# Military Trains



## CSXfoamer1997 (Mar 10, 2016)

How come various military trains use ordinary 4 axle flatcars, or maybe even 6-axle flatcars for carrying military equipment? Is it something that has to do with it being heavy-duty?


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## CCC1007 (Mar 10, 2016)

DODX cars are usually used, and the answer is yes simply became the railroad has a weight limit on a per axle and a per car basis.


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## Just-Thinking-51 (Mar 12, 2016)

M1A1 Main Battle Tank weights in at 60 tons.

Current equipment is getting heavier and is planned up to 100 tons.

The next generation Hummer is going to be 30 tons or so.

Your car weights in at 2-3 tons.


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## Palmetto (Mar 13, 2016)

Most of the references I've seen about military trains pertain to them operating in the West from such places as Ft. Hood in Texas. Where do they operate east of there?


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## NW cannonball (Mar 13, 2016)

Palmetto said:


> Most of the references I've seen about military trains pertain to them operating in the West from such places as Ft. Hood in Texas. Where do they operate east of there?


I've only ever seen one or two trains of DODX flatcars here near MSP, and that was 15 years ago. Between Hoffman and Northwtown here in he MSP area. Had some kinda tanks on the flats.

I did notice that the DODX flatcars had the best paintjob I've ever seen - he

*Uh - Where do they operate east of there?*

At every Naval Weapons Station on the East Coast. Duh.

For example, totally not classified public information -- I was near there once and Google Maps shows NWS Charleston has a rail spur near Goose Creek, and a road called "Missile Haul Road" with 3 or 4 train tracks. Near the estuary. The sattelite view shows lot of little mounds with hollow cores - hoping those are containment thingys. Look for yourself.

To answer the question -- DOD trains operate whenever and wherever they want,,maybe even to Duluth, or wherever.


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## Just-Thinking-51 (Mar 13, 2016)

DODX trains run between any sea port, and any military base. Also you get to see them at factories that build military equipment.

So in short you see them everywhere.


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## Seaboard92 (Mar 14, 2016)

When I was in college at Presbyterian in Clinton SC on the Monroe sub I used to see three or four a month. Some were vehicles other explosive ordinance. Very high priority trains especially the explosive loads.


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## NW cannonball (Mar 16, 2016)

Just-Thinking-51 said:


> M1A1 Main Battle Tank weights in at 60 tons.
> 
> Current equipment is getting heavier and is planned up to 100 tons.
> 
> ...


Typical max loading now for general freight (has been so for a few decades) is 100 tons on a railcar. Like grain hoppers, like ore cars, like coal haulers.

Max payload 100 tons. Max gross weight 140 tons (divide by 4 and you get the max axle weight) Leave a bit of slack. Yup.

I don't got no car (automobile) but yeah, railcars carry much more weight per axle. All the time.

As for explosive devices - If you want to look at the GCOR and NORAC rules and the incorporated HAZMAT rules -- there's a lot of specific details about railcar spacing and flammable hazmat (and even "rocket motors') on the same train, and, and -- don't worry.

But, as I posted before, the DODX flatcars had the cleanest freshest paint i've ever seen on a flatcar.


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## ehbowen (Mar 21, 2016)

NW cannonball said:


> But, as I posted before, the DODX flatcars had the cleanest freshest paint i've ever seen on a flatcar.


I'll bet that where they park, they don't have to worry too much about "taggers".


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## NW cannonball (Mar 26, 2016)

ehbowen said:


> NW cannonball said:
> 
> 
> > But, as I posted before, the DODX flatcars had the cleanest freshest paint i've ever seen on a flatcar.
> ...


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## CSXfoamer1997 (Apr 26, 2016)

Also, I'm wondering what the military container flatcars often carry. However, if it's top secret, I understand.


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## TinCan782 (Apr 26, 2016)

CSXfoamer1997 said:


> Also, I'm wondering what the military container flatcars often carry. However, if it's top secret, I understand.


Probably smaller equipment, support equipment/supplies; "office supplies"...not necessarily classified but rather items that aren't suitable to being exposed to the elements during transport.


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## TinCan782 (Apr 26, 2016)

Military trains are not unusual on the ex-SP, now UP Coast Line running up to Camp Roberts in Central California. IIRC from Trainorders, there was recently a movement and talk of another round of training (no pun) in the works. That will probably mean some more military equipment moves. I see the military trains from time-to-time at Gemco Yard in Van Nuys as I pass through on my Metrolink commute.


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## CSXfoamer1997 (Apr 26, 2016)

FrensicPic said:


> Military trains are not unusual on the ex-SP, now UP Coast Line running up to Camp Roberts in Central California. IIRC from Trainorders, there was recently a movement and talk of another round of training (no pun) in the works. That will probably mean some more military equipment moves. I see the military trains from time-to-time at Gemco Yard in Van Nuys as I pass through on my Metrolink commute.


I think they're also fairly common in Fayetteville, NC. There's a military base in Ft. Bragg, which is just outside of Fayetteville.


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## Just-Thinking-51 (Apr 28, 2016)

MilVans as it was called are 8x8x20 shipping boxes.

My units containers had a field hospital inside them. 296 bed hospital. OR, CMS, Lab, Blood Bank, ICU wards (tents), Support Wards, ER, vision units, and dental units.

Everything you find in a fix hospital, you would find in a 296 Bed Combat Support Hospital.

Give me 18 acres, and about 6 hours to set up, with another 12 hrs for the AC units to work. I will have a complete hospital anywhere you needed it.

Of course this was in the day when we just start to use containers.

Nowadays everything you can think of is shipped in containers. Bullets, Beans, Petro. The three items need to by the Army to fight a war.


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