Railfanning in Iraq

[corporaldan]

These pics were taken when i was in the marines and spent some time in iraq. i was other there in 2003 for the beginning of operation iraqi freedom. i was in the third battalion , fifth marine regiment , first marine division. these pics were taken in the town known as al diwaniyah. this town was about sixty miles south of baghdad. when the war started our job as infantrymen was to clear all the roads to baghdad of enemy resistance. our first mission was to capture the ramalah oil fields in southern iraq, then it was a race to beat the army to baghdad. from what i hear the marines encountered more enemy resistance then the army did.
After we took baghdad we pushed north to samarra. in that same town on the same day there was a marine recon unit that rescued the american army pow's that were being held there. one of them was the black female pow , cant remember her name now, but i remember her face on news.
When president Bush declared major combat operations over we were sent south to al diwaniyah to do security missions and to protect this town. I was in India company and we were tasked with guarding an iraqi bank and doing foot patrols in the city. when we first arrived there the 82nd airborne was guarding the town, we relieved them and they pushed north on trucks. i was pretty happy with the compound they had for us cause there was an iraqi rail yard right outside our fenceline. i would take my foot patrols through there just for some fun and of course to do some railfanning. here is a pic of me on a flat car with a russian t-55 tank. the locomotive looked like an sd-9 but inside the cab it said it was made in west germany. the other equipment looked like sperry maintenance of way equipment. from what i remember the iraqis had pretty good track with concrete ties. i even got to see one train travel over the rails. it was one engine and about twenty covered hoppers. sorry no pics of the train. hope you all enjoy. one other neat thing was Trains magazine did an article on iraqi railroads and low and behold they had some pics of al diwaniya in the magazine. i cant remember when that magazine came out, it may have been in 2004.

[corporaldan]

heres the pics

[corporaldan]

heres the maintenance of way equipment

[E-8]

Interesting. Thanks for posting.

Charlie

[Stourbridge Lion]

[fitz]

Dan, that was very interesting. They must have had some pretty modern equipment there as your photos show. Thank you for your service there, keeping us civilians safe.

[OC Engineer JD]

Awesome Dan! Your friendship and service to this country will always be top notch in my book!

[corporaldan]

Here is another pic of me. now this is not railroad related , this is just a pic of me sitting in a hole i dug waiting for the war to begin. This pic was taken about six hours before we crossed the line of departure and started the war.

[Hytec]

Dan, Thank you for your service, and also for your photos. The former is admirable and commendable, the latter is just plain neat 'cause it's RR related.

[JCater]

Dan, I am struck by the fact that aside from it being a war zone this could be almost anywhere. I am glad that you were able to get some railfanning in in what must have been a terribly stressful situation. Thanks for sharing those!!