WWII items named after railroads?

What is the military connection with the Paoli Local?

That whole first post confuses me. "UP has 1943 named THE SPIRIT OF THE UP?" Do you mean they named locomotive No. 1943 "The Spirit of the UP?" How is that a connection to a WWII military item?

And isn't Paoli a town in Pennsylvania? If it had a local train, wouldn't the logical name simply be "the Paoli Local? Art's right--where's the military connection, let alone a WWII connection?

What do you mean by a "railroad named military item from WWII?" It sounds like you're looking for military hardware from WWII that uses a railroad name? If that's the case, I can't think of anything off the top of my head.

Maybe the Mikado that a few railroads called Macauther during/after the war?

smd4 posted:

That whole first post confuses me. "UP has 1943 named THE SPIRIT OF THE UP?" Do you mean they named locomotive No. 1943 "The Spirit of the UP?" How is that a connection to a WWII military item?

And isn't Paoli a town in Pennsylvania? If it had a local train, wouldn't the logical name simply be "the Paoli Local? Art's right--where's the military connection, let alone a WWII connection?

What do you mean by a "railroad named military item from WWII?" It sounds like you're looking for military hardware from WWII that uses a railroad name? If that's the case, I can't think of anything off the top of my head.

 

This guy's, i.e. DOMINIC MAZOCH, posts are generally always pretty difficult to understand.

smd4 posted:

That whole first post confuses me. "UP has 1943 named THE SPIRIT OF THE UP?" Do you mean they named locomotive No. 1943 "The Spirit of the UP?" How is that a connection to a WWII military item?

 

UP 1943 comes by in a roundabout nose art sort of way:

BTW: The B-17 was shot down while on its 5th mission October 10, 1943 during a raid over Munster, Germany.

Rusty

Rusty: Very interesting - just learned something! THANKS!  ☺

I love B-17s.

If this is what Dominic meant, then I wish he had just written "There was a B-17 named "The Spirit of the Union Pacific."

But it does seem to meet his requirement of a WWII "military item" with a railroad name. Nice find!

Now, the locomotive doesn't seem to have any relation to WWII, except if you assume the number also refers to a year in the middle of WWII. It's certainly not a "military item."

There's actually an article with some photos in the most recent Keystone on page 80 regarding  the B-24 Liberator named the "Paoli Local"...

Dominic Mazoch posted:

Thete was the PRR PAOLI LOCAL.

Per The Keystone the “Paola Local” was “named by five of the original crew who brought it from the states, all of whom lived in the Philadelphia area, and used to travel on a commuters train, the Paola Local.”

Another  WWII aircraft with a railroad theme name would be

B-24 Chattanooga Choo Choo - shot down over Ploesti 1 August 1943 - one KIA and one WIA crew member - all survivors POW 

Flying Boxcar

The trucking route from the Normandy beachhead (Cherbourg and Arromanches) to the forward logistics base at Chartres to support the eastward advance toward Germany in 1944 was called the "Redball Express" and was run exactly like a railroad.

Only trucks supposed to be there could travel the roads designated as that route. Convoys were run as close to railroad operations as the situation could permit. Each convoy had at least half a dozen trucks, and Ordnance units prowled the roads with wreckers and shop trucks for breakdowns. MPs prowled the area as well, looking for enemy incursions and signs of looting from locals or deserters (which was a real problem in Europe by this time).

Why not just use the railroads already in France? They did as well, but when you have to get stuff along an axis of advance that could change on a moment's notice? You need trucks for that!

Much of these movements were made at night (as the ground forces didn't trust AAF boasts of complete air supremacy on the continent at that time) and many of the drivers were African-American.

By the time the allies got the port of Antwerp working (and the remainder of the French rail and pipe networks were up and running), the Red Ball express officially ceased to exist. It lasted less than 90 days.

is there anything associated with the military that doesn't take a slew of TRAINing?

Firewood posted:

Bockscar, or Bock's Car, was named after Captain Frederick Bock so I'm not sure if it was really railroad inspired.  Because of its name, it got a boxcar as part of its nose art.

This aircraft, commanded by Major Charles Sweeney due to a last minute plane swap, did drop the second atomic bomb on Nagasaki.  

Paoli was also the scene of a massacre of American Continentals in their sleep by British Regulars.

Couple quick items:

1. As I understand it, the "Spirit of Union Pacific" was purchased using only the proceeds from war bonds purchased by UP employees during 1942-43. The current locomotive is commemorating the 75th anniversary of that event.

2. Another reason trucks were necessary in western Europe during the war is that between Allied bombing and Germany's "scorched Earth" policy, most rail lines had been destroyed.

Clarence Siman posted:

Paoli was also the scene of a massacre of American Continentals in their sleep by British Regulars.

During WWII?  That’s horrible!  

The Battle of Paoli (also known as the Battle of Paoli Tavern or the Paoli Massacre) was a battle in the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War fought on September 20, 1777, in the area surrounding present-day Malvern, Pennsylvania.

Ok, that was a wee bit  before WWII even in dinosaur years. 

Informative historic military-themed thread!