Old Military Boxcars

[leeferr]

In my consulting work, I have frequent occasion to be at Military posts and I was at one the other day that is using a lot of surplus boxcars as storage facilities. The trucks / bogeys have been removed from all of them, but I thought some of you might be interested in a few shots that I took of them.
Mike

 

[leeferr]

Here's a few more shots

 

[CasyJ]

Yes, they certainly make good storage sheds. Leave it to the armed forces to assure nothing goes to waste.

 

[leeferr]

You're right. They make really great storage buildings.

 

[titaniclover]

CSX Transportation uses old Conrail trailers for storage.

Most are being abandoned now, but you can still find them all over Dewitt Yard.

The Army re-uses everything. The more money they save, they happier they are. But thats normal for everyone anyway.:hehe:

Cheers,
Adam
TCS Route Builder

 

[WileeCoyote]

Out of curiousity on what post was this? It looks (vaguely) like Ft. Leavenworth.

WileeCoyote

 

[leeferr]

Milan Army Ammunition Plant in Tennessee

 

[bendorsey]

The one with the round roof may have been part of the support cars for a large bore railcar mounted cannon (12 to 16 inch). I had a (very) small amount of info on that type of support car. I made a few to go with my 14 and 16 inch guns but always thought they looked a bit European with the rounded roofs. I guess they were correct after all.

Ben

 

[lornyk5]

I wish I had a few of those in my back yard, trouble is with ship containers and old boxcars is the money to relocate them.

Lorin:wave:

 

[WileeCoyote]

I remember seeing somewhere an article on the use of narrow gauge field and troop trains (intended as temporary ones, though most survived well into the 50's) during the first world war, it had some very detailed pictures too of the American trains, the French, and the German ones as well. This has since intrigued me as this is the only case I know of where the US Army has actually built and operated its own railway line for war purposes.

WileeCoyote

 

[leeferr]

The one with the round roof may have been part of the support cars for a large bore railcar mounted cannon (12 to 16 inch). I had a (very) small amount of info on that type of support car. I made a few to go with my 14 and 16 inch guns but always thought they looked a bit European with the rounded roofs. I guess they were correct after all.

Ben

Yeah Ben. I looked all over the car to see if I could possibly find a date on it somewhere, but didn't find one.
Mike

 

[leeferr]

I wish I had a few of those in my back yard, trouble is with ship containers and old boxcars is the money to relocate them.

Lorin:wave:

You are so correct. I was planning on buying a caboose several years ago, but the cost to relocate it was just prohibitive.

 

[leeferr]

rail construction and maintenance

For you techies out there; The US Corps of Engineers has a couple of publications on line that are fairly detailed on track maintenance and standards. You can do a search online for:

TM 5-627
Maintenance of Trackage
Jan 1980
207 pages
available in .pdf

TM 5-628
Railroad Track Standards
April 1991
58 pages
available in .pdf

These can be found at http://www.usace.army.mil/publications/armytm/

I also have a hardcopy of TM 5-370 Railroad Construction which has some nice diagrams in it, but I can't find it online anywhere.

 

[K4driver]

there are some old abandoned US army boxcars outta mount union pennsylvania, rusting away in the old EBT yards.

 

[lornyk5]

You are so correct. I was planning on buying a caboose several years ago, but the cost to relocate it was just prohibitive.

Ya I know your pain, I looked into a large ship container for use as a workshop as I built engines and tool around with offroad toys. But the company wanted a human organ to bring it here from Toronto!:hehe:

Lorin:wave:

 

[bendorsey]

Hi leeferr:

The guns I made were circa WWI as were the support car plans so any markings would have long since faded away or been painted over. Still its nice to know I wasn't totally out in left field with them ( I spend a lot of time out there, lol). I have a few more to make.

Ben

 

[leeferr]

No, you weren't out in left field.. These had a steel outside bracing; however the walls are plywood which I don't think are original to the cars. The original walls were probably replaced years ago with the plywood.

 

[bendorsey]

My source of plans is a catalog I bought close to 40 years ago from a gent that was heavily into rail mounted guns (from all over the world). He advertised in Model Railroader magazine. He lived close to Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland and was associated with the historical society there. I bought one (fantastic) set of plans fom him but by the time I went to buy more he was gone. I've always wondered what happened to all his plans, photos, etc. Unlike the John W. Maxwell collection which has been lovingly maintained by his son, these have dissappeared. For those Trainzers who like the WWI and WWII military stuff they woud be a fantastic find because he didn't just have plans of the guns. He had plans for all the support cars as well.

Gone the way of the dodo bird I guess.

 

[leeferr]

That's a real shame. We're doing fairly well in this country in trying to preserve our rail heritage although we began too late. I don't believe enough is being done though in preserving our military rail history. Most of it is getting cut up and sold off as scrap. This is a pitty. On a different note, a few years ago, I was concerned about the railstations in Tennessee, so I spent considerable time traveling around the state and taking pictures of all the stations that I could find. This was a real chore since some of them had been purchased and relocated. Some of these stations have since gone the way of the dodo bird.

 

[bendorsey]

Stations in Florida on the SAL, ACL, and FEC are dissappearing too.

I tried contacting the Historical Society at Aberdeen proving Grounds in hopes they had all his material but never got an answer. 911 security over-reaction I guess (like I can really make one of those guns in 12 in to the ft scale from the plans, lol).

Ben