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WWII troop train

916 views 3 replies 3 participants last post by  Jscullans 
#1 ·
I’m thinking about possibly modeling a world war 2 era troop train and was wondering what type of passenger cars would have been on those consists. We’re they all coach and all heavyweight cars or? Due to my grandfather fighting in both world war 2 and Korea I would like to model one and make all cars name cars for places he served and his ranks and the years he served. All veterans that read this thank you for your service!!!
 
#3 ·
Jscullans;

The type of cars used varied a lot. There were troop cars like those shown in the previous reply by Lehigh74. They were made from converted boxcars, and were rough riding. There were "troop sleepers" with cots 3-4 layers high, troop kitchen, and troop ambulance variants. However, most troops rode in the same Pullman sleepers, or day coaches, used in normal passenger service.
During the war, it was common for troops to be given priority, and civian travel was discouraged, to save seats for military use. There were even posters reading, "Is this trip really necessary?" Troops got priority on the Pullman cars, and civilian passenger might be relegated to day coaches. Passenger trains were packed to capacity too.

Traction Fan 🙂
 
#4 ·
I was watching old films of wartime trains on YouTube and it looked like they were all old heavyweight cars. I already have a bunch of them I can make into troop carriers. I think a 10-15 car consist of the cars would be neat. I can come up with that many things to tie to my grandfather to make that an achievable goal. Maybe when I’m done with the passenger train I’ll do an army equipment train. That could be neat too
 
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