My father a radioman in Berlin in the 50's was chastised by his CO for not carrying his M1 around once. He told him if the war ever went hot in West Germany he goes my job is going to be destroy my equipment take my 45 blow my brains out as I know all the damn radio codes after burning the code book. CO looked him in the eye and said your right.
Excerpt from Air Force Magazine, October 1960
http://www.airforcemag.com/MagazineArchive/Documents/1960/October%201960/1060railroad.pdf
We crouch in the shade of the warehouse wall, forty-two of us—some in uniform, some out—squinting like one man at the train inching toward us down the sun-baked siding. It is nearly noon. The breeze that made the morning bearable has long since died, and the sky above Utah's Hill Air Force Base is blue, bone-dry, and burning.
Slowly, the train pulls alongside. We stand up. The air-conditioned interiors of the blistered cars look dark and inviting. But the signal to climb aboard does not come.
The man who must give it is standing alone at the edge of the loading platform. He is Lt. Col. Carleton V. Hansen, late of SAC's Arizona-based 303d Bomb Wing.
The officer turns, finally, and his grin is self-assured. After a moment he speaks, and his voice is friendly yet authoritative.
"Gentlemen, our quarters have arrived. If you'll be kind enough to grab yourselves a handful of Pullman car, we'll get the show on the road."
Interesting! Thanks Buslist!
Firelock76 Buslist Firelock76 Gee, it'd play hell with the roadbed if they ever launched one... believe it or not tests of that issue were conducted in the mid 80s. Actually I was referencing a story I heard years back, goes like this... An Air Force general was briefing some professional railroaders on the concept of railroad-based atomic missiles, and one of the railroaders asked "If you launch one of those things what's it going to do to my roadbed?" The general replied, "Sir, if we have to launch one of those missles what happens to your roadbed will be the least of your worries!" But not everyone's heard the story I suppose. It's a good one though, ain't it?
Buslist Firelock76 Gee, it'd play hell with the roadbed if they ever launched one... believe it or not tests of that issue were conducted in the mid 80s.
Firelock76 Gee, it'd play hell with the roadbed if they ever launched one...
Gee, it'd play hell with the roadbed if they ever launched one...
believe it or not tests of that issue were conducted in the mid 80s.
Actually I was referencing a story I heard years back, goes like this...
An Air Force general was briefing some professional railroaders on the concept of railroad-based atomic missiles, and one of the railroaders asked "If you launch one of those things what's it going to do to my roadbed?"
The general replied, "Sir, if we have to launch one of those missles what happens to your roadbed will be the least of your worries!"
But not everyone's heard the story I suppose. It's a good one though, ain't it?
Actually I was there and it was the other way around. The air force folks asked if the track could survive a launch load (1,000,000 lb for 1/2 second IIRC). The railroaders asked why they cared as they had just started WW III. They weren't going to clear up for the Super Chief, they needed to crawl into a ditch and kiss their butts goodby.
The Air Force replied that they wanted to move the train to launch the second Peacekeeper from a different location. The question was asked, and never answered why not launch both from 1/2 the trains at the same time.
The story had a further amusing turn when a railroad geotechnical guy opined that in opentrack the load really did not last long enough to cause much damage other that perhaps a broken rail (some what demonstrated to be true). A side hill cut or a fill was another matter as a slide or collapse of the fill might be triggered.
The airforce folks asked how they would know what kind of track they were on, a railroader replied "look out the window"! The AirForce noted that the launch control car didn't have any windows. Dr. Selig (well known geotechnical guy working for the railroads) asked how they knew they weren't in a tunnel? "How do we know? How do we know" echoed through the group.
There is a lot more to the story and physical tests were conducted. The track survived just fine thank you.
The Milwaukee Road Magazine, July-August 1960
https://milwaukeeroadarchives.com/MilwaukeeRoadMagazine/1960JulyAugust.pdf
The Milwaukee Road a Proving Ground for "Hide-and-Seek" Missile Train
In an arrangement carried out by the Association of American Railroads and the United States Air Force, The Milwaukee Road served this summer as a proving ground for the Minuteman Intercontinental Missile Test Train program. About 20 American railroads are expected to participate in the maneuvers, which started June 20 and will continue through November.
The use of trains as mobile launching pads for missiles of intercontinental range is a new concept of national defense. The trial runs underway this year will last from 7 to 14 days, three originating from Hill Air Force Base, Ogden, Utah, for movement in the West and Northwest, and three from Des Moines, Ia., to cover the Iowa-Nebraska area. They are under the operational control of a Strategic Air Command Task Force, with the Air Force Ballistic Missile Division serving as test director.
No missiles or ground support equipment are being carried during the first deployments, their primary purpose being to explore communications, control, logistic support and environmental conditions. In the later tests it is anticipated that engines for the Minuteman will be mounted on flatcars to determine stress and strain factors associated with rail movements.
The train is made up of Department of Defense rolling stock and carries sufficient fuel to operate away from base for two weeks, if necessary. On the initial run it consisted of 14 cars manned by a military crew of approximately 30 men, and carried civilian observers from defense industries and the A.A.R. Throughout the program, engine and train operations will be furnished by the railroads whose facilities are used.
The Minuteman is a three-stage solid-fuel propellant system being developed for launching missiles at enemy targets more than 6,000 miles away. It is designed specifically for deployment on rails, but plans provide for establishing it also in concrete-lined underground sites where it can be readied for firing and left for long periods of time without losing its alert status. The theory behind the rail-based operation is that in the event of a war, it would be safe from destruction in a surprise attack, since the enemy could not pinpoint its location. Test schedules provide for producing it in significant numbers by 1963.
To determine how effectively a future fleet of actual missile trains could operate over existing rail facilities, the "hide-and-seek" tests are being coordinated with civilian rail traffic. Since one of the major purposes of the program is to determine the ability to move it at random on a no-notice basis, the participating railroads are not notified of the test train's route until shortly before arrival time. As the Association of American Railroads has pointed out, the program underscores the fact that the industry's 220,000 miles of mainline could at a moment's notice turn into a tactical first line of defense.
"Aug. 25, 1960. Minuteman test train of the U.S. Air Force that stopped briefly Thursday noon at the North Denver yards of the Rio Grande Railroad. The apparatus along top of the car is its communications antenna. Train was on the its fourth and last checkout run over railroads of the west and midwest. It was heading for its home base at Hill AFB, Utah, with about 50 persons aboard."
"The only part of the Minuteman carried on the train was a third stage engine, put there for some tests by Boeing Airplane Co. engineers… Semitrailer van with a 3d stage engine inside rides on flatcar at tail end of train."
"Boeing technicians here shown with equipment to check vibration factors on the train, factors which might affect behavior of equipment on the real missile train."
The Milwaukee Road Magazine, March-April 1961
https://milwaukeeroadarchives.com/MilwaukeeRoadMagazine/1961MarchApril.pdf
First Minuteman Car Moves Over The Milwaukee Road
The first railroad car of the fleet that will serve as launching pads for the Minuteman, the new Air Force intercontinental ballistic missile, was recently unveiled to the public on a history-making run that involved a maiden trip of more than 2,000 miles over The Milwaukee Road.
Following two years of planning, the million dollar missile car left the ACF Industries' American Car and Foundry plant at Berwick, Pa., late Jan. 25, heading for Seattle to be outfitted by the Boeing Airplane Company with launching gear. Traveling on a hotshot schedule, it was routed via the Pennsylvania to Chicago, and the Milwaukee Road beyond.
Upon arriving in Chicago, the car was displayed for several hours in the Union Station, with ACF and Boeing representatives present to demonstrate its operation with the use of a working scale model. From Chicago it highballed west on the coast time freight, and at Seattle was turned over to the Union Pacific for delivery at the Boeing spur track.
During the Chicago stopover, Milwaukee Road officials and others had an opportunity to inspect the prototype of the four to five hundred cars that, according to the Air Force, will be cruising rail networks west of the Mississippi within several years.
The car, painted Air Force blue and stenciled in white with a "Spirit of '76" Minuteman, resembles a baggage car of outsize dimensions. It is 88 feet long over the couplers (79 feet 6 inches over end sills), 12 feet 2 inches wide, 15 feet ¾ inches high, and is equipped with six-wheel trucks. The design represents a unique adaption of standard parts, of which an unusual feature is "three-way-stretch" shock protection.
With this concept of vertical, longitudinal and transverse cushioning, the more than 30-ton missile is carried on what the designers describe as "almost a free-floating pillow." It uses hydraulic shock absorption for maximum protection from end impact, a compresed air reservoir that returns the cushioning gear to position following impact, air springs and leveling valves that keep the coupler height constant, standard helical springs for additional protection, and special devices that decrease the effects of irregularities in rails.
Loaded with the Minuteman, the car will weigh approximately 314,000 pounds. An exceptionally large center sill helps to distribute this tonnage and withstand the missile's thrust. In the area where the Minuteman will stand, the car is strengthened with cross members approximately three feet in depth.
Among other ingenious features are a truck locking system and a stabilizing platform to be activated when the car is halted for a shoot. The first devices lock the truck assemblies to the underframe of the car, after which 12 special jack pads descend hydraulically and raise it clear of the rails. Connected to the jacks nearest the launch pad is a 10-foot square steel flame deflector that lowers over the ties and rails to shield them from the blast.
While the car is moving, the 56-foot missile will be carried horizontally. To allow for raising it to a shooting position, the roof of the car is built in three sections, two of which open in automatic sequence. The section over the missile is 45 feet long and bisected lengthwise to fold outward, and a 22-foot section over the launch pad slides over the fixed section. Through the opening thus created, the missile will rear to a vertical position on the pad.
The solid fuel Minuteman, less costly and complicated than liquid fuel missiles, has an ocean-spanning range of 6,000 miles. In the system now being developed by the Air Force, it will be deployed in underground launchers located strategically in many areas, and on trains moving in an unpredictable pattern that will elude target spotters. Approximately 100 trains are planned, each carrying three to five missile cars.
The program capitalizes on the railroads' billion dollar investments in equipment and facilities, and the experience of a vast civilian army of railroad personnel. Lt. Gen. Bernard Schriever, head of the Air Force research and development command, recently cited the railroads' cooperation with the defense effort as "a battle-ready partnership".
The new Minuteman car, outfitted with launch gear, will leave Seattle in May for Cape Canaveral, Fla., where a missile will be test fired from it later this year.
When I was in the Navy and stationed at Norfolk, there was a small train yard near one of the main gates that had a bunch of rusty navy-gray box cars. The rumor was that they were missile launch cars. No one went near them. I don't recall if they were built by Lionel.
There were quite a few active rail spurs back then going out to the piers. There would be the occasional chump who would assume the tracks were abandoned and park on them. That did not result in happiness. I do recall that the locomotives were GE 44 tonners and a big deal was made in the base newspaper when they bought a Fairbanks-Morse.
CMStPnP I believe we had one or two missile trains built during the Reagan Administration as prototypes.......see below link....... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peacekeeper_Rail_Garrison
I believe we had one or two missile trains built during the Reagan Administration as prototypes.......see below link.......
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peacekeeper_Rail_Garrison
wow
https://books.google.com/books?id=vns1CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA1&dq=%22trainload+of+solid+action%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiZuYmJjonVAhXCPz4KHTL-BJcQ6AEIJjAA#v=onepage&q=%22trainload%20of%20solid%20action%22&f=false
Silos versus Trains
https://books.google.com/books?id=vns1CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA67&dq=%22silos+versus+trains%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwixkeOYmYnVAhVLWT4KHQJfA_IQ6AEIJjAA#v=onepage&q=%22silos%20versus%20trains%22&f=false
https://books.google.com/books?id=OiEDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA65&dq=%22missile+trains+free+to+roam+the+rails%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj7jrC1o4nVAhUB2T4KHWvIBN0Q6AEIIjAA#v=onepage&q=%22missile%20trains%20free%20to%20roam%20the%20rails%22&f=false
A response is in the works.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPo2KxGWtRA
Calling Dan Ackroyd and Chevy Chase for a remake of "Spies Like Us" I guess.
The Russian industry is ready to build a 100-ton ballistic missile, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said. According to him, the same can be said about the Barguzin railway-based missile system. The projects are "on the level of absolute readiness of the industry for their implementation, should the relevant decision be made to include the projects in the state armament program," Rogozin said when answering a question about the stage of readiness of the Bargain railway-based missile system and the 100-ton heavy ballistic missile.
During the times of the Soviet Union, Strategic Missile Forces had three divisions of "Molodets" rail-based missile systems (NATO reporting name SS-24 "Scalpel"). The complexes were deployed in the Kostroma region, Perm and Krasnoyarsk regions. There were 12 "nuclear trains" in total, each of them carrying three missiles....
http://www.pravdareport.com/russia/economics/06-07-2017/138114-russian_missile_train-0/
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