Speaking of the narrow gauge operation at Aberdeen Proving Ground, once I asked the post historian's office if they had any information on it. They did not, and they suggested I check with the local historical society.

Unfortunately this is so often the type of response one receives from a military base. There might be information on current or former military units or a piece of equipment (aircraft at air bases, etc.), but railways are often forgotten, particularly if they no longer exist. Many times I have received replies that basically read, "Some of the old timers remember there was a railroad here once, but there's nothing in writing."

Tim,

You should get a copy of Narrow Gauge to No Man's Land (1990, Benchmark Publications), and go to page 165. There you'll see three paragraphs on APG's 60cm railway and their test of mounting a gun on 60cm trucks. On page 166 and 167 are four photos taken in late 1918 or early 1919 of a standard 8-inch railway gun, gun carriage and shell car mounted on 60 cm trucks and pulled by two 50-hp Baldwin gas-mechanical locos (c/n 7065 & 7066). The gun carriage weighed 90 tons and the barrel weighed in the neighborhood of 30 tons. For transport, the barrel was on a separate car. The 8-inch carriage, barrel, etc., were normally mounted on standard gauge trucks but for this test were mounted on special six-wheel 60 cm trucks, thus the special 60cm railroad constructed at APG. I suspect after the test was complete, the track was removed.

Apparently the test didn't amount to anything. This was a classic case of a good idea that was overcome by events (OBE), i.e., railway guns mounted on narrow gauge trucks implied trench warfare and after the "war to end all wars" who could envision another war with static trench warfare, or any kind of warfare.

As our Canadian friends would say: Sic Transit Gloria Mundi, eh?

As it might be guessed, at the IRM Pullman Library we have drawings on many WWI & WWII export freight cars, including the double-trucked WWI narrow gauge trench warfare cars. There is a drawing of the flat car in "Narrow Gauge to No Man's Land". It is currently in print, and well worth the cost. There were flat cars, gondollas, low box cars (keep that height inside the trenches) and tank cars (rectangular). Standard Steel Car made them, and under contract Haskell & Barker made some. We have both sets of drawings. I have been looking for single truck narrow gauge cars, and suspect when we collate the Middletown Car drawings (mostly export and post early years) they will also show up. A lot of standard gauge French cars are there which I suspect include the Merci box cars. Currently we are collating and scanning the Haskell & Barker (Michigan City, IN) drawings to file as many are on fragile tracing paper and have to be archival taped to drawing paper support before scanning. Keep us in mind for that historical reference, also for exceptional and unusual models from the drawings. For Merci boxcar restoration, you only have to ask us and we would get to work. I had made some basic dimensions of the Merci car at Boothbay Railway Village, Maine and that is what we need to nail down the correct drawing.
Sincerely, Ted Anderson, curator

I have availed myself of Ted's services on the trench railroad freight cars, and the service was outstanding.

(Ted, if you locate any more, please let me know!)



Steve

Two restored cars at the Bluegrass Railroad Museum. Page explains car history. http://www.bgrm.org/#/army-boxcars/4541297763

David Farlow

Nice to see someone restoring some of these cars.

At one time I owned 9 or 11 of these cars, purchased from Crane Naval Depot in southern Indiana. My cars were built by the Press Steel Car Company. I tried using some for storage and sold or scrapped others. The fact that they were made of plywood and not well vented, caused a problem with them sweating inside.

Another interesting thing about the cars, is they had "K" brakes and cast iron wheels. We also found that when we switched them empty, their light wheel tended to cause them to pick switches and go on the ground.