One of the UK model rail forums had a link to this short YouTube film from the Museum Buurtspoorweg in Haaksbergen, Netherlands, who have put together a restored set of 3 WW2 USATC freight cars (Boxcar, Flat car & tank car).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zm9enhTrP30&t=4s
I get the impression that they were hoping to run these as part of a celebratory "Liberation Train" (along with an ex British War Department loco) for this weeks 75th Anniversary events, but Covid-19 has stopped that from happening (including repainting the loco).
The groups concerned have made a good job of the restorations.

Interesting, I wonder why the boxcars were four-wheel "bobbers" but the flats and tank cars were equipped with two four-wheel trucks, the boxcar would have had a very low weight rating but the tank car could have been two or three times that. Also have never seen a tank car with two manways.

It's not two manways, you'll note there is only a hatch on one. The tankcars are adapted directly from US practice of the day, but an adequately sized expansion dome was too tall for the clearance diagram; so they used two half height domes. I think the boxcars are so small because that's what the Europeans were used to; conversely the flatcars are so big so they can carry a decent load of vehicles, or a tank. I doubt anyone was much concerned about axle loadings at the time.

One of the flat cars that Orange Empire (now Southern California) got from the Navy ammunition facility at Seal Beach was one of these cars that probably never left the United State. Car has extra holes on the endbeam for buffers.

Some years ago when the Association of Railway Museums conference was held in Baltimore there was a field trip to the Washington Metro shops and we saw several of these flat cars being assembled for m/w service. The kits came with K-brakes.

One of the 4-wheel boxcars was on display at the Fort Eustis Transportation Museum when I visited there in 1998 (along with a DB coach).

I assume it's still there?

Not many of the USATC cars have survived in Europe, as most had fairly short working lives. There is certainly a flatcar, at least, at one of the German museums that I have visited, plus I have seen photos from a French museum which has a few different types in their collection.

EDIT -The German one I was thinking of is at the Bochum Dahlhausen museum and is actually a Gondola car


I spotted one of the tank car bodies being used as a fuel store at Duisburg loco maintenance depot from a passing train a few years back.
It's a shame that we seem to like collecting the USATC locos here in the UK but have no examples of the rolling stock that also passed through here in WW2. Some of them even saw limited use, including, I believe, the tank cars, on certain routes where their increased loading gauge wouldn't cause a problem.

I had a search on the internet to try and find out what types of car were supplied to the European Theatre during WW2 and did manage to find a few pertinent facts, mainly from model RR forums.
As well as the 4-wheel boxvans, there were also 4-wheel variations of open cars, mobile workshops (based on the van design) and flat cars. Some of the open cars lasted on Millitary lines in the UK to the 1990's, as did the mobile workshops. One of the workshops was preserved here, but I'm not sure if it still exists - will have to investigate further.
Bogie vehicles were tank cars, flats, gondolas and also some Reefers which did actually see use in the UK, so must have been to our loading gauge. They looked just like a US vehicle, but, obviously, somewhat reduced in height/width.

I have a copy of the WWII era railroad equipment drawing book. If anyone wants a copy Email me.

The DB car at the Transportation Museum isn't what most think it is. First, some history...

In the aftermath of WW II the US Army began running Berlin Duty Train in and out of West Berlin, located within East Germany. The trains ran at night and consisted of sleeper cars, plus one crew car on the south or west end of the train, depending upon where it was along the route between Frankfurt am Main in West Germany and the suburban Berlin-Lichterfeld-West Station in West Berlin, where the Army maintained an RTO (Railway Transportation Office) in a small building. The train headed north when departing Frankfurt but, entering East Germany at the border with Helmstedt on the west side and Marienborn on the east, the train was heading east. About half of the crew car consisted of compartments with seats and the other half was baggage space with a large baggage door.

There were several types of sleeper cars used on the train, with two to four compartments in each room. The least comfortable were the cars with ten compartments and six bunks. (The lowest two on each side were fixed in the flat, horizontal position as seats while the other four lay flat against the walls until they were turned to the horizontal position for use as bunks.) These less-desirable cars were used for such things as combat unit moves, such as an Army unit coming up to Berlin to go through the Combat in Cities course (never went there myself but I believe it consisted of mock-ups for training in urban combat) or Berlin Brigade units heading down to West Germany for training at one of the maneuver areas. Soldiers kept their rifles with them but such things are mortar base plates went into the baggage space of the crew car.

The length of the Berlin Duty Train between Frankfurt and West Berlin depended upon how many reservations were made ahead of time. If I recall correctly, a train might have as few as four cars or as many as eight, and possibly more.

There was also a Berlin Duty Train running between West Berlin and the port city of Bremerhaven. That train consistently had two sleeper cars. Bremerhaven was where POVs (personally owned vehicles) belonging to personnel stationed in Germany would go in or out of the country as personnel rotated from one assignment to the next.

Additionally, there was a "train" between Frankfurt and Bremerhaven. After the train to Berlin left around 8 p.m., a German train, with two US Army sleepers tacked on, departed Frankfurt at 10:38 p.m. and headed north. During the night it would be handed off to another train and then, in Hanover, it would be picked up by the Berlin-to-Bremerhaven train to be taken the rest of the way to its destination. On the way out, the Bremerhaven-to-Berlin train would carry two sleeping cars bound for Frankfurt as far as Braunschweig, where they were set off for the Berlin-Frankfurt train, which arrived right after the Berlin-bound train departed.

In addition to the three types of cars used, the Berlin-Frankfurt trains received some new sleeper cars in 1976 that included a comfortable lounge area.

There were no dining cars on the trains, and running them at night allowed the Army to skip meal services on board; however, not long after departing from the point of origin, a "Schaffner" would push a cart through the train to sell snacks and non-alcoholic drinks.

Other than the new cars that arrived in 1976, the cars in use were fairly old but well maintained.

I was on the trains as a conductor (more of a car host -- a Bundesbahn fellow was the true conductor in the West and, running over East German rails, we had a Reichsbahn conductor aboard) from late 1975 until early 1977.

It was many years later that the Army was getting some new cars for the trains when, due to the Cold War coming to an end, the Berlin Duty Trains stopped running in December 1990. The new cars were already in the pipeline but now there was no need for them. What to do with them? I'm told the car at the Fort Eustis museum was one of these cars intended for the Berlin Duty Train but never actually used on it, and instead it was shipped to the US for display.

Curiously, I see it has DB on it. The cars in the 1970s were built to European standards and were apparently constructed over there, and they were marked UNITED STATES ARMY on the sides. Perhaps to lower the profile and not tempt attacks from such groups as the Baader-Meinhof Gang, DB markings were put on the new cars.

At Fort Eustis there was also a European-style caboose on display with the DB car. The sign describing the caboose stated it was used as a crew car for the Berlin Duty Train, but this is not true. These were several cabooses and they were used as guard cars for MPs from the Berlin Brigade's 287th MP Company, as well as a radioman and an officer (train commander). These cars escorted freight trains run as needed between West Berlin and West Germany. For example, if the Berlin Brigade's tank company (Company F, 40th Armor) needed to go to a gunnery range in West Germany, the Rail Section MPs of the 287th escorted the train (tanks aboard flat cars) through East Germany. Since these trains had no passengers, there was no need for a conductor/car host, so I never stepped foot on any of the cabooses. I saw them only on rare occasions when, in the middle of a night, we might be paused in an East German railway yard and we happened to be right next to one of these Army freight trains. Unlike ours carrying passengers, those trains ran as extras and could spend a lot of time waiting at one location or another.

And now you know.

One of the train cars used on the British Military runs to Berlin is also displayed here in the UK, though it faces a rather uncertain future.
It used to be on display at the Museum of Army Transport in Beverley, which was actually a private venture and nothing to do with the UK Armed Forces. When that shut down it moved to Fort Paull museum, a Napoleonic War era fortification near Hull, again a privately run venture. This was shut down at the beginning of the year, so what will happen to the coach is anyones guess.

Whilst not a US built vehicle, a car used in one of the United States Army WW2 Ambulance trains, both in the UK and, after D-Day, in Europe has been externally restored as such at the Great Central Railway.
Details are here http://www.rvp-ltd.org.uk/collection.php?vehicle=2704
I thought I had taken a photo of it myself on one of my visits to the railway, but I don't appear to have done!

Interesting. I rode the train into Berlin in 1981. I was told the American trains (there were British and French troops in Berlin too) ran at night while the others ran during the day because Americans insisted on picture taking which was forbidden. Not sure if that's true or if the Russkies were simply messing with us. There were still active steam locomotives, and they were lined up ready to go in each yard. I was stationed in Germany from '77 to '81 and a tour of the wall at Hof, a Cavalry frontier post, was mandatory so you could see up close the reality of the situation. We lived in Turkey from '59 to '61 (Dad was in the Army) and I never thought I'd see the Wall come down without a fight. When it did millions, including my family, cheered.

The story about the US Army trains running at night because Americans wanted to take pictures is one I never heard while serving as a conductor on those trains. East Germany was rather bland and, even in daylight, there was usually little worth using up one's film. The reverse sides of tickets issued to each passenger listed rules to be followed on the train, which included no picture-taking in the DDR, no alcohol consumption, etc. Going from Frankfurt to Berlin, it was about 2 a.m. when we crossed the border between Helmstedt and Marienborn, and it was very unlikely any passengers were still up and about at that hour. Departing from Berlin and heading west, however, especially during the summer months with extended hours of daylight, provided people with the opportunity to see more of the DDR along the route. We crew members (which included two MPs) often walked the train to ensure everyone was behaving well. If we came across anyone with a camera we'd remind him about the no-pictures rule. Most people just hadn't read the reverse side of the ticket and weren't aware of the rule, and it was never an issue when I was there.

Instead, running at night was simply a logistical decision. By operating a train of sleeping cars, there was no need to provide meals to the riders, no need for dining cars, food preparers, servers, cleaning staff, etc. All we (as the crew) needed to do was put them in their quarters for the night. People could stay up at late as they wished and hang out in the aisles, but eventually they'd want to go to bed.

Also, running the trains at night meant you could spent the day working (if you were based near Frankfurt/Main) or traveling to Frankfurt (if you were based well away from Frankfurt), you could ride all night and get a good night's sleep, and then you could wake up in Berlin the next morning, ready for another duty day.

I heard about the British and French trains but never rode them. According to those with knowledge of them or had actually ridden them, the British train (which operated far north of Frankfurt in British zone) was very nice and served excellent meals. Departing from a point of origin far closer to Berlin, running a train of sleepers wasn't practical, and I think the passenger load was probably lighter. The French train, I was told, was "filthy" (the exact word used to describe it) and hardly worth riding.

There is a website about the British Military train to Berlin here for anyone interested..
http://www.british-berliner.org/
I travelled on the "normal" West German/International services to Berlin a few times between 1977 and 1985 and the "no photography" element generally applied between Marienborn & Helmstedt which was the location of the West/East border, plus the environs of Berlin itself. Other than those areas, there didn't seem to be a problem leaning out of the window and taking photos.

Giving some more thought to the no-photography rule while riding through the DDR and the reason for running at night, I'm certain the reason for the latter was not dictated by the possibility that GIs might take pictures. The Army is an institution that is not about to let the possible actions of a few of its people dictate how operations will be conducted. If necessary it would have stationed an MP in every car to ensure it was not a problem, and anyone who stepped out of line would have wished he'd never heard of the Berlin Duty Train.

It had to do with axel loading. European track wasn’t designed for the weight that ours could handle. TVRM has a Class A 2-8-0, ex-USATC No. 610 that was in service when I was there. She was extremely lightweight compared to a regular US 2-8-0. She could barely pull three fully loaded coaches on the level and could only pull them up a grade if she had a running start. On days that we ran the Downtown Arrow and were turning the train on the wye after the station stop, 610 usually could not start her train on the grade. The Downtown train would have to couple up and give the local train a good shove to get it moving. We also ran ALCO RSD-1s with the European cabs and they were quite cramped. Getting in or out for anyone who was tall or fat was a contortionist’s act-the doors were TINY compared to those on a Geep.

Following some investigations there appear to be 2 surviving USATC items of rolling stock still surviving in the UK.
A 4-wheel open car - http://www.ws.rhrp.org.uk/ws/WagonInfo.asp?Ref=12262
and a 4 wheel "mobile workshop" based on the box van design - http://www.ws.rhrp.org.uk/ws/WagonInfo.asp?Ref=9258

Both items would appear to be owned by the same person and (despite the info shown for the van) are now both in storage at a private site in Warwickshire, along with a lage number of other items, in an unrestored state.