List of Railway Grand Divisions and their sponsors

Unit       Sponsor               Date of Activation

701st     New York Central Railroad           01/11/1943

702nd    Union Pacific Railroad     10/15/1942

703rd     Atlantic Coast Line Railroad          08/01/1943

704th     Great Northern Railway                11/30/1942

705th     Southern Pacific Lines    05/19/1943

706th     Pennsylvania Railroad    08/06/1943

707th     Southern Railway             06/10/1943

708th     Baltimore and Ohio Railroad        04/06/1943

709th     Association of American Railroads            03/15/1944

710th     Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway 12/14/1943

774th     None (Organized in Italy)             1944

List of Railway Operating Battalions

Unit       Sponsor               Date of Activation

711th     None (Training Battalion)             05/01/1941

712th     Reading Railroad              10/25/1942

713th     Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway 04/15/1942

714th     Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway           10/31/1942

715th     Illinois Central Railroad 10/31/1942

716th     Southern Pacific Lines    12/21/1943

717th     Pennsylvania Railroad    12/01/1943

718th     Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway         12/14/1943

719th     Texas and New Orleans Railroad               09/01/1943

720th     Chicago and North Western Railway        08/26/1943

721st     New York Central Railroad           04/14/1943

722nd    Seaboard Air Line Railroad           12/14/1943

723rd     Union Pacific Railroad     12/28/1943

724th     Pennsylvania Railroad    12/28/1943

725th     Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad                02/17/1943

726th     Wabash Railroad              06/26/1943

727th     Southern Railway             03/15/1942

728th     Louisville and Nashville Railroad                01/11/1943

729th     New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad      01/11/1943

730th     Pennsylvania Railroad    05/15/1942

731st     Union Pacific Railroad     Did not Activate

732nd    Great Northern Railway                01/12/1944

733rd     Central of Georgia Railway           11/23/1943

734th     Texas and New Orleans Railroad               02/23/1944

735th     ARR/Erie Railroad             02/10/1944

736th     New York Central             Did not Activate

737th     New York Central             09/30/1944

738th     Chicago Great Western Railway                 Did not Activate

739th     Lehigh Valley Railroad    Did not Activate

740th     Chesapeake and Ohio Railway   12/14/1943

741st     Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad 01/12/1944

742nd    Pennsylvania Railroad    Did not Activate

743rd     Illinois Central Railroad 01/12/1944

744th     Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad              12/21/1943

745th     Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad                05/19/1943

746th     Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad              05/04/1944

747th     Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Did not Activate

748th     Texas and Pacific Railway              05/12/1943

749th     New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad      02/23/1943

750th     St. Louis – San Francisco Railway               03/21/1944

751st     Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad             Did not Activate

752nd    Boston and Maine Railroad          05/04/1944

759th     Missouri Pacific Railroad                09/01/1942

761st     Railway Transportation Company             07/22/1942

770th     None     08/09/1942

790th     None     07/08/1943

791st     No sponsorship (activated at Andimeshk, Iran) 07/01/1943

List of Railway Shop Battalions

Unit       Sponsor               Date of Activation

753d      Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway         04/15/1942

754th     Southern Pacific Lines    10/25/1942

755th     Norfolk & Western Railway         11/30/1942

756th     Pennsylvania Railroad    01/11/1943

757th     Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad              06/10/1943

758th     Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway      04/06/1943

760th     No sponsorship                06/16/1942

762d      No sponsorship                10/15/1942

763d      Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad; Lehigh Valley Railroad       07/27/1943

764th     Boston & Maine Railroad              10/25/1943

765th     Erie Railroad       05/01/1944

766th     Association of American Railroads            07/17/1944

Note: The 760th and 762d were RSB (Diesel); all others were RSB (Steam).

Headquarters, Southern Lines of Communication, European Theater of Operations, U.S. Army (February 1945). "American "Rails" in Eight Countries".

Ragsdale, Herbert Bernard. "A Railroader Goes To War".

Each railway operating battalion was established with four companies. The HQ company was the headquarters and was used for signaling, dispatching, and supplying their section of the railway. The A company was set up to handle the maintenance of tracks themselves, the B company handled the maintenance of the rolling stock through the stations, and the C company was set up with roughly 50 men to operate the trains in their area. As for the Grand Division it was established with multiple operating battalions and then a shop battalion and a base depot company. The shop battalion was only to work on the engines themselves. During the war, there were two types of shop battalions. The main type at the start was the steam engine battalion; however there was a few diesel shop battalions.[1]

In the European Theater of Operations (ETO), the 1st and 2nd Military Railway Service (MRS) was used to control supply by rail in this theater. The 1st was assigned to the Mediterranean with Italy, North Africa, and Southern France as its main areas of operations. The 2nd was assigned Northern France to Germany. By 1942, the first units started to be shipped out. Besides units for the Persian Gulf Command and North Africa, the 761st Operating for England and for Alaska the 770th Operating was shipped out. Another MRS was established to handle the supplies sent to Russia through Iran (Persia). The 3rd MRS was set up using the 702nd with the 711th Operating, 730th Operating, 754th Shop, and 762nd Diesel Shop battalions as its core units. Initial Command was under the 702nd Grand Division but by April of 1944 it was replaced by the 3rd MRS. The 702nd and initial 3rd MRS commander was Col Paul Yount, but in May 1944 he was sent east to assist the China Burma India theater and Col. Frank S. Besson, Jr., was tasked to take over the 3rd MRS.[2]