Riding aboard trains during the Late Days of World War Two

[Taz-man]

What would it have been like to ride aboard a train as a returning soldier between VE Day and VJ Day. I am trying to picture it in my mind and trying to write about it. But not really sure what it would have been like. Also would there have been non military passengers riding during those times. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for any and all help.

 

[Big Man]

I have a great story for you. My Dad was discharged from service in December, 1945. He went to the train station in New York City (Grand Central?) to get his ticket home. "Home" for my Dad was the tiny village of Nebo, in the mountains of western North Carolina. Who knows how many connections there must have been between New York and Nebo.

Dad said that he was in a long line of servicemen and the guy in front of him was taking a long time getting his ticket. Dad thought that when it was his turn he would be there forever waiting on the ticket agent to look up all the connections between New York and Nebo.

When Dad finally reached the ticket window, the man ask him where he was headed. Dad said "Nebo", and before he could say anything else, the man at the window started reaching for tickets and stamping them, and quickly handed Dad his tickets.

My Dad said he asked the ticket agent, "How in the world did you know all the connections between New York and Nebo without looking?"

The man replied, "Because that guy who was right in front of you is going to the same place."

Dad said the GI who had been in front of him hadn't moved off but several feet, so he yelled out, "Hey buddy." The GI turned around and to my Dad's surprise it was one of his school mates who lived about two houses away from my Dad. They hadn't seen each other since before they were drafted in 1943, and had no idea the either one of them had been discharged and were headed home. I believe Jim Parks was the other GI's name.


I heard my Dad tell this story a number of times, and it is an example of how "small" the world can be on occasion.

 

[Tomasso]

What would it have been like to ride aboard a train as a returning soldier between VE Day and VJ Day.

A GI wouldn't have been on rail, he would have been on road or water. The rail system had been bombed out and as operation was restored it was used almost exclusively for freight transport. My father spent nearly three years overseeing the reconstruction of the Paris and Berlin rail yards and bridges which had been decimated in the later years of the war. He often said that running the rail yards in post war Paris/Berlin was as close as one gets to being King.

 

[Shangas]

A GI wouldn't have been on rail, he would have been on road or water. The rail system had been bombed out and as operation was restored it was used almost exclusively for freight transport. My father spent nearly three years overseeing the reconstruction of the Paris and Berlin rail yards and bridges which had been decimated in the later years of the war. He often said that running the rail yards in post war Paris/Berlin was as close as one gets to being King.

I think the OP means the rail-system in the United States, which would've been untouched by WWII.

However, the railroad industry was a big part of the war-effort. I expect that what trains that would've been running would've been mostly freight trains. What few passenger trains that would be running would be very crowded, or almost completely empty, and they wouldn't be running on time. Trains ferrying important war-materials would take precedent, so passenger trains would be postponed over and over again, probably running several hours late, or not running at all.

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Big Man, that was a wonderful story.

 

[Big Man]

A GI wouldn't have been on rail, he would have been on road or water. The rail system had been bombed out and as operation was restored it was used almost exclusively for freight transport ...

My Dad said that he, along with hundreds more from his group and others, were transported via train after the end of the war (while they were still in Germany). They were moved in box cars that he said had been shot up and were full of holes. I recall him saying it was raining on them during the trip and everyone got soaking wet. I've got a photo of him and some of his buddies on that train. The box car in the picture has the star of David painted on the side, so I suspect it had at one time been used by the Germans to transport people to the camps.

 

[dhermann1]

Big Man, your dad would have been leaving from Penn Station. Grand Central only connected to points north and west. The Pennsy went south and west. "You leave the Pennsylvania Station 'bout a quarter to four, read a magazine and then you're in Baltimore." That's the route he would haver taken.
I had an experience which felt a lot like a WW II troop train when I went to Marine Corps boot camp in August of 1966.
We had what I assume was a charter train that left Buffalo NY's old train station, headed south east. It was composed entirely of old Pullman cars (the ones with double decker beds that pulled down from above. You've seen them in movies.) And every passenger on the train was a Marine recruit. The train cut down through western New York State into central Pennsylvania, and West Virginia along what I assume was a B&O right of way. All I know was that it was very rural and woodsy the whole way.
We talked and basically hung around for a couple days straight. You could stand in open the vestibule and watch the trees brush right up against the train. At night they pulled down the upper berths and we divvied up the upper and lower bertths and slept as the train clippity clapped along. We were travelling through dense forests almost the whole time. To be honest, it felt as much like a Civil War troop train as a WW II train to me at the time.
We finally reached Union Station in Washington where we switched trains. This was before the big restoration of that place, so it was pretty much similar to the station my parents came through in 1944 when they were both sent to DC during their stints in the Corps. (That's where my parents met, actually, while serving on the Leatherneck Magazine.)
Anyhow, we picked up a large contingent of guys from Boston and continued all the way south to Parris Island. It was amazing to see the terrain change, along with the level of development. I was shocked to see mules pulling plows in open fields starting in West Virginia, and becoming much more common the further south we went. Plenty of mules drawing plows in Virginia and the Carolinas in 1966.
I suppose one other big difference would have been that we were all GOING to war, rather than returning, There was a light hearted bravado among us that camouflaged the uncertainty about what lay ahead for us. I know there were some guys on that train who never came back. Coming home after the war must have been a very different atmosphere. It was fun to meet all sorts of new people that you didn't know if you'd ever see again.
For a pretty authentic movie scene of troops on a train check out the movie "Stage Door Canteen". Thees guys are going rather than coming, also, but the train scene is very authentic. For a glimpse into the frame of mind of returning GI's check out the opening scene of "The Best Years of Our Lives". They're on a plane, but still, it's essentially the same. Guys coming home, dealing with the uncertainty of civilian life ahead of them.

 

[Espee]

Assuming the question is about the U.S.... in the stated time period there were a lot of men being moved from the eastern and midwestern bases, to the west coast so they could take part in the anticipated invasion of Japan. Some of them had already served in Europe.
There were many dedicated troop trains of whatever passenger equipment was available-- supplemented by "troop sleepers" and "troop kitchen cars" which had been built to a box-car-like design so they could be converted to freight, baggage, and express cars once the war was over. These were spartan accomodations, but they were operated by the Pullman Company-- white-jacketed porter and all.
And the regular trains had many military passengers-- non-essential civilian travel was discouraged.
There were plenty of service members heading home too, but it took a while for the ships to get them back from Europe.
As a footnote: In the 1930s, passenger counts had been steadily dropping as highways and air travel improved. But the always-full trains of WWII fooled some railroads into investing (circa 1946-48) in a lot of new equipment which they thought would keep the public interested in train travel.

 

[Steven180]

Taz-man,

Anticipation. Of being home again, family, normalcy, and the freedom to return to your dreams now. A lot to look forward to.

Along with that apprehension and hope. Two contrasting emotions but true very much the same. Unsure of the future but knowing that a world war was over and anything in the future looked bright. Defaulting to optimism after such horrendous years would have been natural to me.

The atmosphere would have been crowded, smoke filled, with the smells of personal travel and with many distant stares of the past and of the future. Many would likely be trying to pass the time with newspapers and magazines, or simply dozing from the relentless rhythm of the tracks. The changing landscape outside slowly returning to your memories the closer you get to home.

Aside from what I think a returning GI, Marine, or Sailor would feel after such an experience, I do believe the rail home would be the most likely means of transport. Wish we still had it in such abundance.

Get on a train and try a ride, It's amazing how quickly you can be transported and how different it is. Sit in a big station and watch the people and the dynamics, it's easy to get caught up in the energy.
M.

 

[Taz-man]

Thank you everyone for your help.

 

[MikeKardec]

I believe hotels were still operating under the "3 day rule" (you couldn't stay more then three days) because returning servicemen used them as apartments and there was no space for the men still pouring into the port cities ... not a train thing but it would impact a traveler heavily. Luggage, if your character had any, might come later, depending on what the transport from the theater of war had been. My dad never received his stuff from Europe even though he shipped it himself.

 

[1930artdeco]

Not train or WW 11 related but when I came home from the latest war, we came home in our planes. But you have now idea what it is like to see green instead of brown. That and the fact we were coming home.

Mike

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

[video=youtube;xrCIbKyYRqg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrCIbKyYRqg[/video]

 

[Espee]

Seen in the above still from "Troop Train" is Southern Railway #635. Southern #630 operates in Chattanooga Tennesee now. I'm not sure but I suspect those engines, five numbers apart, could be considered "sisters."