Armoured Train

[Mountain Man]

Worse. At the right time of year it is over 100 degrees in the daytime and below freezing at night. Positively charming. We wore gloves all day to avoid burns when touching the track hulls.

Good training, though.

 

[Badyin Macfadyi]

At our club show last year a layout representing preparations for the D-Day landings was present. Overlord, way down the bottom,
http://www.newrailwaymodellers.co.uk/Forums/viewtopic.php?t=10271

Also present was a layout depicting german army movement, also WW2

 

[eightyeightfan1]

I'm not sure where Ft Irwin is, but I think any shipment to Texas would go on the UP over the old SP main line through San Timateo Canyon roughly paralleling I-10..

Actaully, it was the Sante Fe Railroad, at least from Texas. We deployed to Ft.Irwin when I was stationed at Ft. Hood for "Golden Eagle '84. That meant when we railheaded(loaded up our trucks, on TTX flats.) Sante Fe had a couple of loco's waiting on another track, til we were finished. My roomate was picked(volunteered...Army style) for security detail. He got to ride in an old Sante Fe caboose staioned in the middle of the train(another was stationed at the end) for two days. The rest of us were flown from West Ft. Hood to Barstow/Daggett on C-5's

There is a Marine Corps Supply base just East of Barstow.

Thats where we had to unload our trucks at, then re-load for shipment back to Ft. Hood. If I remember right, I think the name of the depot was Yumo.

 

[diburning]

couldn't they just throw a grenade at the rail line and blow up the ties and derail the rail tank?

Or... run over the rails with a real tank :mrgreen:

 

[sgtcarl]

Maybe Yuma??

 

[Russ Bellinis]

Close, it is actually Yermo. It is the one place that I know of, although there may be others, where the prototype has a staging yard. The UP has a yard in Yermo that is used only to stage trains awaiting clearance to get on the BNSF main to go down Cajon Pass.

 

[Mountain Man]

Actaully, it was the Sante Fe Railroad, at least from Texas. We deployed to Ft.Irwin when I was stationed at Ft. Hood for "Golden Eagle '84. That meant when we railheaded(loaded up our trucks, on TTX flats.) Sante Fe had a couple of loco's waiting on another track, til we were finished. My roomate was picked(volunteered...Army style) for security detail. He got to ride in an old Sante Fe caboose staioned in the middle of the train(another was stationed at the end) for two days. The rest of us were flown from West Ft. Hood to Barstow/Daggett on C-5's



Thats where we had to unload our trucks at, then re-load for shipment back to Ft. Hood. If I remember right, I think the name of the depot was Yumo.

I dewployed there in '80 and '81. Unfortunately, being the battalion medical officer, I was required to go by road as part of the support team at the tail end of a convoy. I was also expected to remain awake all night to care for the convoy drivers and personnel. It was a three day trip, and by the end of it I was both mentally and physically exhausted. It could have been Thomas the Tank engine for all I cared, but I do know that our tracks and guns went into Barstow, because it became the biggest goat rope in our unit history.

The battalion itself was to fly into Bicycle Lake for a spectatular little photo-op arrival, but it rained like crazy for the first time in who-knows-when, leaving the lake under a few inches of water. This, however, was enough to hatch the brine shrimp which were a protected species of some sort, meaning the battalion had to divert to an alternate airfield. Then they had to borrow transport and shift all of the track and gun crews to Barstow to unload and recover the vehicles. It took two days.

 

[Art Decko]

At our club show last year a layout representing preparations for the D-Day landings was present. Overlord, way down the bottom,
http://www.newrailwaymodellers.co.uk/Forums/viewtopic.php?t=10271

Also present was a layout depicting german army movement, also WW2

Thank you for that link - great photos of some stunning British steam layouts! And a Mallard!

The Operation Overlord layout was just extraordinary!

 

[Art Decko]

couldn't they just throw a grenade at the rail line and blow up the ties and derail the rail tank?

Yeah, no problem ... if you can get close enough to throw a grenade. Might be little difficult, as armored trains often had machine gun cars ... not to mention support troops ...