[PRCo] Re: Troop trains

[Fred Schneider]

On my last trip east from Texas, the army of course paid me.   Another guy in the barracks, who was also being transferred to Europe at the same time, decided to try hitching rides with me and pocketing the money.  Of course two guys don't get picked up as fast as one.

He finally gave up waiting in dispair at Rolla and walked into town to catch a Greyhound.  

Later that day I was standing on a street in St. Louis when his bus rolled into town.   I saw it.   I saw him looking out the window.   We waved. 


On May 10, 2011, at 12:16 AM, Bob Rathke wrote:

> 
> I remember stopping at the Post House in Rolla (RAWL-Luh) on a cross-country Greyhound trip in 1962. 
> 
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> 
> Bob 
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> 
> ----- 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.  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: 
>>> 
>>> 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 
>>> 
>> = > 
>>> 
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>>> 
>>> 
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>>> 
>>> 
>> &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. 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> -- A= ttached file removed by Ecartis and put at URL below -- 
>>> -- Type: im= age/gif 
>>> -- Size: 188k (192970 bytes) 
>>> -- URL : 
>>> http:= 
>> // 
>> lists.dementia.org/files/pittsburgh-railways/TWAConstJackStairs63.jpg.gif= 
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>> 
>> 
>> -- 
>> Herb Brannon 
>> In Cuyah= oga Valley National Park 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
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> 
> -- 
> Herb Brannon 
> In Cuyahoga Valley National Park 
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