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This is one of the topics I am especially interested in. In WWII, German ships had sunk so many of our oil tankers that almost all of our oil was shipped by rail. The Southern Pacific carried more wartime traffic than any other railroad. Many trains consisted of troop cars, the ones painted that Pullman Green and were boxy looking. So many troops were moved by rail that railroads started puttung up ads that actually told people to take the train less often so the rail systems wouldn't be so crowded. The huge amounts of steel used by the Army meant that steel was rationed, so many frieght cars called composite cars(meaning they were built with both wood and steel) were on the rails. Electro-Motive was the only company allowed to make diesel engines during this time, as many other locomotive companies made engines for use on ships for the war effort. Trains were very long and very frequent due to all of the people and products being shipped. Almost everything shipped was transported by rail. This put a lot of wear and tear on the rails so these had to be served very often. Many railroad books about the American lines in general have a chapter on wartime railroading, since this was such an interesting time on the railroads.
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