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]
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