Fred Klein,
2003, 2016
The very high volume of freight and passenger rail traffic during World War II is a well known fact, as is the fact that existing passenger cars were very highly utilized. To increase the troop movement capacity of the railroads, the U.S. Office of Defense Transportation contracted with Pullman to build 2,400 troop sleepers and with ACF to build 440 troop kitchen cars. Troop trains used a variety of coaches, standard Pullman cars and troop sleepers as were available. Initially, the trains may have stopped at railroad diners for food, had regular diner cars, or employed baggage cars as temporary kitchens. Food eaten on the train was served to troops at their seats or in their bunks. A train with troop sleepers for enlisted men, full size Pullmans for the officers, and kitchen cars for food service was an ideal consist for efficiency and cost.
A Pennsylvania Railroad troop train with a typical consist of troop sleepers, a kitchen car, and a standard, full size Pullman at the rear (photo from Model Railroader, Dec. 2001, page 88).
A Union Pacific 4-6-6-4 leads a troop train eastbound in California in 1946. George M. Speir photo.
Troop
train with troop sleepers and kitchen car, first portion.
It is possible to model the Pennsylvania Railroad troop train in the photo nearly exactly in N scale. The locomotive is a Pennsylvania 4-6-2 K4 Pacific. The model was made by Trix and was decorated by Con-cor for inclusion in their Pennsylvania Merchandise service collector set. It has the squarish Belpaire firebox a PRR steamer should have, and is fairly prototypical.
The Model Railroader articles on troop sleepers (Dec. 2001) and kitchen cars (Feb. 2002), and the issuance of these two cars by Microtrains in 2003 made running N scale troop trains an easy matter of buying cars and putting them on the layout. The troop cars are as prototypical as one can get in N scale.
Troop
train with troop sleepers and kitchen car, second portion.
The kitchen car was in mid-consist. Troops were served in their seats or bunks by carrying meals through the train. More troop sleepers followed the kitchen car. This train (as documented in the photo above) ends with a full size Pullman car. The officers would be in the Pullman car with the highest ranks in the best rooms. This model is the only type of plastic heavyweight Pullman available in N scale, a 12-section /1-drawing room car that was one of the most common types in the 1920’s and 1930’s. I redecorated the Rivarossi car with decals for Pullman’s “Centacre”.
Model Railroader magazine, Kalmbach publications, Dec. 2001 (page 88) and Feb. 2002 (page 80).
DeNevi, Don, America’s Fighting Railroads, A World War II pictorial history, Pictorial Histories Publishing Co., 1996.
BACK TO THE PAGE OF PASSENGER TRAINS
