, some of these trains had priority over "crack' passenger trains. Another thought here, if your modeling WW-l era, don't forget that stock cars would be appropiate as we were still a horse oriented calvery back then and when the Army moved the horses went with them just like the humvees do now. Anyway, good luck, and hope this helps just a little.

[dharmon]

As far as military trains go I guess you need to be kind of specific as to whether you mean US homefront or overseas "on the front" so to speak. On the front, the Germans used rail extensivley to move materials to the front. They even developed railway cannons od large caliber to shell cities on the Russian front. They also armored locomotives and developed flak cars with 20/40mm AAA guns to defend the trains against Allied fighter bombers doing fighter sweeps chewing up whatever they found. Locomotives were a favorite of aircrews because they made spectacular steam explosions.......it became sort of an entertainment thing almost.

On the home front, Walthers is making troop sleepers and kitchens that were used becasue the demand for passenger cars was greater than supply. Many of those railcars soldiered on so to speak as MOW cars for RRs postwar for many years. The military still uses trains extensively for large unit moves. Search through google and you will find lots of info including the unclassified field manual (FM 55 I think) for rail movements showing what kind of car to use for what and how to tie stuff down. The military does still have some rail equipment DODX, but is starting to lease more and more usually TTX 89 and 60 ft flats. Most bases were served by rail at one point but now its not quite as many....mostly US Army and USMC bases that have armor. It is much more efficient to move large units by rail to either training areas or to ports for overseas shipment than by road. The Navy still has switchers and some interesting old cars at the Shipyard in Bremerton, WA where a lot of scrapping is done of old ships. Other yards also receive heavy equipment via rail on HD flats. Another interesting place is the Army transportation musuem at Ft Eustis in VA. They have several military locos and railcars there, as well as the base being the school house for Army transportation officers.

I have set aside a couple of flat car kits that I am going to put military vehicle and heavy equipment loads on. When I get to it.

[jrbarney]

Train2525,
You may want to visit:
http://military.railfan.net/
Also, you may want to use the "Search the forums" box on this page and enter the search term "military railroads" to review some of the earlier threads on this topic.
Bob
NMRA Life 0543

[Dough]

Among the many other things that I would like to build is a train transporting military vechicals. I have had the opportuninty to watch some in the past, but I have only gotten photographs of one car. With the exception of the one car that I photographed, they were all dedicated runs. They had a lot of power up front and then long DOD flatcars loaded with tanks, trucks, and trailors.

[Anonymous]

Thank you all for your input. Someday I care to add this Cannon to my collection.

http://www.reynaulds.com/rei/temp.asp?item=REI300