WW2 - "War Train" - Simulated air atttack on US train - World War Two Railroads

I Need Scans of you Miltary Railway Service items!

What articles, document and photos about these great military rail unit do you have in a old box some where ?
Get them out,  get them scanned and get them to me and let's share them on this blog !

Hundreds of folks a week come to this blog and enjoy and learn about these great units! I also frequently hear from family memebers of the soldiers,  as well as from researchers who use this blog.

Lets make sure these guys and units get remembered !!

Email Nancy today !!!

cunningb2@gmail.com

714th Anniversary Ball

Pennsylvania Railroad Ad World War II


765th Photos

712 TROB

712th Trob May 52 by Nancy

Trans Medics - Hospital Train Evacuation Services

Trans Medics by on Scribd

Railway Units Reunion Groups list

Railway Units Reunion Groups

US Army S118 Class locomotive

US Army S118 Class

729th Normandy - The Technical Services - Transportation Corps


 On February 21st 1941, the 591st Engineer Battalion Railway was renumbered the 729th Engineer Battalion. On April 1st 1942, it was redesignated as the 729th Engineer Railway Operating Battalion. On November 16th 1942, the 729th was transferred from the Corps of Engineers to the Transportation Corps and again redesignated the 729th Railway Operating Battalion. The unit was then affiliated with the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad based in New Haven, CT. The unit would meet at the New Haven Y.M.C.A.

On December 2nd 1942, the officers of the 729th reported to active duty at Fort Slocun, New York for training. At the time the Unit's Commanding Officer was still William S., Carr. Ten of the units officers at this time were from the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. The rest of the officers came from the Reading, Missouri Pacific, Baltimore and Ohio, Santa Fe, Boston and Maine, Chicago and Northwester, Lehigh and New England, and the Delaware and Hudson Railroads.

Almost six weeks later on January 11th 1943, the 729th Railway Operating Battalion was ordered to active duty at the New Orleans, Louisiana Staging Area. At this time the unit had 150 men. The 729th eventually had men from 92 different railroads.

During World War II the 729th participated in campaigns in Normandy, Northern France, the Rhineland, and Central Europe. Although the unit did not receive any awards it did have to it's credit many accomplishments, and many of it's members were decorated.


Among it's accomplishments are:

First complete unit of its kind to be stationed in England.

Assembled the first American Refrigerator, Tank, Box, War Flats and Gondola cars in Europe.

Pioneered in setting up assembly lines in the United Kingdom

First Railway Operating Battalion to land in France 10 days after "D" Day on Omaha and Utah Beaches.

Ran the first passenger train in France.

Ran the first troop train in France.

Ran the first freight train in France.

Ran the first hospital train in France.

Had a part in the construction of the 1800 foot steel girder Rhine River Bridge in 10 days.

Ran the first train over the Weser River Bridge.

Ran the huge Antwerp Freight Terminal.

Operated rail lines in support of the First and Ninth Armies into Germany.

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765th Korean Rail article

765th Korean Rail by cunningb

3rd TMRS Stewart

3rd Stewart by cunningb

707th RGD Vincent Sollazzo Obit

707th RGD Vincent Sollazzo Obit by Nancy Cunningham

1954 Army Medical Services Hospital Railroad ACF Ad

Locomotive 1856 Oakland US Army Base Railroad Engine

US Army Hospital Trains -3 photos


Get great military apps for your smart phone or ipad

Get great military apps for your smart phone or ipad


1. Memorial Day ($0.99) This app features information about Memorial Day, including history, trivia facts, and a list of Memorial Day parades happening throughout the country.

2. The Civil War Today ($7.99) This app is a daily updated app that brings the history of the Civil War to your iPad, one day at a time over a four year period. Each daily entry includes newspaper clippings from that day in history, personal letters and diary entries, photo of the day, maps, quizzes and much more.

3. World War I: A Brief History ($2.99) This app is an educational app that serves as a reference to World War I’s most significant events and figures. Stunning photos are included to help enhance the storytelling.

4. War Letters of a Public-School Boy HD ($1.99) This digital book is a collection of letters written by Lieutenant Henry Paul Mainwaring Jones, who was killed in action during World War I. It includes narrative information about his life as well as photograph.

5. The Inside Story of the Peace Conference 1919 HD ($1.99) This reference app is a personal account of the events of the Paris Peace Conference at the end of World War I as written by Journalist Emile Joseph Dillon. What it lacks in visual, it makes up for in content.

6. War in the Pacific ($4.99) This revolutionary interactive digital book is filled with photos, videos, interviews, and maps about the World War II battles on the islands of Guadalcanal, in the Philippines and on the Pacific Ocean.

7. D-Day 1944 ($2.99) This app is a historical account of the events that took place on June 6, 1944, including an animated map showing a step-by-step reenactment of the key phases of the battle.

8. USO On Patrol Magazine HD (Free) This digital magazine, published quarterly, iss the official magazine of the United Service Organizations (USO), founded in 1941. They are a private, nonprofit organization whose mission it is to support the U.S. Armed Forces and their families by providing morale, welfare, and services while deployed and at home.

9. Military 24/7 (Free) is a military news app that gives up-to-date information directly from deployed service members from each branch of the U.S. Military. You can read top news story of the day from the Army, Coast Guard, Marines, Navy, Air Force and Reserves.

10. Marines Magazine (Free) is the official magazine app of the U.S. Marine Corp. In addition to the same content of the free edition, there is iPad optimized interactive content such as additional photos and videos.

11. HD U.S. Army ($0.99) is an encyclopedic compilation of information about the United States Army, including facts and photos.

12. Battleships of the U.S. Navy ($1.99) This app is a photo essay of U.S. Naval battleships. With over 260 high quality photos, this app allows you to view details and read histories of battleships from the time they were commissioned to the time they were scrapped.

13. Fighter Pilot (by Robin Olds et al.) (Unabridged Audiobook): Blackstone Audio Apps: Folium Edition ($9.99) This audiobook app is the autobiographical story of Robin Olds, a American triple ace fighter pilot and general in the U.S. Air Force.

http://www.apple.com/itunes/

US Military Railway Service Journal. Near Calcutta, 4 Jan 1944

Fireless engine at a warehouse at a jute mill near Calcutta Picture from US Military Railway Service Journal. Near Calcutta, 4 Jan 1944. By David Churchill.

The Great Northern Railway in Northwest Montana 1951

1951, 05 January: G. N. Vice President Speaker At Chamber Dinner
Tickets for the annual banquet of the Chamber of Commerce to be held Wednesday, January 10, are now on sale at $1.75 each at the office of the organization under the First National Bank and may also be purchased from A. F. Evey, chairman of the ticket sales.
Speaker of the evening will be John M. Budd, operating vice president of the Great Northern Railway and former division superintendent here. The title of Mr. Budd's address is "It Doesn't Make Sense." The dinner will be held at seven o'clock at the Moose Hall, L. E. Scott, Oscar Knutson and Roy Arnold are in charge of dinner arrangements. The program has been planned by Shirley Lincoln, newly elected president of the Chamber, and H. B. Markus.
Mr. Budd began his railroading career with Great Northern in 1930 and, except for three years in the Military Railway service during World War II, served with this company until becoming president of the Chicago & Eastern Illinois, with headquarters in Chicago.
Starting in 1930 with Great Northern as assistant to the electrical engineer, Mr. Budd became assistant trainmaster at Wilmar, Minn., in 1933 and trainmaster there in 1934.
Two years later he was appointed trainmaster on the Spokane division and in 1940 superintendent of the Klamath division in Oregon. In early 1942 he became superintendent of the Kalispell division and in late 1942 entered the army.
He went into the Military Railway Service with the 704th Railway Grand Division, made up of Great Northern personnel, and later shifted to the 727th Railway Operating Battalion. He served in the European Theater of operations and gained the rank of colonel.
In late 1945 Mr. Budd returned to Great Northern as assistant general manager of lines east of Williston, N. D.
When named president of the Chicago & Eastern Illinois on June 1, 1947, at the age of 39, he became the youngest president of a Class 1 railway in the country.
On June 1, 1949, Mr. Budd became Great Northern's operating vice president, succeeding the late Thomas F. Dixon.

William Hay --Educator, researcher, national and international railroad expert

By Professor Emeritus W. J. Hall and Assoc. Professor C. Barkan

Photograph of William HayHay graduated from Carnegie-Mellon University with a B.S. in Management Engineering in 1931. This was followed with interspersed work on the Pennsylvania Railroad and in a chemical plant, after which he took advanced coursework on railway operations at Yale University in 1932-33. Subsequently during the Depression he held a succession of positions with railroads and rapid transit lines, such as the Pennsylvania Railroad, the Long Island Railroad, the 8th Ave. subway, and the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad. He garnered priceless experience along the way.

As WWII developed Hay was called to service with the Military Railway Service, rising in rank from 1st Lieutenant to Lieutenant Colonel. He served first in responsible positions in the European Theater of Operations, then moved to the Pacific, ending up in Korea where he was Chief Engineer of Korean Railways. After the war he undertook further study in transportation at Yale University and in economics at New York University, followed by a post on the Reading Railroad. He joined the faculty of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in February 1947 as an Assistant Professor of Railway Civil Engineering, rose through the ranks rapidly to Professor of Railway Civil Engineering in 1956, receiving along the way an M.S. degree in 1948, and a Ph.D. in 1956, both from Illinois. He retired in 1977 with the rank of Professor Emeritus of Railway Civil Engineering.

During his career at Illinois, Hay was adviser (and mentor) to more than 72 railroad engineering majors and taught railway engineering to more than 600 students. After WWII, Illinois was the only major institution providing instruction in railroad engineering. Many of the senior personnel in the railroad industry today studied under Hay; 64 of his former students are known to have (or have had) wide-ranging positions of influence and responsibility in railroad engineering and management throughout the world. Examples include: Mostafa Khalil Mostafa, who later became Prime Minister of Egypt under President Anwar Sadat, and Ian Campbell who became vice-chairman of the British Railways Board, Chairman of Transmark, and a President of the Institution of Civil Engineers of Great Britain. The list goes on.
Hay was an active member of many professional organizations, including the American Railway Engineering Association (board member, committee chairman and committee member of numerous committees), Roadmasters and Maintenance-of-Way Association (Board of Directors), American Railway Engineering Association (Chairman and Director for multiple terms). National committee and council memberships included the National Research Council (Task Force on National Policy for Transportation Research and Development, and member of the Track Research Compendium Committee), U.S. Department of Commerce Panel on High Speed Ground Transportation, and many significant assignments. In his later years Hay carried major responsibility as a member of the National Council of Engineering Examiners.
During his career Hay served as a consultant to many groups and railroads throughout the world, including the Illinois High Speed Rail Transit Commission, and railroads in many of the United States, Canada, Southern Africa and South America.
As a part of his career at the University of Illinois, Hay wrote two highly successful texts, namely Railroad Engineering (1953, updated 1982) and An Introduction to Transportation Engineering (1961, updated 1977). Both of these texts are still in current use and referenced heavily. In addition he is the author of numerous journal articles, chapters in books and professional manuals and reports of wide distribution.

Hay received many professional honors. In March 1979 he was made an Honorary Member of the American Railway Engineering Association, and in that same year received the Alumni Merit award from his Alma Mater, Carnegie-Mellon University. In 1985 he was elected to Honorary Member of the Roadmasters and Maintenance-of-Way Association of America.
As the unquestioned academic leader in his profession for more than 25 years, and a highly respected faculty member in the department, Hay's efforts have helped immeasurably in maintaining the position of the railroad as a vital component in the world's economy and brought distinction to himself, his students and the institutions he has served. He was, and is, truly revered by his former students and colleagues.
Hay married Mary Clark Hubley in Harrisburg, Penn., on February 20, 1943. They had two children: a son, William Walter Hay Jr., and a daughter, Mary Elizabeth Hay. Hay passed away March 26, 1998. His wife, Mary, died on March 22, 2004.

Locomotive engineers journal, Volume 52 Draft Law Military Railway Service 1918

Defense Special Trains 1941

They were special Red, White & Blue painted trains that visited manufacturers across the U.S. in 1941 to encourage and locate war suppliers and help with war build up .
Thanks to C Buss for bringing it to my attention. She says "My father, George k. Culbertson, was with the signal corps display on the Defense Special Train going west in 1941, starting in Washington, D.C., and stopping in Denver, Seattle, Spokane, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Antonio

This is what I found about it so far and would love to know more !

Defense Special Train Articles

War Mobilization and the Use of Small Manufacturers

762 nd RSB Brief History

762 nd RSB Brief History

Yankee Boomer Vol.2 No.38 June 14, 1945 Photo edition

Yankee Boomer 1945 Photo v2... by Nancy