Nostalgia & History > Ft.Eustis Military Rail

Info. wanted on what if anything is left of the Fort Eustis Railroad in Virginia. I spent a year in 1964 1965 going to transporatain school while in the Army, and was able to photograph meany steam and diesel trains running around the post. From what I remember hole thing quite opertaing in the early 70`s Going back to the area in late September, would like any input.

I spent 67 & 68 in the 714th TBROS&DE,Company C. A Co. worked on the track, B Co. worked on the rolling stock and C Co. operated the trains. There was over 45 miles of track. There was the "Lee Hall" Subdivision, Mulberry Subdivision, James Subdivision. There was an interlocking tower where they all came together. We interchanged off Post at Lee Hall on the C&O. At Hanks Yard they had an engine house where they "Worked" on the engines and ayard full of old cars of all types. They had two trains that were all euro type couplers and a couple of combo cars with AAR on one end and hook & loop on the other. They did have regulat air brakes. There were at least 10 diesels and 4 steam engines. Only two of the steamers were ever running, the 606 & 612. Of all the diesels, only two, the 2036 & 2037, SW8s, were allowed to go to Lee Hall. The rest were in violation of too many FRA rules. The FRA usually had one of the SW8s B/O.

When I left there I was one of only 3 EMs left, qualified to operate the steam engines.There was a big stink connected to those engines. The Army had them buit by Baldwin in the 50s. They were all coal burners but all had tanks that would slide into the coal bunkers to convert them to oil. The problem the Army got into was they wanted them built after all the companies in the US had long ended steam engine construction. The cost, I was told, was about what it would have taken to purchase 4 diesels for every steamer. They were hand fired. I still have a Rule book with the whistle signals you had to use at Wye Tower to get the right lin up. The signals were really something too. About 6 pot signals all stacked on top of each other with no rhyme or reason of the indications. It would read from the top down like: Green/Black/Red/Yellow/Green/Black. That may have been the line up from Lee Hall to Hanks Yard. Weird but then again, it was the Army.

I have an old line up for December 1, 1967. It reads like this:

Range Trn -0930 Lee Hall 0500 Hanks-0730 Test Eng-0645
Eng # 2074 Eng#2036 Eng#4001 Eng#1819

The crews were added under each engine assignment and were changed at 1300Hrs to a different crew.

Nudge

I was there two years ago. There is a militaary transportation museum near the fort's front gate. It's very interesting. Gerry

Hey, its been a few years. I found my Army Timetable, No. 8, "Effective Sunday 6 August 1967 at 0001 HRS"

There was the James River Subdivision, That ran from Hanks Yard, via Engr Coal Yard, Wagner, Miles, Doanbrook Spur, Bates, King, Kramer, Wye Tower and O'Brien.

The Mulberry Island Subdivision, That ran from Wye Tower, via Bevers, Mulberry Switch, Patton, Kenny, King Jct, Sealock and McNelis.

The Industrial Subdivision, That ran from Wye Tower, via Heating Plant No. 2701, Chessie, Port Jct, James & Lee Hall Jct. (C&O)

The Port Branch ran from Port Jct via Heating Plant 227, Heating Plant 801, Aavala Spur & Port.

There were spurs to the Hospital Heating Plant, it had a steep ramp at the end you had to shove cars up on to, an 8% grade. The engineer spur that went into a very nice railroad shop with drop pits and everything, but it was used to train copter troops and was never used in the time I was there. There was of course a few spurs into the commissary.

There were signals out on the subdivisions but the were controlled by the station operators. They were called Fixed Home Signals. Never saw any of them work except the one at James.

I was off on the Interlocking signals but they still never made any sence. Here are just two examples.(Read signal from Top to Bottom)
From Chessie to:______________

O'Brein B/B/B/R R=Red Y=Yellow G=Green B=Black

Kramer B/G/G/B

Mulberry Crossover Y/B/B/B

Engr Spur B/Y/B/Y

T- School R/B/B/B

From O'Brein To:______________

Chessie B/R/B

Eng T School G/B/G

Krammer B/Y/Y or R/B/B

I could go on but you get my point. The tower was a regular Electric Lever Lock that was used in places like 4th St in SF, Dayton in LA.

The diesel engines we had were MRS-1s, EMDs & Alcos. They had steam generators in the short hood and ran long end forward. There were two BLHs that showed up from Ogden. They were a little engine, I think the Sacto Museum has one. And the two SW8s. We would go through window glass in the firemans door on the SW8s on a regular basis because a lot of time we had to make a drop at Lee Hall Jct. The only way we could get the engines to make transition, so we could get away from the drop, was to slam the firemans door, hard.

The steamers were 2-8-0s, coal burning, hand fired. When I got there they had me sign for a watch, a 45, field jacket liner, etc, and a big shovel. I told the guy in supply I might be the new guy but hey, steam engines & shovels went the way of the horse & buggy in the 50s. The next morning I was at Hanks yard looking at what was not supposed to exist.
What an education. The worst part was the guys that did the teaching only knew what they had been taught, which wasn't much. The test cocks on both engines were frozen shut, you couldn't use them. Same as the blow down cock on the one water glass. I was told that you put the reverser all the way in forward to go forward and the same for reverse. I worked my way up from a fireman to an engineer. You really had to shovel the hell out of it just to get half way around post. By then the steam pressure would be down to 90 pounds and the air comp would quit and you would come to stop. You would sit for 30 minutes or so getting it back to 150 PSI and off you would go again. On Armed Forces Day, we would have two fireman because one couldn't keep up.

Well, I was the engineer one day and we left Hanks Yard for King Jct. I had and old E-7 as an RFE that day that had just shipped in from Germany and was getting out in a few weeks. He came over to me and said, "He boy, why in the hell are you working your fireman so hard.?" I told him I was doing just what I had been showed and I had fired the same way. He reached over and hooked up the reverser and we took off like a bat out of hell. The steam pressure shot up, the pops went off, the fireman sat down and we ran right by King at 30 MPH. Like I said, nobody had shown anybody that, so it was never passed down. The only trouble with hooking up those engines is you had to lean out of the window and watch the block move up in the shoe. The cylinders leaked off and if you were too close to center it would leak towards reverse and scare the hell out of you when the engine started bucking and shaking like it was on the ground.

I think the Museum at Campo has one of the diesel engines, the 1820. It was in a wreck at King Jct. when I was there. I still have the reverser from it. If I find it I am going to send it to Campo. We came around a curve and here sat the range train, with the flagman sitting on the rear steps having a smoke. As a matter of fact, that said brakeman is still working for the SP on the Coast. (Hey it will always be the SP)The impact broke the frame in two right over the lead truck. The worst part was, they towed the engine back to Hanks Yard and put it over the pit in the shop. They had it jacked up and the truck rolled out from under it. Well on that fine day a bunch of brass were down to the shop and were in the pit looking at the damage when a hostler had just finished dumping the ash pans on the 606. He had filled the boiler all the way up with water and with his usual show off attitude, backed the steam engine with a rush, onto the storage track in front of the shop. Well with a full boiler, the throttle hydroed and through the shop doors he went, knocking the 1820 into the pit. The brass had just come up and were able to get away in time.

It was an education so say the least.

Nudge

Whats left?

One of the two loops of track is still complete. Much of the track was rebuilt several years ago. Old shop at Hanks yard is standing but the big shop is still active, although most of it is repairing machinery.

Railroad is mostly used several times a year to load up a machinery train for one of the military units that passes through.

About three employees working for a contractor. Railroad was previously run by a crew from naval Weapons station Yorktown after the USA rail group was let go.

Two GP-8/16 rebuilds, two RS4TC rebuilds. A former UP caboose and a former DOT silverliner car ar used in training.

A group of old freight cars including come real classics still rust away. Several privately owned ex-Army passenger cars. A bunch of newer flatcars and yellow boxcars for training. Lots of neat stuff got scrapped in the last decade.

The museum is outstanding with european passenger cars two steam engines and a group of freight cars. Also air and water craft. An EMD_MRS1 and hospital car are stored on base but not in the museum.

I have a web page of photos and info on Eustis and surrounding bases/area but the web server doesnt want to respond right now.

emd_mrs1

No. 612 was a little far from Ft. Eustis in May of 1969.

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Great to read and see this stuff. After high school graduation I seriously fantasized about joining up so I could 'train' at Eustis. Went to college instead, railroading with a couple Class Ones during summer vacations instead. uncle Sam's loss--my gain.

Thanks to all who replied, Nudge great stories of your time at Ft. Eustis brought back a lot of memories of my time spent photographing the operations and locomotives, was a neat place to be for a rail-fan, while in the Army. Nudge, have any more stories,would like to see them. The guy who posted a web-site he has of Ft. Eustis, is it working yet would like to see your scans.

Trainmanwes Retired BNSF Mechincal

One site for the passenger cars.

http://home.sprynet.com/~mrpatric/

The remainder are at

http://excelsus.com/~mrpatrick/milmenu.htm

but they don't seem to be working for the moment. I have contacted excelsus so keep trying this one.

I have lots more photos, but never enough time.

Thank
Michael

Fort Eustis has GP10 4616 and GP16 4635, as well as 80 ton 1663. The 2 Baldwin RS4TC's (4020 and 4024) were taken out of service in 2003, and are currently awaiting disposal.

I sent a suggestion to History Channel's "Mail Call" that R.Lee do an item about the Railway Transporation battalions or whatever they called them but so far the gunney hasn't taken to the high iron. Maybe if several more of you email in the same idea we'll see some coverage.

Updated and working

http://www.excelsus.com/~mrpatrick/milmenu.htm

Enjoy