March 1943. "Clovis, New Mexico. Private Clarence Stephens of Streator, Illinois, a member of the U.S. Army Railroad Battalion stationed at Clovis, with Sidney Mack, engine inspector at the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad shops. They are inspecting one of the 5000 Class freight engines." Acetate negative by Jack Delano, Office of War Information

Probably the 713th---The 713th Railway Operating Battalion was formed on March 12, 1942, and consisted entirely of men who worked for the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad. Their job was to clear, repair, and build military railways as well as operate the trains.

The 713th, known as the “Santa Fe Battalion”, formed at Camp Clovis, New Mexico, and after initial military training was sent to Camp Dix, New Jersey, on January 21, 1943. The unit was first sent to North Africa where in seven months they transported 500,000 tons of cargo in 47,255 rail cars. The 713th went from North Africa to Italy and then on to Southern France. They ended the war in 1945 serving in Western Germany.

Railways at War Part 1

  

Part 2 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BpXsOUAKH8OtQYnnbvDkPmH2o8AV21nA/view?usp=sharing 

Part 3 https://drive.google.com/file/d/15xAKQ4a_gjCOXMn2mPUfmmoF5x8Ryxl0/view?usp=sharing

Book Of Interest – John Bushby 

Although not a railway history volume the book ‘Oxwich To Omaha, American GIs in South Wales’ by Phil Howells (self-published, no ISBN, revised edition 2021) has much to recommend it on a num-ber of counts. Firstly, it is more about South Wales and the Bristol Channel/Severn Estuary area as a whole with Avonmouth, Sharpness etc. so it is more a case of South Wales plus. Secondly, a lot of information concerning rail movements and US Army locomotives can be found although this requires searching through the text, nor are the maritime/shipping aspects neglected which is of major relevance as the major South Wales docks were owned by the Great Western Railway. Perhaps most important is that the book is based on extensive research in the US National Archives. Consequently, it is a who, what, where, when and how book rather than the more usual anecdotal accounts of the ‘Yanks’ derived from ‘oral history’ and ‘family tradition’ which are often recorded decades later, uncorroborated and of doubtful provenance. This book contains masses of detail based on documentary evidence and should interest anyone interested in Britain’s railways in WW2 and/or the US Army presence in Britain during the same period. Copies of the revised 2021 can be obtained through Amazon for £12.99 which is extremely good value given the sheer amount of data included. South-west England and South Wales were the main concentration areas for US ground forces under the BOLERO programme in the build-up to D-Day and they were critically dependent on the railways. Nothing comparable seems to be currently available elsewhere. MILITARY RAILWAY STUDY GROUP https://www.mrsg.org.uk/ 

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Oxwich To Omaha: American GI's in South Wales Paperback – May 29, 2020 by Phil Howells Early on the sixth of June 1944, as the Normandy Beaches were under assault and Force ‘L’ and Force ‘B’ were converging in the English Channel, another US armada with Royal Navy escort was ploughing its way around Lands End. Yet despite the passage of 76 years, very little has been written about the Bristol Channel Pre-Loaded Build-Up Force and the 42,000 troops transported to Omaha and Utah - until now. Included in the overall 5,000 ship tally of vessels taking part in the biggest amphibious operation of all time, the fleet carrying among others the 2nd and 90th Infantry Divisions and major parts of the PESBG and the 5th and 6th ESB’s plus seaborne elements of 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions has never featured highly in the extensive narratives that have gone before. But now having drawn on the detailed NARA archives in Maryland plus many original unit histories, Phil Howells has been able to detail this much overlooked part of the D-Day story. Moreover, through researching this element of ‘Operation Neptune’, the author has been able to lay before the reader the extensive Concentration, Marshalling and Embarkation plans in South Wales and the twelve months of ‘Operation Bolero’ that preceded the sailing, including the construction of camps, depots and hospitals in the six counties; the formation and training of the 5th Engineer Special Brigade on Gower and the Provisional ESB Group – plus recording the huge amount of troops and cargo that poured into the ports of the Bristol Channel. Utilising aerial photographs and US Corps of Engineers plans, 'Oxwich to Omaha' is a valuable addition to any library devoted to D-Day specifically and the Second World War in general. https://www.amazon.com/Oxwich-Omaha-American-South-Wales/dp/B089CSNFSL