Consist for a military train of 1960's?

If one wanted to model a troop or equipment movement of US Army equipment in the US in the 1960's what would a possible consist be?

- WW II and Korea, a lot of troop movements in civilian coaches, sleepers etc. By 1960's would it be road or air to move most units?

-heavy equipment would have to go by rail. This would probably include M60 tanks, M113 Armored Personnel Carriers, trucks, ambulances, jeeps etc. I have seen olive drab US Army 20' containers on flats. Were these used in 1960's or later?

-what sort of flats, USAX DODX civilian etc?

-were guard cars (cabeese) used, what type?

Any suggestions or additions? Thanks

Roger

Mass troop movements during the 1960s would have been limited to National Guard and Army Reserve troops going to and from summer camp. For these moves, it was usually a hodge-podge collection of otherwise inactive heavyweight Pullmans with a few baggage cars (usually on the head end), e.g., aluminum-painted CB&Q heavyweights passing through New York City from somewhere west en route to Cape Cod.

All the military equipment mentioned except 20-foot ISO containers would have been found on flatcars (the containers didn't exist yet). The DODX 100-ton flatcars would have been used for M-60 series main battle tanks; railroad-owned flatcars would have been used for the other stuff. A guard car would have accompanied such, although it's possible the guards, if any, might have ridden in the railroad's own caboose.

That's my recollection of trains on the CNJ and LV to the Navy Base, Military Ocean Terminal in Bayonne, NJ.

Of interest, this morning as my NJ Transit Raritan Valley line commuter train approached Hunter Interlocking to go onto the Northeast Corridor at about 7:55, we passed a hundred or so car freight departing Oak Island westbound. The first 50 or so cars were loaded with a variety of military equipment including Humvees (both 'regular' and ambulance varieties), trucks, a few artillary pieces, etc. All mixed in no apparant order on DODX and private flatcars. The rest of the train behind the military portion was a mix of regular freight cars, box cars, tank cars, gons, a maybe a couple of automobile carriers.

I don't know the destination, or if it is to go onto the ex-Reading Trenton Line or continue west on the Lehigh Line.

Every summer the Massachusetts National Guard had its two week encampment, probably in July, at Camp (Fort) Drum up near Watertown, NY. Trains were utilized to move the Guardsmen while most of the equipment went via highway. At least once, the routing was via Framingham, MA via New Haven RR from units in Southeastern Massachusetts north, don't know if via Lowell or Fitchburg. I don't know if this was the time that the move was routed via St. J & LC across northern Vermont. It looks like whoever set up the routing was something of an enthusiast type. The St. J & LC move has been photographed and a good portion of the 70-tonner fleet was utilized on that move.

Most likely, the equipment you see at Fort Drum is returning from Iraq.

The 60's were very interesting from a passenger equipment point of view; sort of like the "rainbow trains" of early Amtrak. I rode with the rest of the 1st Infantry Division from Kansas to the West Coast.

See this link:

http://www.rosshorwood.com/RailSiteLink ... Train.html