Eugene Russell Obituary Eugene P. Russell went to be with His Lord and Savior on August 29, just six days past his 91st birthday. Eugene was born on August 23, 1921 in McCook, NB to Perle and Anna Russell. He served with the 759th Railway Operating Battalion during WWII. After the war he continued his career with the railroad, working for the Denver and Rio Grande first as a fireman, then as an engineer. In 1953 he married Doris (Bower) Russell and together they raised three children in their Lakewood, CO home. He is survived by his daughters, Cheryl (Bob) Jeffryes of Castle Rock, CO, and Barbara (Patrick) Braun of Clarkston, WA, and daughter-in-law Diane Russell of Cody, WY, as well as six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife Doris, and son Gordon. A memorial service will be held at Howard Moore Mortuary at 4345 W. 46th Ave, Denver, CO on Friday, September 7, 2012 at 9:00am followed by a military honors service at Fort Logan Cemetery at 11:15am.

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

This is so sad .. from LTC Mark Metz 

During a meeting on 3 Jun 2025 with the Center of Military History (CMH), the US Army Transportation Museum was informed that it will be one of 19 Army Museums closing within the next 2 years.

Tentative timeline:

Jul 2025: Army EXORD published

Aug 2025: Initial closures begin

Sep 2027: Final closures

Sep 2029: Final inactivations

NOTE: Closure means closed to the public. Inactivation means facility returned to installation

Specific closure/inactivation timelines will be detailed in an EXORD to be published in Jul 2025. 

The ATMF will continue to provide updates to Membership as they become available.

The decision to close was based on 4 criteria: Building Condition, Visitation, Soldier Training, and Gate Access.  CMH believes the Trans Museum is challenged in 3 of the categories: 

• Building condition of the Transportation Museum is one of the worst in the Army Museum Enterprise (AME).

• Movement of the OCOT and training base to Ft Gregg-Adams considerably degraded soldier training.

• 100% government identification for Ft Eustis gate access severely limited civilian visitors.

The Transportation Museum Director sent an email to the Chief of Transportation and Ft Eustis Garrison Command informing them of the decision.  General information on the closures has been published on the CMH and ATMF Facebook page.

Additional Notes:

• The Secretary of the Army and Army Chief of Staff were briefed on the closure plan and concurred.

• 19 Army museums to close; 12 to remain.

• CMH Tiger Teams will be sent out to determine what displays/artifacts will be culled from the closed museums and moved to the remaining museums.

• All Army museum vehicles/artifacts etc., are Army property and will be processed IAW with Army regulations.

Notes for ATMF Membership Consideration:

• First and foremost, the ATMF, and its membership, is not lying down and surrendering.

• The ATMF Executive Committee will organize a Working Group (WG) in the next week to develop strategy and a way ahead.  The WG will include personnel from the ATMF Board of Directors (BOD) and Board of Advisors (BOA), Transportation Corps Officer Candidate School (TCOCS), Transportation Corps Regimental Association (TCRA), and other retired senior Transportation Corps officers/NCOs/DACs.

• The WG will need ATMF membership support.  It will be looking for your recommendations, suggestions, who should be the recipients of a mass letter writing campaign, etc. 

• Business as usual for the Transportation Museum and the ATMF until publication of the EXORD.

 • We will continue to accept donations. Final determination on continued donation acceptance will be made upon receipt of EXORD.

• No change to the raffle campaign. Raffle drawing will be conducted as scheduled on 10 Oct 2025. Raffle tickets will be accepted up until 09 Oct 2025T

Web Links

https://transportation.army.mil/museum/ 

https://atmfoundation.org/

https://history.army.mil/ 

 

The museum houses the  2-8-0 Series locomotive (number 607), the last steam engine operated by the Army and the Berlin Duty Car 

Richard writes (thanks Richard!) ...

I’ve attached two photos of one of the US Military Railway Operating Battalions operating several of the British Army WD 2-8-0 steam locomotives. I expect the time period for these photos is September through December 1944 and the location is somewhere in France. The photos were taken by a member of the US Military Railway Operating Battalion that handled them. 

The British WD 2-8-0 locomotives were the British Army Railway Battalion version of the US Army S160 2-8-0s. The main mechanical differences were the British locomotives used oil lubricated driving axles, had a smaller grate area and (the biggest one) were not equipped with rocking firebox grates. 

The photos show a rare event since these particular WD locomotives have been re-lettered to the USA Transportation Corp but were in use by the US MRS Railway Operating Battalions for only a short period of time. These locomotives were assigned to US Army Railway Operating Battalions in the September & October 1944 time period and then transferred back to the British Army around December 1944. 

The reason for their short operating life is the British WD locomotives were not well received by the US Railway locomotive crews because the lack of rocking grates, combined with the problems obtaining high quality locomotive coal in the combat zones, made it difficult for the US crews to fire these locomotives and handle fire cleaning when the coal created clinker during the trip and when performing the normal fire cleaning at the end of each trip. 

I copied these photos from the Facebook site ‘Armored, Army Trains and Railway Guns’. It is an open group but I'm not a member of it. I believe the photos appeared on it in the September 2024 time period, but this time period may not be accurate. 

 

 

Richard writes ... Richard writes ... This photo is the unofficial Baldwin Locomotive Works builders photo of US Army 2-8-0 S160 steam locomotive #1702 together with the US Army Corps of Engineers design engineers and project managers that were responsible for the design. 

The #1702 was one of the first series of US Army 2-8-0s that Baldwin built. These locomotives are well known overseas as the S160 Class, which was the specification number that American Locomotive Company (ALCO) assigned to them.

The photo was taken at the Baldwin Locomotive Works in either October or November 1942. I originally considered the Baldwin location for this photo to be a bit odd since ALCO was credited with the design work, but, since the design work was handled in combination with Baldwin, I can see the reason for the photo being taken there. It also may have been a matter of convenience when these three Army officers were available.   

The three US Army officers are (left to right) Colonel E.F. MacFadden, Major J.W. Marsh (he headed up the original design along with the American Locomotive Company and Baldwin Locomotive Works engineering departments), and Colonel W.G. Knight. All three officers served with the US Army Corps of Engineers.

I’ve been searching for this version of this photo for awhile. The Great Smokey Mountain Railway has their own version of it, but marked with their logo, while I wanted the original unmarked version. The locomotive #1702 still exists and is in operation with the Great Smokey Mountain Railway.

This photo was released to the US public and newspapers in early November 1942, but it did not receive much publication and I’ve never discovered it in any of the US railroad technical magazines during the war period.

One US newspaper that printed the photo was the Adrian, Michigan 'Daily Telegraph’ in their November 5, 1942 edition. The 557 Locomotive Restoration Company (which is overhauling the Alaskan Railroad’s Army 2-8-0 #557 in Alaska) located their photo and added it to their Facebook site.

Forrest's nephew Brent shared these documents from his uncle service....

Forrest J. Rodriguez of Gretna LA on Wednesday, June 24, 1998. 

Beloved son of the late Teresa Grentz Rodriguez and Joseph Rodriguez. Brother of Clare V. Rodriguez, Helen R. Carpenter and Vigil L. Rodriguez. Age 74 years. 

A lifelong resident of Gretna, LA. 

Relatives and friends of the family are invited to attend visitation at St. Anthony Catholic Church, Gretna, LA on Friday, June 26, 1998 from 9 a.m. until 11 a.m. A Funeral Mass will be celebrated at the church at 11 a.m. Interment McDonogh Cemetery. Masses preferred. 

MOTHE FUNERAL HOMES, INC. in charge of arrangements.

 

The names mentioned in the document are: 

• Herman G. Railing 
• Homer M. Carter 
• Dominick A. Mandolare 
• Monty H. Foster 
•  Charles R. Summers 
• Lt Col Barnes (mentioned as the issuing authority) 
• Gerald T. McMaster (Captain, T.C., Adjutant)

 Jerome Croyet shared these - he's working on a book and would like to talk to anyone with additional information on 713th ROB . Email me if you can help 

 I have over the past 30 years frequently heard from Dutch families who participated in this US Soldier grave adoption - I now hear from the grandchildren of those families READ
The Forever Promise Project: Honoring and Remembering Fallen WWII American Soldiers in the Netherlands

I've researched all known Military Railway Soldier's deaths, here is the known burial in Netherlands. 

For Memorial Day visit this site and read some of the bios Here 

Military Railway Service: Honor List of Dead in World War II Rail soldiers ( spreadsheet ) who died 1942-1946. Designations: KIA- Killed in Action; DOI- Died of Injuries; DNB- Died Non battle; DOW- Died of wounds Most are listed as DNB-Died Non battle but remember their work was Non battle, so they died performing their duties. 

“... these men gave the last full measure of devotion” 

 Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address November 19, 1863 

*I’ve identified 122 Military Rail dead, contact me if you know of others. 

 Here are all the know MRS soldiers killed during service HERE

Honoring the Men of the 717th Railway Operating Battalion: Four Soldiers, One Mission ( this was written by AI)

Throughout World War II, countless soldiers served in roles that were critical to the success of Allied operations but often went unnoticed. Among them were the dedicated members of the 717th Railway Operating Battalion, a specialized unit tasked with managing the military’s rail transport systems—vital for moving troops, equipment, and supplies across war-torn territories. Today, we honor four of those men, each of whom answered the call of duty with courage and commitment.
 William L. Broadwater

    Born: July 20, 1907
    Died: March 15, 1958
    Enlisted: January 7, 1941
    Discharged: November 16, 1945
    Rank: Private First Class
    Company: A, 717th Railway Operating Battalion
    Final Resting Place: Gibson's Cemetery, West Columbia, South Carolina

Broadwater was among the early enlistees of the war and served through the conflict’s end. His reclassification and later recall to active duty in 1943 reflect his continued importance to the U.S. Army's logistical efforts.
Thomas E. Delamanaras

    Born: August 22, 1906
    Died: November 26, 1949
    Enlisted: September 13, 1943
    Discharged: December 4, 1944
    Rank: Master Sergeant
    Unit: 717th Railway Operating Battalion and 23rd Transportation Corps (Rail Battalion Service)
    Final Resting Place: Glendale Cemetery, Bloomfield, New Jersey

He is listed as being a part of both the 717th and the 23rd Transport Corps in this application, Delamanaras’ connection to rail transport units places him in the same logistical family. He served with honor and returned home to rest among the veterans he helped support.
George A. Hudson

    Born: February 24, 1907
    Died: June 29, 1952
    Enlisted: December 1943
    Discharged: November 11, 1945
    Rank: Private First Class
    Company: A, 717th Railway Operating Battalion
    Final Resting Place: Kansas, Oklahoma

Hudson’s military record marks him as part of Company A, like Broadwater, and he was inducted in late 1943. His work with the battalion contributed directly to the transportation backbone of U.S. forces in Europe and beyond.
Hubert A. Mercer

    Born: March 16, 1914
    Died: October 2, 1961
    Enlisted: July 27, 1943
    Discharged: April 9, 1946
    Rank: Technician Fourth Grade (T/4)
    Unit: Headquarters Company, 717th Railway Operating Battalion
    Final Resting Place: Duck River Church Cemetery, Blount County, Alabama

Serving in the HQ Company of the 717th, Mercer likely held a leadership or technical support role—essential for coordination and communication within this complex transport unit.
Legacy of the 717th Railway Operating Battalion

These four men, drawn from different states and backgrounds, served in a battalion that was the logistical lifeline of military operations. Whether laying tracks, scheduling transports, or overseeing cargo loads, the soldiers of the 717th ensured that warfighters at the front lines were never without the supplies they needed.

Their stories remind us that not all heroes carry rifles—some carry rail maps and scheduling ledgers, and with them, the hopes of victory.

Let us remember William L. Broadwater, Thomas E. Delamanaras, George A. Hudson, and Hubert A. Mercer not only for their service but for embodying the quiet strength that powers every great endeavor