The men I have corresponded with (all mbrs of Ry Operating Battalions but
not all CB&Q's 745th) mention that although most of the men in a battalion
would be from the sponsoring road, some were from other RR's (especially
those not sponsoring any battalions) plus regular Army transferred in or
even some new non-RR recruits). Grey's book does not indicate how many men
a RR had to pledge to sponsor a battalion but I assume, given the manpower
shortage RR's had and the opportunity to keep some via the 'vital to defense
work' draft exemption, they would keep as many skilled people as possible
but give up less skilled (car cleaners & engine wipers). As for cooks,
given the segregation at the time, am not sure if they could have taken
cooks off the passenger trains even if they wanted too. (And of course as
we vets know, cooks in the military seldom were cooks in civilian life or at
least not as recently as Vietnam!) I do know several of these WWII RR vets
have told me the concept as they understood it was that ANY RR man would be
better suited for such a battalion, regardless of his original RR job than
John Q Public just because he WAS a RR'er. i.e. he would have a basic
knowledge that would allow a quicker activation.
As for that B-17 "Twin Zephyr" - there are a lot of books out there on WWII
"nose" art - any of you have some? (I just have one on P-38's: with their
twin fuselage would have been a VERY logical plane to have one named "TCZ";
in fact America's Ace of Aces, Dick Bong, was from Wisconsin & flew 38's but
named his after his wife.) Look & see if that B-17 is shown - one more
photo for a BB article on "The Burlington at War"!
And to change the thread a bit - I have a slide I took in early 80's of a
slightly faded piggyback trailer @ Wood St. (C&NW - Chicago) with a large
PZ painted on it! (NOT ex-Q ora BN trailer but Realco as I recal)l.
Gerald A. Edgar
230 W. 5th St.
Garner, IA 50438-1404
(641) 923-2573
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