[PRCo] Re: Troop trains

[Bob Rathke]

I remember stopping at the Post House in Rolla (RAWL-Luh) on a cross-country Greyhound trip in 1962. 



Bob 






----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Herb Brannon" <hrbran at cavtel.net> 
To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org 
Sent: Monday, May 9, 2011 9:46:25 PM 
Subject: [PRCo] Re: Troop trains 

I haven't heard that towns name mentioned in quite a few years. 1957 was 
almost a decade before my time there but I doubt if it changed very much. 
On Mon, May 9, 2011 at 21:02, Dwight Long <dwightlong at verizon.net> wrote: 

>       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. Â I learned later that it 
> was headed = to Ft. Leonard Wood. Â  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: 
> > 
> >A couple of follow-ups, Fred: 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> >= - 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. 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> >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. 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> >- 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. 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> >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. 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> >Bob 
> > 
> = > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> &gt= ; 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> >----- 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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> >-- URL : 
> >http:= 
> // 
> lists.dementia.org/files/pittsburgh-railways/TWAConstJackStairs63.jpg.gif= 
> 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Herb Brannon 
> In Cuyah= oga Valley National Park 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 


-- 
Herb Brannon 
In Cuyahoga Valley National Park