Hi John, its true, the WWII guys are falling fast. My parents are from a small mining town that was situated on the PRR mainline between Johnstown and Altoona, both lived in houses along the tracks and could sit on their front porch and watch the show go by. The passenger station was on the opposite side of the tracks from the houses.
My Dad eventually went in the Army and served in Europe during the war, he recalled that when the war effort began he seen frieght equipment that you could tell had been brought back to life from a scrap line in an effort for the railroads to keep up with demand. Everything imaginable seemed to go by the house. He also recalled smaller steam locomotives, usually used on local work, put to task to help eastbound trains get up the mountain to Gallitzen. Of course troop trains were common, my Mom and her sisters would stand by the tracks waving to all the guys as they zoomed past. I had read that an average of 250 trains daily went by on the PRR during that time.
Too bad people could not afford the hobby of photography like we do today, back then a roll of film would last just about all year, so imagine some of the shots we could be enjoying today.
The reason I know that Tanks and such were hauled on Normal Flats and such. My Late Grandfather who was a Senior Cheif Radioman when he got out of the Navy After WW2 his Ship LST 399 would be loaded direct from railcars and he told me 90% of the stuff the loaded would be in RR owned equipment. He told me the funniest thing he saw was that pair of 155's showing up on a depressed center flat. Called they were needed for Okinawa and that was the ONLY flatcar that was there to SHIP THEM ON.
Thanks Ed, I seemed to remember seeing OD flatcars but as mentioned, probably sometime shortly after WWll
John
Thanks K4, I'll look for the book.
No, they were a reference as to what the boxcars and flatcars might have looked like (olive drab). I wanted to know if the gov't. had their own fleet of freight cars as well as troop cars.
Thanks,
Are you thinking of the Troop Sleepers that looked like box cars with windows poked in the doors and end doors so that one could move from car to car?
RIDEWITHMEHENRY is the name for our almost monthly day of riding trains and transit in either the NYCity or Philadelphia areas including all commuter lines, Amtrak, subways, light rail and trolleys, bus and ferries when warranted. No fees, just let us know you want to join the ride and pay your fares. Ask to be on our email list or find us on FB as RIDEWITHMEHENRY (all caps) to get descriptions of each outing.
During WWII the government realized they needed everything available to get the war machine moving so most equipment used was owned by the various railroads or private frieght car operations. Union Tank Car Co. had to provide vertually their entire fleet to the war effort to meet petroleum demands. Government owned flatcars were used to ship tanks, the cars being specially designed to carry such.
Only after WWII the government made an effort to have their own boxcars and flatcars anticipating another war in Europe. These cars were specially designed to be easily converted for use in both the US and if necessary in Europe. Couplers could be easily changed. It took the big war for them to realize they needed to increase this inventory and be better prepared. They were painted Olive Drab.
A book you may want to try and find to read is "Railroads At War" by S. Kip Farrington Jr., he details the various roles of not only the railroads during WWII but the freight types and demands on such.
Normal 40 foot Boxcars and normal 40 ft Flats for about everything. Even Sherman Tanks were shipped on standard flat cars. About the only thing that might have gotten special cars might have been anything heavy for the Navy say the Barrells for a Battlewagon or Shafts for the ships. I have seen pics of Gondolas filled to the brim with 500 lbs Bombs. as long as the Fuse is not in them and they are not on fire safe as can be. That little fuse is what makes them so dangerous.
Hi,
Does anyone remember what the Army used for boxcars/flatcars during WWll? Did they use whatever was available from the the railroad they used or did they have their own cars (olive drab?) as they did for troop movement?
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.