IN 1976 the U.S. Army discontinued their training for railroad personnel. Up until then they actually had all of the skilsets as military specialties. I missed this by a year when I enlisted.
This link is to some of the ‘textbook’ training that was available to them.
I found it while looking for something for Shawn’s 2 axle boxcars.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/13075555/us-army-railway-rolling-stock-ed
Very interesting Don I have several Army Field Manuals buried away somewhere in my barn. One is called “Railway Operating Battalion” can’t remember what the other one is. During the Vietnam War I was doing port clearance in Qui Non and transferred supplies to the Vietnamese National Railways. I often rode the trains to the Airbase we were supplying.
When I was at Ft. Benning, GA in the 60’s there was still some evidence of what was an extensive railroad training center into the 50’s. Several bridges on the troop trails to the ranges were definitely overbuilt for foot traffic. With a little digging, I found several sections of track being used to stabilize an embankment. I also found track being used as edging to retain the gravel in parking lots. The track was very light weight stuff probably in the 40 to 60 lb range.
A quick search on the web found this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BTtncKnS9k
There must be some sort of training now. I have worked around army reservists on trains and they are not all railroaders in their civilian life. One fellow was an army trained engineer.
In both the Kosovo War and Desert Storm, we did large railhead operations. Nearly all big installations have a sizeable railhead for moving their equipment, but the extent of military staff actually operating the locomotives and such was not happening. It may have changed since 2003, but I doubt it.
The reserves are a different animal, especially on the logistics side, they have guys who run Dock Cranes in the system among many other rear operatonal logistics functions.
Would have been a sweet gig, getting to run a yard switcher for a living when I was active duty…
Eliminating any type of transportation training, MOS could come back to haunt the military in the future. Same goes for dropping Morse Code. IMHO
We’ll have to hold some of this posting/conversation until AndyC is back online. During his 20+ years in the Air Force he had a chance to mess around with military railroad equipment. He’s got lots of stories.
During the first gulf war, I was at Ft Riley Kansas. Ft. Riley, unlike many other posts I was assigned to, did not have on post Rail operations. The Unon Pacific did all of our switching and hauled all of our divisions equipment to Galveston for shipment to Kuwait. Fort Hood, Ft Lewis, Fort Sill, Fort Eustis, and Fort Carson all had Army Switchers and McChord Air Force Base had an Airforce 44 or 45 tonner. The Army locos I saw most often were H-10-44’s, RSD3’s, MRS1’s, and center cab 44 & 45 toners. My last visit to Fort Carson revealed that they no longer have the H-10-44’s but have GP7L’s. At all the locations I mentioned the railroad operating crews were civilian employees of the Army.
I had the pleasure of many cab rides, and actually got to run an H1044 from Fort Carson to the UP interchange with the fort. Those babys could really lug a string of flatcars loaded with Abrams tanks!!!
The 1205th TROB used to train at Essex … no longer, of course. When they did, they had two engines on the property … one of which served as something of an inspiration for one of mine.
(http://www.lscdata.com/users/curmudgeon/DSCN0619.JPG)
(http://www.lscdata.com/users/slatecreek/7145.jpg)
And yeah, I know, the prototype is an 80 ton SG loco, and mine is a 45 ton (upgraded to 55) NG loco … but the tribute is there, regardless. I only wish I had a photo of the 7145 from her operational days instead of stripped out for parts… Sic transit gloria mundia. Matthew (OV)
