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Army Service Forces Unit Training Center (ASFUTC) 1943 Railway units

Army Service Forces Unit Training Center (ASFUTC) played a role in military training related to transportation and logistics during World War II. While Fort Eustis, Virginia, later became a hub for army rail operations, training and deployment of the Military Railway Service (MRS) during the war occurred at various locations.

Specifically, in 1943:

Railway Operating Battalions (ROBs), often comprised of experienced civilian railroaders, received training from commercial railroad companies and at Army camps such as Camp Shelby, Mississippi.
For example, the 713th Railway Operating Battalion, composed of Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad employees, initially trained near Clovis, New Mexico before being deployed overseas.
Other units like the 727th trained at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, and the 730th on the Pennsylvania Railroad line near Fort Wayne, Indiana.

The ASFUTC in Slidell, Louisiana, circa 1943-45, was a training center within a larger military camp. While it's not explicitly stated that ASFUTC Slidell directly conducted railway training, the overall context of Army transportation training points to the importance of such programs during the war

Army Service Forces Unit Training Center (ASFUTC)

New Orleans Port of Embarkation (NOPE)

Atlantic Coast Transportation Corps Officers' Training School (ACTCOTS)

Misc Documents

Documents originals HERE

October 1943

December 1943

Soldiers attend a class inside a railroad car in New Orleans, Louisiana on 23 June 1943

705th Railway Grand Division photo New Orleans

Link

Railroad men from the 705th Railway Grand Division and the 720th Railway Operating Battalion training in New Orleans

Troops demonstrate military tactics. Official caption: "Railroad men from the 705th Railway Grand Division simulate defense against aerial attack. ASFUTC, New Orleans, La., 11/9/43." "

. Soldiers line up to eat dinner. Official caption: "Captain Chennault of the 720th Railway Operating Battalion supervises the messing of his company as they camp in the Combat Bivouac Area. ASFUTC, New Orleans, Louisiana, 7/14/43. Official U.S. Army Photograph. New Orleans Port of Embarkation. Publication Prohibited Unless Authorized. When published credit line must read: 'Photograph by U.S. Army.'" New Orleans, Louisiana.

Photos donated by : Richard Vernon Powell Jr. was born 14 July 1920 in Beebe, Arkansas and served in the United States Army duing World War II. Powell had been attending Harvard Business School when he registered for service. He would later serve as a captain in the U.S. Army at the New Orleans Port of Embarkation (NOPE). Powell passed away on 17 August 1999 in Norman, Oklahoma. The collection consists of 200 black and white photographs, most created by the U.S. Army Signal Corps, that Powell collected during his service in Louisiana, Alabama, and Texas. Subjects include: The New Orleans Port of Embarkation (NOPE), the Army Service Forces Unit Training Center (ASFUTC), Services of Supply Unit Training Center (Camp Plauche/Camp Harahan), British Lend-Lease, Jackson Barracks, mosquito control, 814th Signal Port Company, 493rd Port Battalion, Sanitary Corps, Army Nurse Corps, 720th Railway Operating Battalion Transportation Corps Officer Candidate School, and the 400th and 393rd Stevedore Battalion. https://www.ww2online.org

Camp Claiborne and Polk founded : Army will buy railroad for training

Railway Operating Battalions trained at Camp Shelby WWII

Tom writes... I'm involved with the historic Wilmington and Western RR here in Delaware. One of our locomotives, former Mississippi Central RR No. 98, was used at Camp Shelby during WWII to train soldiers for various railway units. I've attached a photo of No. 98 and a document I created that details the railway training at Camp Shelby during WWII
Thanks

Here is Tom's chart of when units trained at Camp Shelby :

A.C.T.C.O.T.S (Atlantic Coast Transportation Corps Officers' Training School) documents at Fort Slocum

Fort Slocum continued served as a recruit intake and specialist training center. It was the site of the Atlantic Coast Transportation Corps Officers' Training School from 1942 to 1944.

The school trained railroad men and other transportation specialists in the Army way of doing things before making them commissioned officers. A related program begun in 1943, the Provisional Training Center, provided basic training to other specialists and enlisted men.