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Old 12-19-2009, 08:20 AM
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Here are the Trains I have come up with for use in Twilight 2000:

Note: the Leopold Krupp K5(E) Railway Gun is unfinished.

Armoured Trains

History: Armoured trains saw use during the 19th century in the American Civil War (1861-1865), the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871), the First and Second Boer Wars (1880-81 and 1899-1902). The Czechoslovak Legion used heavily-armed and armoured trains to control large lengths of the Trans-Siberian Railway (and of Russia itself) during the Russian Civil War at the end of World War I. After the First World War the usage of armoured trains declined. They were used in China in the twenties, most notably by the warlord Zhang Zongchang, who employed refugee Russians to man them. Poland used armoured trains extensively and successfully during the Invasion of Poland during World War II. This in turn prompted Nazi Germany to reintroduce them into its own armies, using armoured trains to a small degree. However, they introduced significant designs of a versatile and well-equipped nature, including railcars which housed anti-aircraft gun turrets, railcars designed to load and unload tanks, and railcars which had complete armour protection with a large concealed howitzer gun. Germany also had fully-armoured locomotives which were used on such trains. Armoured trains were used post WWII in the Slovak National Uprising, Estonian War of Independence, the First Indochina War, and in the Cuban revolution. In the early 1970s the USSR developed armoured trains to protect the Trans-Siberian Railway from Chinese cross-border raids. Each train included ten Main Battle Tanks, two light amphibious tanks, several AA guns, as well as several Armoured Personnel Carriers, supply vehicles, and equipment for railway repairs, all mounted on open platforms or in special railcars.

Layout: An armoured train is protected with armour and is usually they are equipped with railroad cars armed with motors, artillery, or machine guns. Different types of armour are used to protect from attack. In addition to various metal plates, cement and sandbags can be used for ad-hoc armoured trains. Armoured trains are mostly used as a way to quickly move large amounts of firepower into position. The railroad cars on an armoured train are designed for many roles and are typical interchangeable, below is a list of different cars that are available:

Artillery Car: Fielding mixture of Artillery guns; usually the M102 Howitzer, or the M101 Howitzer; and mortars; usually the 81mm.

Infantry Car: Designed to carry infantry units and has mount machine guns. It serves as mobile barracks for transporting troops over distances sufficient to require accommodations.

Machine Gun Car: Dedicated to fielding mixture 7.62mm and .50 Caliber machine guns.

Anti-Aircraft Car: Equipped with various anti-aircraft defence systems

Command Car: Similar to infantry car, but designed to be a train command center. The command car will include a large conference room, and a communications suite, and several workstations for key staff.

Anti-Tank Car: Equipped with various anti-tank guns, usually a Howitzer.

Platform Car: An unarmoured car, with purposes ranging from transport of ammunition or vehicles, through track repair or derailing protection to railroad ploughs for track destruction.

Kitchen Car: Provides meal service en route. The dining car is usually staffed with three cooks to provide hot meals to train. Food storage would be located in one of the supply cars. Capacity for meal storage would be 500 meals.

Missile Trains

Towards the end of the 1980ā€™s, both superpowers began to develop railway-based ICBMs mounted on armoured trains; the Soviets deployed the SS-24 missile in 1987 and the US LGM-118A Peacekeeper 1988.

Mobile Minuteman Program

History: While the silo-based Minuteman was in development, the United States Air Force released details about a rail-based counterpart. On October 12, 1959, details on the system, called the ā€œMobile Minuteman,ā€ were released to the public. The system used the United States railroad network to help increase the system's survivability during nuclear attack. A performance test, code named Operation Big Star, was conducted from June 20 to August 27, 1960 at Hill Air Force Base, Utah. The United States Air Force then activated the 4062nd Mobile Missile Wing on December 1, 1960. The wing was to have three missile train squadrons; each with ten trains and each train carrying three missiles (30 missiles per squadron). Lack of support by the Kennedy Administration killed the Mobile Minuteman Program; on December 1, 1961, the Department of Defense deleted the three mobile missile squadrons from its budget. The USAF officially deactivated the 4062nd Mobile Missile Wing on February 20, 1962. The idea for a rail-based missile system was kept alive through the LGM-118A Peacekeeper Rail Garrison and the Soviet Unionā€™s SS-24 Scalpel rail-based ICBM.

On December 19, 1986 the White House announced President Regan's approval of a new developed rail garrison system, for basing part of the Peacekeepers Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) force. To increase survivability of this force, 50 Peacekeepers would be deployed in existing Minuteman silos and 50 more would be mounted on 25 USAF trains, two per train. Each train would consist of two locomotives, two security cars, two missile launch cars; housing the missiles; one launch control car one fuel car, and one maintenance car. Each launch car would carry one Peacekeeper ICBM, in a launch tube which could be elevated to fire the missile from the bed of the car. The trains would be parked in shelter located in USAF Strategic Air Command bases throughout the continental US, with the missile on continuous strategic alert. When necessary, the trains could be dispersed onto the nation's rail network, making it extremely difficult for an enemy to target and destroy them.

In February 1987, the Air Force selected ten additional bases as candidate rail garrison locations. That same year, Congress appropriated $350 million to fund rail garrison research and development. Exercises conducted in 1988 tested and refined the concept of operations, and in May the Secretary of Defense authorized the Air Force to proceed with Peacekeeper Rail Garrison full scale development. A further review of ICBM modernization produced a Presidential decision in April 1989 that limited the Peacekeeper system to the existing 50 missiles but directed they be redeployed from silos to rail garrison. In November, the Air Force announced the selection of seven bases to house Peacekeeper Rail Garrison. The Main Operating Base were F.E. Warren AFB, Wyoming, Barksdale AFB, Louisiana; Little Rock AFB, Arkansas; Grand Forks AFB, North Dakota; Dyess AFB, Texas; Wurtsmith AFB, Michigan; and Fairchild AFB, Washington. In December 1987 the first missile train was delivered, with the US Air Force achieved initial operational capability of 10 deployed Peacekeepers at F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo., in December 1988. Full operational capability was achieved in December 1989 with the reestablishment of 4062nd Mobile Missile Wing operating all of the 50 missiles.

Mobile RT-23 Molodets Program

History: RT-23 (NATO reporting name SS-24 Scalpel) is a Soviet ICBM, developed and produced by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau in Ukraine. It is cold launched, and comes in silo and railway car based variants. It is a three stage missile that uses solid fuel and thrust vectoring for two stages, with 10 MIRV warheads, each with 550 KT. yield. The missile was the culmination of a major Soviet effort to develop a medium solid-fueled missile with multiple basing modes: silo-based and rail-based versions were deployed, and a road-mobile version was considered but rejected. This made for a much more survivable ICBM, as the rail-based missiles could move around the rail network and thus be difficult to detect and track. The new missile was to replace the older liquid-fueled SS-19 missiles which were entirely silo-based. Its US counterpart was the MX missile. The missile was tested through the 1980s and began to be deployed in 1987. In 1995, 92 missiles were operational, 56 based in stationary silos and 36 rail-based.

A typical set of missile launch trains were comprised of three locomotives, followed by generating power car, command car, support car, and three missile launch vehicles, with a total of nine-car train set. The front most locomotive is driven by three officers, and the two other engines right behind the front locomotive are driven by two enlisted personnel each. The type of the engine is M62, which is a standard diesel locomotive of the East Europe at the time of its formation. The missile launcher has a shape of a refrigerator car, and the service cars are those that were converted from passenger carriages.

US Army Ambulance Trains

History: The US Civil War was the first wartime use of hospital trains. Ambulance trains varied from improvised boxcars to the purpose-built cars funded by relief organizations. During the Spanish-American War, a single train of three Pullman sleeper cars were used in the Philippines. In Germany, in 1902, a civilian ambulance train was introduced for use during railway accidents, which paved the way for the custom-built unit cars and leased passenger cars of World War I. World War II saw the large-scale use of ambulance trains; hundreds of cars and countless trains, Additional leased sleeper and chair cars were also used. After the war; most were of these cars sold; many were converted to passenger coaches or dining cars to replace older equipment worn out from wartime overuse. The Korean War saw all the remaining ambulance cars from WWII sent to Korea and replacements ordered. Ambulance trains played critical role, but use of air evacuation techniques overshadowed their role. The Korea War marked the last conflict in which Ambulance trains were used. At the end of the war all replacement cars were sent to Germany for use with the 57th Medical Battalion; 9th Hospital Center. In 1956 The US Army Medical Corps sold all remaining cars to various rail companies and discontinued the program. In 1987 the U.S. Army War College released a study called; Operational and Organizational Plan for Ambulance Train use for Medical Evacuation of U.S. Forces in Europe. Which underscored a critical need exists for a more efficient casualty evacuation system to medically evacuate the expected numbers of casualties on a modern European battlefield. The study also recognized the Ambulance Train use as a viable alternative to supplement current air and motorized evacuation assets to help overcome any shortfalls; however the study was never adopted by US Army Medical Corps. At the start of Twilight war, the Operational and Organizational Plan for Ambulance Train use for Medical Evacuation of U.S. Forces in Europe was adopted by US Amy Medical Corps. As a result a US Army Ambulance Train Conversion Kit was developed in order to rapidly convert civilian passenger coaches and baggage cars into a US Army Ambulance Train.

The Trains: Each car of the ambulance Train were painted with a red cross on white background on the roof and side so that enemy planes would identify them as hospital trains, which prevented them being a legitimate target under the Geneva Convention. The each ambulance train comprised the following:

1x Steam or Diesel Locomotive: The locomotive has no payload capacity of its own, and its sole purpose is to move the train along the tracks. Diesel locomotives require considerably less maintenance than steam, with a corresponding reduction in the number of personnel needed to keep the fleet in service, which why diesel locomotives were use more than steam locomotives.

1x Power Generation Car: In order to widen the available resource pools of locomotives and for stand along operations, all US Army Ambulance Trains have they own electrical generation system; a 2,000 Kilowatt Generator; and a sub station to receive power from commercial utilities or other power generations sources, distribution panels located on either side of the car for power distribution if used in support of a field hospital.

2x Sleeping Car:The Sleeping car is for medical staff and is mechanically compatible with the ward cars. Medical staff can assess ward cars and other support cars from inside the train. Sleeping cars are contained with sanitation facilities to include showers.

5x Ward Car: The ward car is a converted 80 foot passenger coach, which can hold 48 patients; allow for sanitation space and a small amount of ready supply storage. Beds are designed to be secured against the wall for modification of the ward area to accommodate other needs. Such as additional life support equipment or transporting patients who are wheel chair bound but are not bed ridden. Each bunk space has 110 V electrical service available for life support equipment. The double litter doors are out fitted with hydraulic lifts to raise patients up from street level to the car. Cars are also equipped with Head End Power and intercom systems along with VHF, UHF, and HF radio systems to communicate with receiving hospitals while en route.

1x Dining Car:The dining car would be staffed with three cooks to provide hot meals to the medical staff, and to heat pre-cooked meals for patients. Food storage would be located in one of the three supply cars. Capacity for meal storage would be 800 light precooked meals per day, and seven days food supply for the medical staff. The cars are outfitted with two Army-standard propane ranges. The cars are also equipped with a pair of 200-gallon cold water tanks and a 40-gallon hot water tank; supplies were stocked on open shelves with marine-type railings, a bread locker, a large refrigerator, and a series of built-in cabinets and drawers. The car can served approximately 250 men each, and is typically placed in the middle of the train in order that food could be served from both ends.

4x Supply and Storage Car:Each US Army Ambulance Train requires a food storage car, ward supply storage car, surgical supply storage car, and secure storage car; for patients' personal property. Each car allows through access of patients being transported by wheeled litters.

2x Surgery Car: The surgical cars are a fully self-contained unit with redundant power and lighting with two operating rooms located at opposite ends of the car. The operating rooms can also be re configurable for utilization as a triage and trauma care, or intensive care unit. The car has an integrated environmental control system with HEPA and NBC air filtration system in the event it was used in a NBC environment.

1x Patient Prep Car: This car has one area for removal of clothing and washing the patient. This area also serves for admission and securing patients personal items. The center section of the car will be the X-Ray room and film development. The remaining section of the car will be the surgical staging room where patients wait for surgery.

1x Patient Recovery Car: Two ward cars would are designated for patient recovery. These cars have additional medical equipment assigned to them; the standard ward cars do not have special equipment as part of their configuration.

1x Sanitation Laundry Car: In order to maximize operational space in the surgery car, patient prep car, and patient recovery car no toilet facilities are installed. A separate car has toilets, hand wash facilities, potable water storage, showers and laundry facilities. The car will also be used to support field hospital operations. Sewage is incinerated on the car and all water is released through leach lines running down the roadbed. This eliminated the need for large capacity sewage retention tanks and allow for more potable water storage. When used to field hospital operations sewage will be pumped into either bladders for disposal to into sewage trucks.

Staffing: Each US Army Ambulance Train has the following personnel attached:
ā€¢ 4x Doctor per train
ā€¢ 1x RN per car
ā€¢ 1x Physician Assistant per car
ā€¢ 2x Equipment Technician per train
ā€¢ 5x Medical Orderlies; required for loading and unloading of patients
ā€¢ 3x Cooks per Train
ā€¢ 1x Supply and Logistics Clerk
ā€¢ 1x Administration Clerk
ā€¢ 1x Train Operations Officer
ā€¢ 1x Conductor
ā€¢ 2x Brakeman
ā€¢ 2x Flagman
ā€¢ 2x Assistant Conductor
ā€¢ 1x Railroad Engineer
ā€¢ 1x Fireman

Operations: Medical aid stations can be set up near the train and the train's power generation car would provide the aid stations with power. The aid stations would triage the wounded and transfer wounded requiring surgery to the patient preparation car. In the patient preparation car medical personnel would admit the patient and secure all of their personal items and prepare them for surgery. After surgery the patients would be transferred to the recovery cars and monitored. Once the patients were stable for transport they would be moved to the ward cars. Once the ward cars were full the patients in the ward cars would be transported to areas hospitals outside of the war zone for follow on treatment.
Attached Files
File Type: doc ā€œLeopoldā€ Krupp K5(E) Railway Gun.doc (57.5 KB, 230 views)
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Last edited by Canadian Army; 07-07-2015 at 06:16 PM.
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