Military Locos?

[nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]

Jimmy:

In the steam era, WW I, ALCO/Montreal manufactured 2-8-0 "Pershing" steamers for deployment to Europe, some of which were still in service in Italy, the US's WW I ally, into the early 1970s. 

During WW II US builders (ALCO/Baldwin/Lima/Davenport/Porter/Vulcan)manufactured six classes of steam engines for the US Army Transportation Corps (USATC), the largest class (2,000, deployed in the main to the Mediterranean and European Theaters) being the S-160 2-8-0 engine, the class most serviced by N&W's 755th Railway Shop Battalion in England, France, and Belgium.

For the full story, see R. Tourret, USATC LOCOMOTIVES, 1977, 1995.

In all, 5,600 USATC locos, mostly steam, some diesel, were shipped abroad in WW II for assignment in the main to the Railway Operating Battalions of the Military Railway Service (MRS) and, when feasible, to the indigenous rail forces.   They were destined to remain abroad, where in the main eventually they would  be scrapped.  A few are found today in European rail museums.  I am aware of several so located in Italy and Greece.
 
So far as I know, the above USATC locos were used exclusively for overseas purposes, although, if pressed, I would not discount an occasional USATC engine, in the '40s, being engaged in US Army installations in the US, and notably, in the Transportation Corps' center, Ft. Eustis in VA, and in rail centers for training of MRS forces.

You are right:  the USATC did not operate trains over commercial rail lines in the US.

For an account of US roads' involvement in domestic operations in furtherance of the WW II effort, see S.K. Farrington, Jr., RAILROADS AT WAR, 1944 (featuring a chapter on N&W's Roanoke Shops and Schaffers Crossing). 

Frank Gibson

 ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org 
  To: nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org 
  Sent: Monday, August 15, 2005 6:52 PM
  Subject: Military Locos?


  Several manufacturers have released loco model with U.S. Army lettering. Does anyone know if any USA locos would have been used on the country's mainlines or would they have been used only around army bases?

  I would think that each road would want to use their own motive power for military movements, but I've never seen anything written about them.
  Jimmy Lisle 


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