770th ROB WPYR goes khaki Thunderbird Vol1 no1 2013

7/30/2019 770th ROB WPYR goes khaki Thunderbird Vol1 no1 2013

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WP&YR goes Khaki770th R.O.B. PAGE by Boerries Burkhardt and Mike Peltier

The history of the United States Military

Railway Service goes back to January 31,

1862 when Congress gave President

Lincoln authority to place the country's

telegraph lines and railroads under military

control when he judged the public safety

required it. On February 11, 1862, D.C.

McCallum, the General Superintendent of

the Erie Railroad was appointed Brigadier

General , Mi l i tary Director andSuperintendent of Railroads in the United

States, by Secretary of War, Edwin M.

Stanton. This included the authority to

"take possession of, hold and use all

Railroads, engines, cars, locomotives,

equ i pmen t s , appendage s and

appurtenances, that may be required for

the transport of troops, arms, ammunition

and military supplies of the United States."

After the War Between the States, by

Executive Order on August 8, 1865, the

Military Railway Service ceased its control

over any Railroads in the United States.

After the Spanish-American war, between

1899 and 1917 was a very peaceful time

for the Military Railway Service, howeverpeaceful times came to halt in May 1917

when the M.R.S. was mobilized to support

the Allied Forces in the First World War

(1914-1918). The M.R.S. force comprised

nine regiments: 5 constructions, 3

operating and a shop regiment.

Regiments were commanded by a Colonel


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of the Corps of Engineers, and the

Executive Officers were experienced and

practical railroad men in the rank of

Lieutenant Colonel. Fifty-one M.R.S. units

with 69,000 men served overseas during

WWI.

Drawing from the experience in WWI, the

M.R.S. was reorganized from regiments to

battalions based on the organization of

American railroads where a Division

Superintendent is in charge of all

departments: track and bridges,

locomotives and cars, and the operation of

trains. Thus the basic unit for the M.R.S.

was a battalion of four companies: "A"

Company was 2 platoons of trackmen and1 platoon of bridge carpenters; "B"

Company was a 2 platoon roundhouse

force and a rip track" platoon for the

repair of cars; the largest was "C"

Company, the operating company

consisting of train crews. A fourth

Company the Headquarters and Service

Company provided dispatchers, operators,

and telephone line repairmen, plus men for

messing, housing and supply operations.

American railroad divisions are grouped

into districts headed by a General

Superintendent, and districts are grouped

into regions under the jurisdiction of a

General Manager. General Managers

report to the Vice-President in Charge of

Operations. Thus the M.R.S. was organized

with Railway Grand Divisions under

Superintendents, reporting to a Manager

in command of four M.R.S. departments:

Maintenance of Way and Structures,

Maintenance of Equipment, Operation, and

Stores. In February 1939 Colonel Carl R.

Gray Jr. was transferred from command of

the 326 Combat Engineers 101 Division

and assigned to duty as the Manager,

Military Railway Service, with the rank of

Brigadier General. General Gray served in

that capacity with full authority to effect

transfers and distribution of men and

material throughout WW2. He was

promoted to Major General and became

the Director General, supreme commander

of the Military Railway Service in 1945.This article is drawn from General Carl

Gray's book Railroading in Eighteen

Countries, The Story of American Railroad

Men Serving in the Military Railway Service

1862 to 1953. Charles Scribner's Sons,

New York, 1955 and individual interviews.

Story continues with the lease of the WP&Y

to the United States Military.

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FEBRUARY 5, 1943

Rotary plow with engines 81 and 62 in

charge of the writer, were held atCarcross from 10:30 AM, February 5th

until 12:15 PM, February 6th, awaiting

improvement in storm conditions, at

which time it was decided that weather

was such as to make possible the

efficient operation of the rotary.

All other traffic was held at terminals

until line could be cleared by rotary.

FEBRUARY 6, 1943

Southbound Rotary: Rotary fleet with

engines 81 and 62, while passing over

north Fraser Loop switch, derailed lead

engine trucks and all drivers of engine

62 due to wide gauge of track at frog.

Moderate wind from the north with

temperature 30 degrees below zero.

Northbound Rotary: At 2:11 PM Rotary

extra 66-69 left the shops and plowed

up as far as Mile Post 16.5. On account

of heavy snow and very high winds still

blowing on the hill, they were unable to

get through and returned to Glacier

where they tied up for the night.

FEBRUARY 7, 1943

Storm conditions increased. Very strong

winds from the north with temperature

30 degrees below zero. Unable to rerail

engine 62 at Fraser Loop switch due to

severe weather conditions. Engines ran

low on water and it was necessary to

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"snow-up". An attempt was made to

return rotary fleet engines 66-69 from

Glacier to Shops but was unsuccessful

due to bad snow drifts near Mile Post

11. Engine 256 was dispatched from

Shops at 12:17 PM to plow out line to

Glacier and enable Rotary to return to

shops. Rotary and Engine 256 arrived

at Shops at 3:10 PM.

To be continued.

WP&YR Weekly Report (1943) Hq.

770th R.O. Detachmend

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STEA

ENGINE 72

Officially retired in 1964 and used as a stationary boiler from 1964 to 1969. Not offic

were many runs of the engine by it self down to the Skagway depot during this tim

Jack Hoyt former Manager was so angry about this, that he chained the engine a

tender to the rail. Mostly damaged in the major Skagway roundhouse fire at Septem

1969. All but its chassis was scrapped in 1974. The chassis was sold to Silver Do

City in 1977. S.D.C. sold out to Dollywood in 1986. Chassis scrapped in 1999. T

frame still exists at Dollywood. Her drivers are now under engine #70. In the back

see former WP&YR engineer Occi Selmer at his cabin near the Whitehorse enginehou

Builder Built No. Type Tecnical Data

Baldwin Locomotive

Works

May 1947 73351 2-8-2 Tracfive effort21,600 lbf (96 kN)

Baldwin #72 at Whitehorse. Boerries Burkhardt Collection


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Maybe the last time forever at Whitehorse YT in Sept. 1982. Burkhardt Collection

WHITEHORSE, YT 1982 WHSE


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Vol 1 No 21 Thursday January 15, 1953

Superintendent Of White Pass on

Trip to States

Mr. J.C. Hoyt Superintendent of the

White Pass and Yukon Route left onTuesdays train for Whitehorse. Mrs.

Hoyt left the following day to join him

in Whitehorse. From there they flew to

the states on Thursday; Mrs. Hoyt toSeattle, Portland and Namoa, Idaho to

visit relative; and Mr. Hoyt east to Erie

Pennsylvania to see about the purchase

of diesel engines.

August 12, 1905

Jumped Track

Locomotive on W.P.&Y. Road Goesto Bottom of Canyon Near Summit

A most thrilling accident and narrowescape of two men from death occurred

shortly after midnight this morning on

the White Pass & Yukon railroad about

two miles south of the summit andbetween the big suspension steel bridge

and the tunnel when locomotive 66

jumped the track and dashed down therough and rocky mountain side to thebottom of the canyon several hundred

feet below.

Engineer Simpson and Fireman Jerry

Moriarty saved their lives by jumping

just as the engine left the track. Theformer escaped without a scratch but

the latter was injured somewhat by

being thrown heavily upon the ground

as he jumped.No. 66 had come out from Skagway asone of the helpers of the night freight

train, three engines always being

employed to bring heavy trains to the

summit. It was on its way back to

Skagway when the accident occurred.

One report is that the track spread and

another is that a bridge which had just

been finished gave away. We her it will

be possible to recover the engine orwhether it is worth recovering afterrolling down the rugged mountain side,

has not been learned.

This is the first accident of the kind

which ever occurred on the White Pass

railroad during upward of then yearsoperation.
http://www.whitepassfan.net/whitepass/history/historicalnewspaper/whitehorsestar/ws19050720.html


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EDITOR:

THE THUNDERBIRD

Boerries Burkhardt

Maschmuehlenweg 105

D-37081 Goettingen

Germany

Phone: +49 (551) 296-3488

Fax: +49 (551) 296-3489

Email: [email protected]

Internet: http://www.TheThunderbird.net

Contributors :

Cone, Lauriston VT / USA

Forero , Robert A. NJ / USA

Johnson, Eric L. Vancouver B.C. / CAN

Motis, Deane E. Seattle WA / USA

Peltier, Mike Whitehorse YT / CAN

Mulvihill, Carl E. Skagway, AK / USA

www.whitepassfan.net

www.TheThunderbird.net

Documents

770th ROB WPYR goes khaki Thunderbird Vol1 no1 2013