Military Railway Service (MRS)

[NW Mailing List]

That was a 2-8-0, not an 0-8-0, Ed.  The Army had 0-6-0s and 2-8-0s.  

EdKing


From: NW Mailing List 
Sent: Monday, December 16, 2013 5:01 PM
To: NW Mailing List 
Subject: RE: Military Railway Service (MRS)

I know this is an old post but someone (can't find the email now) was asking about the 714th TBROS&DE having one of their 0-8-0 engines pressed into service the winter of 69-70 as a substitute boiler.  Here is the article and a couple of photos. 

If I remember right, the engine was decommissioned shortly after this desecration because the boiler tubes were all fouled.

I was a 2LT at Ft. Eustis, HHC 714th, until I left for RVN in July 1970.

Ed Svitil
Norfolk & Western Railway
 
  



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Date: Fri, 21 Dec 2012 17:14:14 -0700
To: nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org
Subject: Re: Military Railway Service (MRS)
From: nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org


Followers of N&W's 755th RSB story should know that the 755th was a constituent unit at times under the 709th RGD (below) in Belgium, October 1944-May 1945.  During the same interval the 755th periodically was assigned to the 708th RGD.  Rail battalions tended to "float" in and out of RGD assignments in accordance with changing on-the-ground campaign support requirements.

The 708th and 709th RGDs were sponsored, respectively, by the B&O and the Association of American Railroads.

Frank Gibson


On 12/20/2012 7:51 PM, NW Mailing List wrote:

To Veterans and Friends of the MRS:

Military Railway Service (MRS) history has joined the electronic age.  MRS veteran Major C. Grattan Price, Jr., prior to his passing in 1996 produced a manuscript entitled "Reminiscences of a Rambling Railroader" recounting his World War II (WWII) Army experiences.  His family has now made this work available in electronic format for your Kindle, iPad, Nook or computer.   The URL link is:  http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/264683.  Downloading options are shown on the site.
 
In the first part Major Price covers his early years growing up and pre-war employment with the Chesapeake Western Railway in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley.  Activated early in the war, he was initially assigned to the Fort Holabird Railway Shops in Baltimore, Maryland, where he quickly rose to become the Shop Superintendent.  Little remembered today, the Fort Holabird Rail Shop during WWII was the Army's premier rail shop that repaired numerous derelict locomotives for service the on the rail networks of the nation's expanding military infrastructure.  In addition, Fort Holabird served as the Army's test and evaluation facility for new locomotives being procured for both domestic and overseas service.  All are chronicled in this work. 

The majority of the book chronicles the training, deployment, and European service of the 709th Railway Grand Division (RGD) where he served as it's Master Mechanic.  From "technical" training at Bucyrus, Ohio, the 709th RGD deployed through the New York SPOE to serve in France, Belgium, Holland, and Germany from September 1944 through August 1945.  What strikes me in reading the book are the stories, some ordinary, many quite extraordinary, that describe the courageous efforts of men and women who didn't serve on the front line, but who were absolutely critical to the ultimate success of the Allies.  It is an easy to read yet informative firsthand narrative history of mostly citizen solders military railroaders that should not be forgotten.  This may be the only detailed written record of the 709th RGD.    

Very affordably priced at $3.99 per download, the Price family will be graciously donating the proceeds from the sale of this book in their father's name to the Transportation Corps Museum's work at Fort Eustis. Download a copy for a MRS friend or treat yourself. Please provide a review and feedback of your impression of this work. 

Additional publications of Mr. Price's works include the now out of print hard copy "The Crooked and Weedy," a history of the Chesapeake Western Railway and his first electronic format book "Robert E. Lee's Railroad - How The American Civil War Commander Inspired the Construction of the Valley Railroad, Virginia."   The URL link for this work is: http://www.amazon.com/Robert-Lees-Railroad-Commander-ebook/dp/B0093ZS0DW 

May the upcoming Christmas Season bring the best to you and your families.

Mark Metz
LTC (R), TC - USAR
Foundation Rail Committee


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