Did You Know They Landed Tr... by Nancy on Scribd

The Last Railroad War Kissel by Nancy on Scribd

US Army Railroad Defies Ene... by Nancy on Scribd

724th News by Nancy on Scribd

This is a great story about the uncle of Jim Grossman,  one of our contributors ( who served in the 763rd) and it talks about the 8 Grossman boys ( his Dad and Uncle's ) who all helped out the war effort ( 6 served in combat roles) during WWII.
Jim writes ...

 On February 21st 1941, the 591st Engineer Battalion Railway was renumbered the 729th Engineer Battalion. On April 1st 1942, it was redesignated as the 729th Engineer Railway Operating Battalion. On November 16th 1942, the 729th was transferred from the Corps of Engineers to the Transportation Corps and again redesignated the 729th Railway Operating Battalion. The unit was then affiliated with the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad based in New Haven, CT. The unit would meet at the New Haven Y.M.C.A.

On December 2nd 1942, the officers of the 729th reported to active duty at Fort Slocun, New York for training. At the time the Unit's Commanding Officer was still William S., Carr. Ten of the units officers at this time were from the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. The rest of the officers came from the Reading, Missouri Pacific, Baltimore and Ohio, Santa Fe, Boston and Maine, Chicago and Northwester, Lehigh and New England, and the Delaware and Hudson Railroads.

Almost six weeks later on January 11th 1943, the 729th Railway Operating Battalion was ordered to active duty at the New Orleans, Louisiana Staging Area. At this time the unit had 150 men. The 729th eventually had men from 92 different railroads.

During World War II the 729th participated in campaigns in Normandy, Northern France, the Rhineland, and Central Europe. Although the unit did not receive any awards it did have to it's credit many accomplishments, and many of it's members were decorated.


Among it's accomplishments are:

First complete unit of its kind to be stationed in England.

Assembled the first American Refrigerator, Tank, Box, War Flats and Gondola cars in Europe.

Pioneered in setting up assembly lines in the United Kingdom

First Railway Operating Battalion to land in France 10 days after "D" Day on Omaha and Utah Beaches.

Ran the first passenger train in France.

Ran the first troop train in France.

Ran the first freight train in France.

Ran the first hospital train in France.

Had a part in the construction of the 1800 foot steel girder Rhine River Bridge in 10 days.

Ran the first train over the Weser River Bridge.

Ran the huge Antwerp Freight Terminal.

Operated rail lines in support of the First and Ninth Armies into Germany.

Add caption

Fireless engine at a warehouse at a jute mill near Calcutta Picture from US Military Railway Service Journal. Near Calcutta, 4 Jan 1944. By David Churchill.

rdgrrmag1045

Troops and Trains rolls into Strasburg

Railroads WWII ETO by Nancy Cunningham

WWII ROBS Bring Supplies Former Tipton

Allied Military Locomotives of the Second World War By R. TourretHardback; over 300 pages of good quality paper; £29.85 GBP.
During the Second World War, many interesting types of locomotives, both steam and diesel, were built for the British War Department and the United States Army Transportation Corps. These were sent all over the world and many of them remained in service long after the war, sometimes with their exact origin forgotten.

In this book, after some 50 years of research into matters generally held secret at the time, the overall story is presented. It starts in the first Section with general descriptions of the campaigns in the different theatres of war from a railway viewpoint, and then follows in the second and third Sections with Chapters giving the class histories of the various British and American types of locomotives, both Sections starting with a numerical list of the locomotives which give the key to the WD and USA/TC numbering structure. Finally, there are some Chapters dealing with odd topics such as various important military railways.

Contains 372 photographs, 43 drawings and 27 maps as well as many stock lists. See the Table of Contents.

Note that this book includes the content of the out-of-print books United States Army Transportation Corps Locomotives (ISBN-13 978-0-905878-01-0; ISBN-10 0-905878-01-9) and War Department Locomotives (ISBN-13 978-0-905878-00-3; ISBN-10 0-905878-00-0).

From Wikipedia 
V-mail stands for Victory Mail. It was based on the similar British "Airgraph" system for delivering mail between those at home in the United States and troops serving abroad during World War II. V-mail correspondence worked by photographing large amounts of censored mail reduced to thumb-nail size onto reels of microfilm, which weighed much less than the original would have. The film reels were shipped by priority air freight (when possible) to the US, sent to prescribed destinations for enlarging at a receiving station near the recipient, and printed out on lightweight photo paper. These facsimiles of the letter-sheets were reproduced about one-quarter the original size and the miniature mail was delivered to the addressee.
V-mail used standardized stationary, 7 by 9 1/8 inches (17.8 cm by 23.2cm) with a glue flange on one side so that the letter could be folded and sealed in such a way as to become its own envelope. When used by overseas servicemen the letters were opened, censored and photographed. Only the film negatives were transported. After transport by air, reduced-sized versions of the letters were printed from the negatives for delivery to their final destinations. These 60%-reduced photocopies measured 4 1/4 by 5 3/16 inches (10.7cm x 13.2cm), and had a pre-formed crease 1 7/8 inches from the top. The crease insured that the address would be correctly centered behind an opening in a special envelope. The user would write the message in the prescribed space—ideally in black ink, since this photographed best (the Carter ink company marketed a special "V-Mail Ink")— fold the letter/envelope form, address it, affix postage and then the mail was on its way.
According to the National Postal Museum, "V-mail ensured that thousands of tons of shipping space could be reserved for war materials. The 37 mail bags required to carry 150,000 one-page letters could be replaced by a single mail sack. The weight of that same amount of mail was reduced dramatically from 2,575 pounds to a mere 45." This saved considerable weight and bulk in a time in which both were hard to manage in a theatre of the war. It also eliminated the threat of spies using microdots or invisible ink to send reports. Any microdot would not be photographed with enough resolution to be read.
Although the system of V-mail ensured that more pieces of mail were able to be shipped and delivered than a larger, bulkier mailing would have accomplished, many people found that they did not have enough room in the limited available space in order to write all that they had to say. To make things worse, the instructions at the top of each letter stated that "very small writing is not suitable".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-mail

The Last Railroad War