US Army Railroad 1940...Movie

[NW Mailing List]

Thanks, Andy.

The intro indicates that the Signal Corps film was shot at Camp 
Claiborne, LA, which is where the advanced detachment of the 755th 
Railway Shop Battalion (RSB), sponsored by the N&W, was activated in 
late 1942.  (Arrow articles on the Military Railway Service [MRS] and 
the 755th appeared in 2003 and 2005.)

About 20 seconds into the film in the background there appears to be a 
Transportation Corps' S-160 steamer, 2-8-0 (Alco/Baldwin/Lima), some 
2,000 units of which were deployed to WWII MRS operations overseas.  The 
MRS overseas received some 5,600 US-built locomotives during the course 
of the war, the largest class being the S-160s.  A few S-160s served  
training and switching duties on US military installations in the US, 
but most went overseas; by war's end all were left in place with 
national rail administrations.

I travel frequently to Italy, where some 250 S-160s were deployed during 
the war.  I have seen several S-160s in rail museums in Naples and 
Turin. The Turin loco I saw in fact in November; it is unprotected from 
the weather, and restoration would be a major undertaking.  The Naples 
steamer was restored in Verona, where I saw the boiler under rehab some 
decades ago.  It is in the national rail museum at Portici, just outside 
Naples, and looks great.  The S-160s when conveyed over to Italian hands 
became the national railway's Class 736 engines.  Happily, rail 
"appassionati" all over the nation work weekends on restoration of 
remnant aging Italian locos.

N&W's 755th RSB served in England, France and Belgium, where S-160s were 
very much under its care.

Camp Claiborne was an MRS training center. The 725th Railway Operating 
Battalion, subject of the film, was sponsored by the Rock Island;  
following training it was deployed to India and Burma.

Frank Gibson


NW Mailing List wrote:

> Interesting movie I stumbled over...

>  

> http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=e9a_1241081839

>  

> Andy Jennings

> ------------------------------------------------------------------------

>

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