@Big Jim posted:Let me tell you, you do not want to mess around with the guys that ride those cabs! They are dedicated service men and take their job very seriously.
Indeed. Same thing for the USAF and the DoD civilians (most of whom are retired special operations servicemen/women) who move things like rocket motors, fuel rods and re-entry vehicles from ICMBs or warheads for cruise missiles.
The rules of engagement for items like this are quite simple for those trusted with their safekeeping:
Kill whoever gets between you and the weapons/rods, and we'll figure the rest out later after you've secured them.
Seriously, you'll be ventilated faster than trying to rob a Vegas casino vault.
That hack's contents are of course classified to some degree, but they'd carry an arsenal of weapons (pistols, rifles, light and heavy machine guns, grenades and probably hand-held rocket launchers), thermal and night vision gear for everyone, full sets of NBC suits and masks for all, decontamination equipment, communications (encrypted mostly), power generation, showers and toilets, and backup for everything. I bet if the caboose got derailed somewhere, the crew might even have the stuff to get themselves out of that, as well. For sure they'd have enough stuff to live just fine until someone shows up.
On road convoys, nukes have plenty of supporting vehicles, but of course on the high iron that is often not an option. If you ever see a train with this and chopper flying overhead, don't get anywhere near the thing.
I saw a rocket motor train heading to Bremerton/Bangor WA a few years ago and I stood on a berm looking down on it with a camera. I got a good photo of a set of hands inside a caboose window, with a screen hiding the person, taking a photo of me with a cell phone!
