U.S. Army Railway Units of the Past: 2026

Saturday, April 4, 2026

India railroad building with some help

721st ROB 2 Yanks go Jap hunting in India -Sgt. Charles Harrell, of Yuma, Ariz. and Pvt. Max Peterson, of Marlington, W. Va. 1944

I did a little research on this event for an author who had heard the story anecdotally. I don't know if -Sgt. Charles Harrell, of Yuma, Ariz. and Pvt. Max Peterson, of Marlington, W. Va.,were actually in the 721st ROB but they were serving under General Joseph Stilwell on the Bengal-Assam line. Lots of additional various articles and information at link below

2 YANKS GO JAP HUNTING IN INDIA
(By RELMAN MORIN)

Kohima, India, May 27—
(Delayed)—(AP)—Two American soldiers, each with a three-day pass and a convincing line of sales talk, have brought a new version of the bushman’s holiday out of the Burma jungles today.

They spent their holidays killing Japanese.

“It took a little fixing,” said T-Sgt. Charles Harrell, of Yuma, Ariz.

“But it was worth it,” added Pvt. Max Peterson, of Marlington, W. Va., “yes, sir, quite an experience.”

They’re railroaders, attached to the special corps of American trainmen operating the Bengal-Assam line, which feeds the Allied armies in this area. They had never seen any combat.

So when they got their furloughs a short while ago they decided to go and find some.

It wasn’t as easy as it sounds. The nearest active front was in Manipur, where British troops are busily engaged in wiping out Japanese.

To go with the British, the two Americans obtained special permission from their own commanders, hitch hiked up the road from Dimapur, and kept going until they finally found a regiment of Scots.

They told the British commander what they wanted, produced their credentials, and went through the usual interrogation.

“We got a couple of good breaks, meeting that outfit,” said Peterson. “It was getting set for an attack. And it had tanks.”

Both men had had some experience in tanks. They set about talking their way into the operation. Armor, they said, was just their dish.

Probably more amused than convinced, the British commander finally consented.

The operation lasted 13 hours.

“And it was a dilly,” said Harrell. “These Scotch boys are tough guys.”

It seems the Japanese, pursuing their customary tactics, held their positions as long as any of them were still alive. The result was that both Harrell and Peterson actually saw the shells from their respective tanks as they crashed into enemy strongpoints barely 150 yards away. There were casualties in the crews of both tanks, too.

A day later, when the operation was finished, the two Americans went back to the more prosaic job of pushing freight up the railroad.

“Wouldn’t have missed it for anything,” they said.

A Vietnam War Clerk's Diary Viet Nam Era

Some discussion of Army Rail in Viet Nam

His son JR Clark left me a comment

J.R. Clark said...

My father COL Richard Paris Clark, Jr., commanded the 714th between 1968 and 1970. He kept a diary of his Vietnam tour from 1965 to 1966, where he served as chief of Movements Branch, J-4 MACV. You can read it by Google searching A Vietnam War Clerk's Diary. There are lots of mentions of TC officers and inside information regarding the big troop buildup in SVN.

https://vietnamwarclerksdiary.blogspot.com/

Rails Through Viet Nam parts 1 and 2 – “The Conveyance which Runs by Fire” by Jerry A Pinkepank, Trains magazine, March 1969

thanks to Rich ...

Army rail Viet Nam era articles from Stars and Stripes Pacific for years 1963-1973

Thanks to Rich for the excellent Army Rail Viet Nam era articles from Stars and Stripes Pacific for years 1963-1973

Monday, March 30, 2026

3RD MILITARY RAILWAY SERVICE 13 APRIL 1955 CAPT WILLIAM M GRIFFIN (my dad)

Original Caption: 13 APRIL 1955 CAPT WILLIAM M GRIFFIN, (CHICAGO, ILL), LOCOMOTIVE SUPERINTENDENT, EQUIPMENT DIV, 3RD TRANSPORTATION RAILWAY COMMAND, 3RD MILITARY RAILWAY SERVICE, IN KOREA. PHOTO BY PVT FURLONG

Tuesday, February 17, 2026

706th Transportation Railway Group

Some from Rich ...

The 706th Transportation Railway Group (Reserve) was a derivative of the 706th Railway Grand Division sponsored by the Pennsylvania Railroad both prior to, during and after the war, with a reduced title of group versus division due to a smaller scope. The 706th Transportation Group had one rail battalion under its umbrella which was the 717th Trans Bn. The 717th Bn was a rail bn located in the Philadelphia area with one operating company with their other rail units scattered to other states. I

In 1975 Army Reserve units focused on railroading were basically a holding groups for officers and senior enlisted serving out their time for their 20 years and were not being pursued by career reservists if they could help it. Active Reserves for officers require you to be very political so that you can find a new unit that can absorb you if you get promoted out of your slot, i.e. Company grade to Field grade, and a Group has a lot of senior officer slots. I had left the 706th when it was deactivated.

The greatest value of the 706 Group was that we had three members who were qualified to repair the steam engines being used at Fort Eustis for training, and those three sometimes were called up to active duty to make mid-year repairs, they were all Majors. However, in 1975 the Army realized that as part of the downsizing they did not need railroad reserve units that would not be mobilized until three to four years after WWIII began, so they were deactivated. Also even the poorest nations had acquired diesel engines and steam experts were no longer required.

The unit crest for the 706th was Iron Horse with PRR logo.

The interesting part of the history of the ACTCOTS was that it lasted 6 weeks. I went through TOCS in the 1960's and it was 23 weeks.

Some articles from the 1970s.

Sunday, February 15, 2026

Military Railway Officers train at Fort Slocum, N.Y. Railway Age class 1 Jan 1943

Atlantic Coast Training Corps Officer Training School Class #1

Captains
Capt. C. L. Payne
Capt. J. L. Love
Capt. E. K. Smith
Capt. J. R. Byrne
Capt. E. P. Curran
Capt. C. D. Rockhill
Capt. C. H. Bayer
Capt. L. G. Redmon
Capt. R. J. Routzahn
Capt. Alexander C. Atchison
Capt. Francis A. Brazell
Capt. Earl B. Bridges
Capt. Allen A. Bush
Capt. Frank H. Dugan
Capt. Paul H. Fleming
Capt. Frank D. Heflin
Capt. William W. Herrick, Jr.
Capt. Robert W. Hooper
Capt. James E. Inman
Capt. Stephen J. Keating
Capt. Wilfred R. Kennedy
Capt. William R. Main
Capt. Mark A. McGee
Capt. Robert L. Morris
Capt. Clarence E. Page
Capt. James M. Robertson
Capt. Joseph A. Roell
Capt. Evan Russell
Capt. George M. Schmidauber
Capt. Charles E. Smith
Capt. Frank R. Stafford
Capt. Arthur G. Teets
Capt. Monier H. Thomson
Capt. Frank E. Turner
Capt. Joseph A. Vargas III
Capt. John S. Wike
Capt. Leo R. Zack

Lieutenant Colonels
Lt. Col. William S. Carr
Lt. Col. C. R. Branch

Majors
Maj. Howard U. Bates
Maj. Ralph W. Beard
Maj. Edgar F. DeLisle
Maj. Elmer R. Harris
Maj. Albert G. Hentz
Maj. James F. O’Connell
Maj. R. O. Jensen
Maj. W. M. Lenderman

First Lieutenants
1st Lt. R. E. Kelder
1st Lt. J. L. Baney
1st Lt. J. W. Curran
1st Lt. S. C. Cuyler
1st Lt. Reg M. Cheney
1st Lt. Albert E. Crowley
1st Lt. Anthony A. D’Angelo
1st Lt. Edward P. Delaney
1st Lt. William F. Farich
1st Lt. Harold W. Gardiner
1st Lt. Godfrey S. Glaber
1st Lt. William J. B. Gunion
1st Lt. Russell R. Hilsinger
1st Lt. John B. Huckabay
1st Lt. Guy F. Hyett
1st Lt. Claude Johnston, Jr.
1st Lt. Walter H. Keebler
1st Lt. Frederick A. Kroll
1st Lt. Gerald T. McMaster
1st Lt. Kenneth L. Miner
1st Lt. William A. Moore
1st Lt. Eric G. Peterson
1st Lt. Fred Rusche
1st Lt. Frederick Schneider
1st Lt. Anthony J. Serieno
1st Lt. Greely R. Sproles, Jr.
1st Lt. Edgar B. Sweet
1st Lt. William H. Walters, Jr.
1st Lt. Harry F. Weaver
1st Lt. Francis Bailey Wing
1st Lt. William H. Yarber

Second Lieutenants
2nd Lt. Henry D. Eglin
2nd Lt. David Franks
2nd Lt. Wilfred H. Holland
2nd Lt. Alfred James, Jr.
2nd Lt. William P. Kelley
2nd Lt. Wm. McFadden, Sr.
2nd Lt. Robert H. Tiley
2nd Lt. Donald C. Tobin
2nd Lt. Donald E. Sheeran
2nd Lt. Benjamin Waters
2nd Lt. N. W. Simpson
2nd Lt. W. E. Worstall

A.C.T.C.O.T.S. (Atlantic Coast Transportation Corps Officers' Training School) Video

There were 10 classes that I know of in 1943 and 1944 ( see these class books )

3. March 1943

4. May 15th 1943

6. Possible see Unknown

7. September 1943

8. October 1943

9. Dec 4th 1993

10. January 1944

Wednesday, February 11, 2026

A.C.T.C.O.T.S (Atlantic Coast Transportation Corps Officers' Training School) 3rd Class Book March 1943

This excellent ACTCOTS training class booklet was shared by the staff artist who created the book, Richard Williams son Rich.

Rich writes "My father was the artist listed in the class books as part of the class book staff. His job was to produce the drawing and layouts and get them printed locally. Prior to the start of the war he had been drafted for a year and was ready to return to civilian life when the war started. My father was trained as a combat engineer and he wanted to do that, but as the war started the post commander Col Lentz (who was the senior Col in the Army and knew he was too old to command) negotiated a role for Fort Slocum which turned out to be this school plus other training. Considering it’s an island with no railroads it seemed odd. Once they decided to make Slocum a training facility they needed an artist and my father was already there, so he was frozen and spent the war years at Slocum. He was also part of the group that designed the branch insignia with the railroad drive wheel showing wings. TC later attributed the wings to the aviation branch but at the time of its creation there was an Army Air Corps"

ACTCOTS (Atlantic Coast Transportation Corps Officers' Training School) 1943

The class graduated on March 13th 1943 and reported on the 15th in the local newspaper

Tuesday, February 3, 2026

718th Railway Operatig Battalion ~ Funk

774th Railway Grand Division ~ Wartchow

770th Railway Operating Battalion - Bill Green

766th Railway Shop Batallion ~ Carl Snair

Documents

Photos

765th Railway shop battalion - Mullins

Saturday, January 31, 2026

752nd Railway Operating Battalion ~ Raymond Gill Company B

Thanks so much to his son Terry for this great information about his father Raymond Gill who served in Company B. Below Raymond and his wife Georgia Fern (Thomas) Gill.