Great thread going on here about those Army Whitcomb's, as for the previous post, those pages were taken out of R. Tourret's book entitled "Allied Military Locomotives of the Second World War", a great book on Allied WWII military locomotives. http://www.tourretpublishing.com/AlliedMilitaryLocomotivesOfWW2.htm Another book that has some interesting Whitcomb WWII pictures is DeNevi & Hall's "UNITED STATES MILITARY RAILWAY SERVICE" http://www.alibris.com/United-States-Military-Railway-Service-America-s-Soldier-Railroaders-in-WWII-Don-DeNevi/book/23553467 Mark Perry
Three interesting Whitcomb photos for your viewing pleasure. Longmoor Military Railway 71232 in the UK in 9-49 First train into Rome 7-44 Close up side view of a USATC Whitcomb in Europe in WWII
Unbelievable the quality of the photo of the first train into Rome. Where on earth did you find it and THANK YOU !!! Steve
Three photos from the Tourret book ALLIED MILITARY LOCOMOTIVES OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR USA 7981 in Germany in 4-45 USA 7987 being loaded on a ship in the UK bound for France, in the summer of 1944 USA 8810 at the Hoover Dam in Nevada in 1950
The LMR was a training railway for the British Army, it was finally closed in the late 60's. They had two USA Whitcombs that had seen prior service in the Middle East during WWII. WD 890 "Tobruk" and 891 "Algiers", both were scrapped by 1957.
Does Tourret cite his sources for anything in his book? I have a shared copy of a chapter (61) on Whitcombs that has zero sources cited. My research has shown many false claims about Whitcomb and I am a stickler about documentation. Steve
Nothing from Tourret that I know of but he dug this information up from some where and he should have stated where. As I write my history I will document just about every sentence so anyone who cares can verify everything for themselves. I have chased down so many false claims that I intend not to do the same for any future researcher. Steve
Just found this photograph. The first color photo of a Whitcomb from WW II. "Brig. Gen. Carl R. Gray, Director Gen. of Allied Military Railroad Division shakes hands with Col. Charles Poletti, A.M.G. Commissioner on arrival of first train at Rome since Allied occupation. July 4, 1944 " I am trying to contact the forum member to find where this came from. I found it in this forum: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=5990908&postcount=17552 Steve
I just found where the image came from: http://historylink101.com/ww2_color/WorldWarIITransportation/IMG_1176.html Steve
Interesting to see it sitting under catenary. I wonder when electrified operations were restored? Probably took a while to patch that up.
I didn't even notice the wires overhead. I believe that there was no electricity in Rome after the Germans left. The Nazis destroyed the power generation before retreating and the Allies brought in generators and the first train had a load of coal for power. Steve