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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
20
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Page 21
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.html7/30/2019 770th ROB WPYR goes khaki Thunderbird Vol1 no1 2013
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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