battle train

[andrewd]

so I have a ton of rail cars that look like they are for a battle train what should I use for guns and solders all ideas welcome

[Doneldon]

Andrew-

You can use any 1:87 figures or war materiel which fit the era you're modeling.

Bachmann has both Union and Confederate Civil War sets which include a bunch of figures and, I think, two cannons. There are lots of modern military vehicles available from many different countries. There's also a good supply of older war materiel, especially for World War II. Although I haven't made an explicit survey, my strong impression is that the variety of available models increases as you move closer in history. For example, there isn't much for pre American Civil War military modeling but there's plenty of contemporary military equipment around.

Purchase motive power for your era as well. You might want to repaint the locos to look military if you plan to model Europe or anyplace else outside of the US. Virtually all of the materiel which moved(s) on US railroads was hauled by regular railroads with their usual paint jobs. The Navy and Army had a few small switchers which they used around big supply depots of port facilities but they only rarely went out on regular rights-of-way.

This sounds like a fun project. I'm working on a display of the railroad's role in the Civil War. There's sufficient merchandise to do this effectively, but barely.
                                                                 -- D

[rogertra]

Rich.

Not only hand-laid track but hand-laid stub switches into the bargain.

Well I'm impressed. 

[jonathan]

Love that camel!

Show us more, Rich. 

Regards,

Jonathan

[jonathan]

Thanks for that, Rich. That a great looking locomotive.

I have aspirations of building a camel one day.  You have given me some ideas to work with.

Regards,

Jonathan

[andrewd]

I meant world war 2 era equipment and should I try legos

[Jerrys HO]

Rich
That's a great looking attention grabber! I have seen a lot of pics of the camel back but never really had one reach out and grab me like yours did.
Now could you tell it to let go. I have enough honey train do's to last a life time.

Jerry

[Doneldon]

I have seen a lot of pics of the camel back but never really had one reach out and grab me like yours did.

Jerry-

Rich's loco is a Winan's Camel, not a camelback; those were somewhat similar but later locomotives used on (mostly) eastern railroads. They had their cab over the boiler, but mainly on the sides, not perched almost on top. This allowed more room for the firebox and the use of very hard, slow burning coal while preserving good visibility for the engineer. The fireman stood pretty much in the open on a platform between the firebox and tender. Improving steam engine technology and lingering safety concerns led the ICC to prohibit camelbacks in the 1920s. Although there are very few Winan's Camel models, camelbacks with various wheel arrangements are readily available. There are several nice brassies and Mantua sold I think two or maybe even three different camelback models.

                                                                                                                                                 -- D

[andrewd]

can we just get back to the main topic please what should I do

[Doneldon]

can we just get back to the main topic please what should I do

Andrew-

I guess we do, to a point, deserve the rebuke. But I have to remind you that both Rich and I asked you to give us a bit more information so we could answer your query in barely more than an hour but you waited three days to reply to that. Yes, your topic got hijacked but you were also quite dilatory about supplying the information we needed to give you a meaningful answer.

But back to the issue ...

There are tons and tons of period appropriate items for World War II model railroading. As a start, check these items on Walther's web site:

http://www.walthers.com/exec/search?manu=&item=&words=restrict&split=30&category=Military&scale=H&instock=Q&keywords=WWII&start=390

You might also go to eBay, search toys and hobbies, go on to model railroading, select HO and then do a search for military or WWII. You can also search on various online hobby shops. DO NOT expect to find everything with a single, simple search. For example, even the Walther's search is incomplete. It didn't come up with Walther's own troop sleepers from WWII. (In fairness to Walther's, maybe WWII should have been spelled out or maybe they are no longer in production.

                                                                                                                                                          -- D

[rogertra]

can we just get back to the main topic please what should I do

Andrew.

I agree with Doneldon's post to some of your other threads.  You seem to be expecting us to do your leg work.  it's one thing to ask for help when you've reached a dead end and tell us that but you are expecting us to do all your research.

You need to get off your butt and do some of your own.  Learn how to use Google for a start.

[uscgtanker]

If you want more tanks I found flames of war tanks are very close to scale. The figures are a little small and they all need to be painted. The tanks are resin and steel the new molds are plastic, some assembly required and paint but they look really nice.

[Woody Elmore]

Much American equipment was shipped using regular rail flat cars supplied by the various railroads. I don't think that the USA had "battle"trains (whatever that means). The railroads also were moving Pullman Company troop sleepers although my dad told me of stories of crowded coaches with the aisles filled with sleeping GIs and duffel bags.

Revell made some nifty WW II gear ages ago - I think it was all quarter inch scale.

The germans had armored trains and I suppose so did the Soviets.

You can also research railway guns.

[ryeguyisme]

In the second world war, the US did have some coastal railguns for protection on the home front, but they weren't given much attention since nothing really came with the exception of a U-Boat in the NY Harbor. Rail travel for the Military was like a beehive of activity, all the roads were regulated under the military board for the war effort and restrictions were put in place as well. I'm building up a Military Train and so for a have three Pullman Troop cars mixed in with heavyweights, and I'm wondering a good way to get like 6 or 7 flatcars together with Jeeps Shermans and Halftracks tied down to them. I model 1920's to the 50' but primarily I model the wartime era.

[Doneldon]

Woody-

The allies didn't have much need for battle trains or even armored trains because there were few threats from the air after D-Day. I'm sure the Brits ran some armored trains and were careful to limit lights and things but most of the munitions which fell on England after the Battle of Britain were V-1 and V-2 rockets which were blind fliers. Of course the US had no such trains because North America had only the barest minimum military threat. I do believe trains on the west coast were blacked out early in the war due to fears that the Japanese would invade. It was actually the east coast which should have been blacked out because the illuminated cities provided perfect silhouettes of the coastal shipping for the German U-boats which had essentially free run of the eastern seaboard during the first year or so of the war.

This is certainly not to say that the US didn't have LOTS of military trains. There were endless freights carrying war materiel to the coasts for shipment overseas and a whole lot of troop trains as well.

My father was a dining car steward on the NYC during the war. Although he had been in both the cavalry (!) and the Navy, he failed his induction physical due to a back injury sustained when another sailor tied a slip knot on my dad's hammock (enlisted men slept in hammocks in those days) and he fell unprotected to the deck. Anyway, he worked hard and long on the trains. He was often gone for ten days to two weeks or more with no communication home as his location was top secret. He was sometimes able to let my mother know he was to be at a Chicago station, perhaps with less than an hour's notice, so she could see him and give him clean clothes. He wasn't allowed off of the trains and she was prohibited from climbing aboard so they ordinarily just talked at a window and my mom would pass up the clean clothes. When he did manage to get home he had to leave town to avoid the railroad. They lived in an apartment building owned by my maternal grandmother and the railroad knew to call her if my parents didn't answer the phone. She would take the message about where and when he was to report back to work. I guess it was a real struggle for the folks at home though nothing like what the soldiers faced.

There were lots of battle trains during the Civil War. Both sides realized the value of rail transportation and communication so they did their best to interfere with it. Most trains at least had a heavy but unloaded car at the front to set off IEDs on the tracks so the main train would be OK. Sometimes the front car had riflemen or artillery but that risked being blown up. Various flatcars and box cars were rigged as fighting cars for both infantry and artillery. And the largest mortars had to be moved by train as they were far too heavy to be pulled any distance by horses or mules. These mortars were often fired from the flat cars on which they were carried. Sometimes the army built a siding with a curved track so the mortars could be shifted, enabling them to reach a much wider area than if they were just fired from straight track. This also got them out of the way of other trains which needed to use the track.

                                                                                                                                                 -- D