United States Army Transportation Corps Mortuary Cars

Sounds a bit too grim to model.

My great uncle came home in one of those. I personally would be curious as to how to go about modeling them, if only as an odd way of preserving his memory.

Love the history aspects of Railroads.

Very informative article, thank you for sharing.

My uncle Dominic, never made it home he is buried in the Britany American Cem. He was KIA Sept. 14, 1944 and he was with the 29th Infantry Division.

Those were just hospital cars, used for sadder reasons.

Interesting that the tracks are still there, though it looks like nothing has rolled in there in many years. Click here to see it today.

One of my uncles is buried in France, another with his plane somewhere in the South Pacific.

I would be uncomfortable modeling these cars. I thnk the dead should rest and not be entertainment on a train table.

Fred

I would not model a mortuary train, but if it is a hospital train, I see no problem. My Dad was in the Army in WWII and  was wounded in 1945 on the island of Mindinao in the Phillipines. If it weren't for the great medical care he received from the front to the military hospital, he wouldn't have survived. He was transported from the island on some sort of barge; then on a hospital ship to the Port of San Francisco, and then by hospital train to his ultimate military hospital in Battle Creek, MI. He recuperated in hospital for many months. He wasn't one to say much about it, however.

John, my dad was the same way. He was in the 77th Div in the Pacific and all he would tell me was that he was a cook. It wasn't till after he passed away and I found all his records that I found out what he did do....he carried and used a flamethrower. Never said a word, but as a kid I remember him having horrible nightmares. Our fathers were in deed members of the Greatest Generation!

audi posted:

I would be uncomfortable modeling these cars. I thnk the dead should rest and not be entertainment on a train table. 

That depends on the context.

A three-rail layout with humorous 'whimsical' stuff like diecast cars from the "Cars" movies all over the place? Yeah, not a great setting for that.

A scale layout, very well done and a tasteful re-creation of wartime (or late 40s) US, like this group? I'd feel just fine with it being done like that.

But the bottom line is that we should shy away from the sad memories if we want to do justice to the timeframes we're modeling. For example, I have a scale "gold star" banner that I'll be placing in one of the houses on my layout, to show the cost of the war. I was asked if I'd model someone coming to the door with the notification of a serviceman killed, and I won't only for two reasons:

1. It's not very historically accurate. Most notifications in rural areas or once combat deaths became very common in 1942 weren't made my anyone in uniform. They were usually done by mail or telegram.
2. I did death notifications in the Army, more than once, but of course long after WW2. I couldn't bring myself to model that. Heck, I can't even watch those scenes in the movie, "We were soldiers" where it's done several times...

Very interesting article, Jim. I found the photos moving.

John, my father was also wounded in the southern Philippines while serving in the US Army in 1945. It was the second wounding for him.

He also was transported home on a hospital ship, but spent his months of recovery at the Army hospital in San Antonio Texas. That's where he met my mom .... an US Army nurse.

And like your dad, and Frank's dad, he never spoke much of it. "I just did my job, like everyone else" he would tell my brother and me.

In about 1975 there was a scrap yard near San Francisco scrapping a number of Southern Pacific Mortuary Cars.  They looked looked like light weight baggage cars on the exterior.  The interior had racks, three or four high, for coffins. There was a trolley rail down the center of the car to handle them.   These were not hospital cars, they had been built for this specific purpose. I was told they had been built for the Korean War, but I had no way to varify this.   They looked to have had very little use, if any.  The exterior was painted in the SP light gray with a red letter board. I do not recall if they were lettered and numbered for the SP.  By this time all remains were returned by air. 

Lee, it makes sense about the cars being re-purposed hospital cars, as it would have been 2+ years since the end of the war.

Fred, my thoughts is that if someone modeled the cars, it would be more of a history project and less 'entertainment'.  The cars, by them self, would be pretty understated, just regular U.S. Army cars with the windows blacked-out.  One would probably have to explain to viewers what these cars are and how they differed from the Pullman troop cars that were converted to express (or work) cars after the war.  With over 400,000+ American casualties, I think a train of this type could be a way to honor those fallen men.  I think most of us, however, choose to model happier times.

Jim

Gentlemen,

   P51 is absolutely correct, Military RR Hospital Cars were and sometimes still are used in this manner.

PCRR/Dave

Very interesting read. Thanks for sharing.

jd-train posted:

One of the reasons that I enjoy this hobby is the history aspect that is associated with it...

From a trainweb website page discussing the Brooklyn Army Terminal & Bush Terminal,..

Jim

The Brooklyn Army Terminal was a huge facility and I was interested to see how it has been re-purposed and redeveloped through the years. The large central atrium has staggered balconies for the different levels, so the gantry crane could load and offload at various places like a giant filing system.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooklyn_Army_Terminal