[PRCo] Re: Troop trains

[Dwight Long]

       Herb   Back in 1957 I was returning east from Rolla, Mo., on the
Frisco's loc= al passenger train, and we went into the hole at least once,
and I think tw= ice, for a very long troop train.  I learned later that it
was headed = to Ft. Leonard Wood.   Dwight

May 9, 2011 05:29:17 PM, pittsburgh-railways at dementi= a.org wrote:
In the Summer= of 1964 I had a "seasonal" job with the City of Akron, Street
&Hig= hway Dept, as a laborer on a McAdam paving crew. We had a three day
job,= in mid-August, on a city street which ran along side the main
east-westrailroad tracks. These tracks served the Eire-Lackawanna, Baltimore
&= Ohio
and the Pennsylvania railroads. Every day we worked on that street = we saw
troop train after troop train headed westbound. All the trains us= ed the
1930s Pullman cars you speak about. Just a few months later in Ap= ril, 1965
I
departed, like your brother, on a TWA flight headed for BCT = and AIT, as a
Combat Engineer, at Ft Leonard Wood, MO.



On= Sun, May 8, 2011 at 22:52, Bob Rathke wrote:
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>A couple of follow-ups, Fred:
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>= - In March, 1963 I took my brother to Greater Pittsburgh Airport where
he>boarded a TWA Constellation for his induction in the Army at Ft. Kn= ox.
>Attached is a photo of my brother about to enter the door, look= ing back
>toward the camera.
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>By 1964= -67, the Defense Department was sending a greater number of
>Pittsbu= rgh inductees to basic training on trains from the PRR and P&LE
>= stations. I took photos of the 1930's Pullman cars kept in those
stations>for use on the inductee trains.
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>- L= ast Fall, my uncle told me about his rail trip to basic training in
1942> (previously, he had never talked about his WWII experiences). His dad=

>accompanied him to the P&LE station that day where he boarded = a B&O train
to
>Washington, D.C., and then on to an Army base in= the South. Hhe said his
>parents (my grandparents) didn't know that= he enlisted in the Army - they
>always thought that he had been dra= fted.
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>Last Fall he talked freely about his = experiences in the U.S. and Pacific
>1942-45, and I furiously took n= otes on everything he said.
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>Bob
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&gt= ;
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>----- Original Message -----
&= gt; From: "Fred Schneider" 
>To: pittsburgh= -railways at dementia.org
>Sent: Sunday, May 8, 2011 10:40:38 AM
&gt= ; Subject: [PRCo] Re: Pennsylvania RR Heritage Passenger Train
>
&= gt; Back on October 8th, 1958, I entered the army. The local recruiter
(yes= ,
>guys, RA stood for ragged ass) gave me a ticket to Harrisburg on = the
Pennsy.
>My parents were on the station platform in Lancaster to= say good-bye.
>And dad had one last picture of the train disappeari= ng west with one of
>those Pennsy business cars on the rear end of n= umber 25.
>
>That was one hellish long day. Hours of processin= g and finally a bus to
>Philadelphia and another bus to Fort Dix. An= d then standing in formation
for
>an hour. Finally some a-hole serge= ant comes out of a building and says,
>"Oh, you guys still here. Wel= l maybe we do something." And he sent us to
>dinner at 11 PM for wha= t was left over in the reception center. Then to
>bed at 1 AM. Then = they woke us up again at 4 a.m. to tell us we were in
>the army now.= 
>
>Thanks Bob, for the memories.
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-- 
Herb Brannon
In Cuyah= oga Valley National Park