718th Railway Operating Battalion Historical Documents
718THROBCOMPLETE1-20rs by Nancy
718THROBCOMPLETE21-40rs by Nancy
Thanks Bob Hill712th Railway Operating Battalion: Historical reports and records from War Department files
The first of some amazing new documents on various ROB ( Railway Operating Battalions) sent to me by Bill Hill from the 723rd Association. Thanks so much , Bill!
Locomotive WWI and WWII France
Type I. Wire photo. Measures 8x10. Has a stamp on the back. American boys in France have found an engine which was brought over to France in 1917 and is still in use, they have made minor repairs and are using the engine again. France, July 13 1944. This is part of a collection from a former employee of the UPI in Tribune Towers 744th Railway Operating Battalion, memories from World War II
The 744th Railway Operating Battalion, memories from World War II
Author: Louise Greenfield
Publisher: Livonia, Mich. : [s.n.], ©1985.
Edition/Format: Book : EnglishDocument Type: Book
All Authors / Contributors: Louise Greenfield
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OCLC Number: 13102383
Description: 91 p., [5] leaves of plates : ill., maps ; 29 cm.
Other Titles: Memories from World War II., Seven Forty-fourth Railway Operating Battalion.
Responsibility: Louise Greenfield.
1. US Army Ft Eustis Post Library
FT EUSTIS, VA 23604 United States
2. US Army, Mil Hist Institute
US Army Heritage & Education Center
CARLISLE, PA 17013 United States
714th Railway Operating Battalion.
714th Railway Operating Battalion.
Document Type: Book
All Authors / Contributors: United States. Army. 714th Railway Operating Battalion.
OCLC Number: 35265615
Notes: Written at Fort Eustis where the battalion was located.--cf. 4th leaf. Includes roster.
Description: 1 v. illus. 28 cm.
Author: United States. Army. 714th Railway Operating Battalion.
Publisher: [San Angelo, 1945?]* World War, 1939-1945 -- Regimental histories -- United States -- 714th Railway Operating Battalion.
* World War, 1939-1945 -- Transportation -- Alaska.
1. New York Public Library
NEW YORK, NY 10018 United States
2. Bangor Public Library
BANGOR, ME 04401 United States
746th Railway Operating Battalion, 1944-1946.
746th Railway Operating Battalion, 1944-1946.
Publisher: [S.l. : s.n., 1984?]
Edition/Format: Book : EnglishDocument Type: Book
OCLC Number: 13907623
Notes: Cover title. "Roster of enlisted men moving overseas with the battalion": leaves 39-50. "Roster of original officers and home addresses": leaves 51-53.
Description: 53, [1] leaves : ill., maps, ports.
available
US Army, Field Artillery School
FT SILL, OK 73503 United States
2. US Army Ft Eustis Post Library
FT EUSTIS, VA 23604 United States
3. US Army, Mil Hist Institute
US Army Heritage & Education Center
CARLISLE, PA 17013 United States
740th Railway Operating Battalion
740th Railway Operating Battalion
Author: John Livingstone
Publisher: New York, N.Y. : Carlton Press, ©1981.
Edition/Format: Book : Biography : EnglishView all editions and formats
Material Type: Biography
Document Type: Book
All Authors / Contributors: John Livingstone
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OCLC Number: 8333189
Notes: "A Hearthstone Book."
Description: 271 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 22 cm.
Responsibility: John Livingstone.
Many holdings here
729th The Soxos : 729th Railway Operating Battalion : two and one half years in Europe, 1943-1945
The Soxos : 729th Railway Operating Battalion : two and one half years in Europe, 1943-1945
Author: J A Vargas; United States. Army. Railroad Operating Battalion, 729th.
Publisher: [S.l. : s.n., 2008?]
Edition/Format: Book : National government publication : English : Double anniversary ed
Document Type: Book
All Authors / Contributors: J A Vargas; United States. Army. Railroad Operating Battalion, 729th.
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OCLC Number: 317716908
Notes: Cover title. Reprint. Originally published: Maastricht, Holland : 729th Railway Operating Battalion, Public Relations Section, 1945. Includes unit rosters. Prepared under the auspices of the 729th Railroad Operating Battalion?
Description: 51 p ; 28 cm.
Contents: Overseas chronological history, 2 years overseas --
Message from commanding officer, Lt. Col. W. C. Smith --
Headquarters Company report --
Headquarters Company roster --
Company A report --
Company A roster --
Company B report --
Company B roster --
Company C report --
Company C roster --
The Medical Detachment --
The chaplain's activities --
729th rolling photo lab --
Special service --
Club Soxo --
Athletic program --
Officers' report --
Soxo service --
Championship golf --
Medals and decorations --
Buzz bombs and rockets in Antwerp --
Battle stars --
OCS news --
Brig. Gen Carl E. Gay's letter [regarding] this report --
Col. L. R. Sexton's letter of commendation.
Other Titles: Seven Hundred Twenty-Ninth Railway Operating Battalion : 2-1/2 years in Europe, 1943-1945
Responsibility: [J. A. Vargas ... et. al].
copy
US Army, Mil Hist Institute
US Army Heritage & Education Center
CARLISLE, PA 17013 United States
727th Fort Eustis honors little-known WWII service
Last week at Fort Eustis, the Army paid homage to two units that didn’t get a lot of attention, but whose members risked their lives to help win the war.
Meet the 727th Railway Operating Battalion and the Small Ships Section, both honored during the U.S. Army Transportation Conference held at Fort Eustis.
Representing the 727th at the conference was Allen Metzger, a native of Altoona, Pa. and an apprentice for the Pennsylvania Railroad when war broke out. He served throughout North Africa and Europe as one of 43,500 soldier railroaders.
Metzger was a machinist who inspected incoming locomotives, made out work orders on what needed fixing, got people to fix it and inspected the work afterwards. Sounds routine.
But railroaders didn’t have it easy in WWII. Germans were always looking to knock out supply lines, and he had to dodge strafing from an enemy fighter, potshots from a sniper and had one particularly nasty encounter with a bomb.
During a German bombing run, he was working in a pit underneath a locomotive when he felt the shock wave of a blast.
“It picked me up and threw me to the end of the pit, and hit me up against the wall,” he recalled. “In a pit, there’s a lot of water and grease and dirt. I was a mess.”
What happened then? He got cleaned up and went back to work.
“A bombing doesn’t last very long,” he joked.
The Small Ships Section was another little-known transportation service. It made its mark early in the Pacific Theater, when the Japanese were.
It started by conducting amphibious landings and supporting resupply and operational maneuvers during the New Guinea Campaign.
But here’s the thing: These “ships” were whatever was at hand. Motorboats. Tugboats. Sailboats.
Ernest Flint, a native of Australia, enlisted in the ship service when he was 17 years old. Today, he’s president of the U.S. Small Ships Association.
His first boat was a 40-foot wooden tug.
“I always had visions of walking up a gangway. I didn’t,” he said. “I climbed down a ladder.”
The ships ferried supplies to Allied troops and took out the wounded and the dead. During the day, they hid from Japanese aircraft, resting in small inlets and covering their boats with branches or other camouflage.
The inception of the Ship Service was traced to two brothers who had been part of two famous South Seas exploration expeditions in 1934 and 1940. It convinced them that small watercraft were needed for the war in the Pacific.
In December 1941, they recruited members from their own old crew for the duty. One member still survives: Philip Farley, a yachtsman from New York, who attended last week’s conference.
“For a year and a half, we were up and down the coast of New Guinea,” he said.
The civilian ships were armed with 50-caliber machine guns, but that was it. And if you served with Farley, you knew how to stay loose.
“I also was the one who made the best booze for everybody,” he joked.
http://weblogs.dailypress.com/news/local/military/blog/2010/07/fort_eustis_honors_littleknown.html
WK&S Railroad decided to operate thier rare 70-ton Witcombe switcher #602.
On Memorial Day Weekend, the WK&S Railroad decided to operate thier rare 70-ton Witcombe switcher #602.
It was built as part of an order for 99 similar locomotives for the US Army Transportation Corps in 1944. These locomotives were numbered in the 8400-8498 series, bearing Whitcomb serial numbers 60406-60504. They were classified by Whitcomb as 65-DE-19a, the 65 standing for the gross weight in tons, the DE standing for diesel electric drive, and the 19a believed to bear a relationship concerning the production run number from the first run of that particular model. The Army specifications called for a locomotive to be able to run on any european main line, have a top speed of at least 45 mph, and must be capable of operating in multiple unit with similar locomotives.
It was constructed with serial number 60473and bore the number USATC #8467. While no definite information has surfaced, it is believed that #602 was shipped to France or Belgium for use during the war. These locomotives were shipped overseas in three large crates, one each for each assembled truck and one large crate containing the locomotive frame and carbody, totally assembled. From information in a Whitcomb locomotive manual, apparently the locomotives were equipped with standard AAR couplers for shipment to the Port of Embarkation, removed prior to shipment and european couplers applied upon delivery in Europe.
The locomotives served the military well during World War II. Whitcomb received an Army-Navy E Award in January, 1944, for outstanding production of these military locomotives. These locomotives were used to pull the first train into the city of Rome after it was taken from the Germans. They pulled the first train across the Rhine River after the Corp of Engineers rebuilt a bombed out bridge. Whitcomb 65 tonners pulled the first train into Paris after it was liberated by the Allies and pulled the first supply trains and hospital trains into Belgium after that country was taken back by the Allies. While they were cantankerous and somewhat a maintenance headache, particularly the Buda diesel engines, they ran and often ran well.
After VE day in 1945, the USATC decided that many of these Whitcombs were worth rehabilitating and being shipped to the Far East to fight in the war against Japan. 118 of these locomotives were shipped back to the US. By the time the locomotives arrived in the US, the hostilities ended in Japan. They arrived at Hawkins Point, near Baltimore, MD, and were stored pending disposition. With the war over, the US government disposed of these locomotives beginning in 1947. Most of the locomotives were sold through brokers to industrial operations or shortlines. The only modification that occurred to these locomotives was the removal of the european couplers and the installation of bolt-on AAR coupler pockets and couplers. Whitcomb, however, repurchased some of the locomotives. These locomotives were rebuilt and reclassified to 70-DE-26. These rebuilt locomotives now weighed 70 tons and were equipped with wider cabs, side walkway extensions, side handrails, a larger oil reservoir, and spring-equipped draft gear couplers. Most of the rebuilds also had their MU gear removed.
Upon return to the US, #602 was repurchased by Whitcomb and rebuilt to a 70 ton configuration. Gulf Oil Corp. purchased two of these locomotives around 1950 for use at its Port Arthur, Texas refinery. They were numbered 7 and 8. Sometime around 1960, #7 was shipped to Philadelphia, PA to replace a smaller locomotive. It was used to move salt and catalyst cars along Pennypacker Avenue and the package departments black oil rack. In 1979, #8 was shipped to Philadelphia. This was done because parts were becoming scarce, and hence expensive, for Whitcomb locomotives. #8 would be used as a parts engine and never operated in Philadelphia. In 1983, #7 was out of service for an extended period of time and Gulf rented another locomotive. Finally, in 1984, Gulf purchased a Trackmobile and retired #7 permanently. Both locomotives were subsequently donated to the Cornell Railway Historical Society of Cornell, NY, for preservation. Unfortunately, the cost of moving both engines was well beyond the means of the Society and they were offered to the Anthracite Railroads Historical Society, due to the L&NE/Whitcomb connection. In 1987, the WK&S was approached about the possibility of leasing #7. #8 would be scrapped in place as it was partially disassembled. Any salvageable parts from #8 could be removed before scrapping. It was agreed to paint the locomotive in an L&NE paint scheme and renumber the locomotive 602. It was moved to Kempton in the fall of 1988 and rehabilitated for operation in 1989.
