See Photo Albums - Bill Benge for more Camp Atterbury Railroad photos.
The Camp Atterbury Local
on the Indianapolis - Louisville line in 1952

Shown are the Atterbury Passenger and Freight Terminal Building and the lumber storage buildings, where deliveries await the military trucks for transportation to Camp Atterbury.  This scene is near the (now) Kokomo Grain buildings.  This photo appeared on the dust-jacket of "The Pennsylvania Railroad in Indiana" by William J. Watt, published by the Indiana University Press.

 

Steam Engine 
Water Filler 
Spout


originally from Camp Atterbury.

Now located at the Johnson
County Chamber of Commerce.

Taxi Rates
Click on images for larger view

Camp Atterbury Railroads
The Camp Crier

"Atterbury Railroad Hub Has Everything from Ticket Office to Switching Engines; Even Operates Saw Mill"

Camp Atterbury boasts a railroad hub of its own, containing every transportation facility, from a ticket office to switch engine.

Rail Transportation is the official name of this post branch, and its chief function pertains to routing and receiving both material goods and manpower to and from Camp Atterbury. Major C. C. Boatright, Chief, Transportation Branch, directs the railroad's activities.

To the average soldier, Rail Transportation means troop movements and little else - but this is only one function of the office. Everything, by train or truck, must be routed in or out of Atterbury by Maj. Boatright and staff, and "there are hundreds of shipments coming and going every day."

TWO LOCOMOTIVES

Besides receiving 25 to 40 truckloads daily, Rail Transportation inloads carloads of coal, clothing, equipment and other subsistence in its own "yards". Two locomotives, one steam and the other Diesel, spot the cars to their camp destination; a gasoline crane unloads the heave equipment.

Every item received must be checked for damages and shortages before a bill of lading is approved and sent to Washington, D. C., for payment. If a discrepancy is noted, a claim is instituted against the carrier.

The movement of men is another responsibility of Rail Transportation. This includes the supervision of local bus and rail transportation to Indianapolis, Edinburg, Columbus, Franklin, Shelbyville, Nineveh, Trafalgar, Morgantown and Martinsville, in addition to "secret destinations."

Individual parties are routed daily. each man is supplied his transportation, including Pullman, meals enroute and route travel before leaving Camp Atterbury.

Larger shipments are troop movements. Maj. Boatright's office can arrange shipment to any destination for any unit within the hour and have it on it's way within three or four hours. For such movements, the first step taken is to telephone the traffic Control office in Washington, D. C., for routing and then arrange with local railroads for necessary passenger, Pullman, kitchen, baggage, and freight cars. Loading is done by the Atterbury yard crews.

EVEN A SAWMILL

Rail Transportation has its own packing and crating warehouse, which makes boxes to ship equipment and blocking material. A small sawmill is in hand to supply the lumber in any shape needed to ship a unit's property.

Before a troop train leaves the post, its route is marked, its equipment and supplies checked and railroads are posted. All this work is handled by a staff of 60, including 15 enlisted men. Maj. Boatright, a veteran railroad man with 29 years service with the freight and passenger traffic departments of the Santa Fe Railroad, directs the operation of the Atterbury hub, with the assistance of Lt. H. K. Anderson and Lt. Robert E. Heidt.

As all over the United States, the railroads are moving men and material, so it is in Camp Atterbury - a day and night job, every day, every hour.

THREE OLD-TIMERS COME BACK to SERVICE

An old retired engine, long left rusting on a sidetrack, and a veteran engineer and fireman, both of whom had long since passed the three score mark in age, were called out of retirement to take on the mammoth job of switching the many carloads of materials at the camp warehouses. And they are doing a great job of it, according to Capt. Charles G. Boatright, chief of the Transportation branch, himself a railroader for 30 years.

With his assistant, 1st Lt. O. M. Nordstrom, who also has had 30 years in railroading, they obtained Engine 2490, which had been retired by the Pennsylvania Railroad.

To man it, they found a group of men, all of whom are veterans of either the Spanish-American or World War I: Harry E. Krause, 66 years old, of Indianapolis, Ind., with 40 years of railroading; Engineer Bradford Ingle, 75 years old, of Indianapolis, 49 years of experience; Fireman Jack Love, 63 years old, of Indianapolis, 37 years with the rail service; Yardman David C. Williams, 55 years old, of Morgantown, Ind., 22 years experience; Yardman Millard C. Jones of Scipio, Ind., 23 years in the business.

A new Baldwin 120 ton Diesel engine was recently delivered to the Post Transportation Branch here. The 1,000 hp giant is capable of pulling 70 box cars or an 18-car Pullman train and can attain a speed of 45 mph.

Thanks to Tim Moriarty (6/2011), the actual numbers of this diesel locomotive is now know. Number of the Baldwin was U. S. Army 7453 and its serial number (like a VIN on your car) was 64407.  It was built in June 1942.

Roadnumber:  USA 7453

Axles:  4

Type: VO-1000 diesel-electric

Serial number: 64407

Buiilt:  6/42

Builder:  Baldwin Locomotive Works

There's no record yet of where it was delivered new.  It's listed in BLW field reports as being at Edinburg, IN, by 4/1947, and then to Presidio of San Francisco by 1950.

A book I have on WW II locomotives lists USA 7453 as being at Gallup, NM, which is probably its first location.  The now-closed Fort Wingate is to the east and south of Gallup, so I'm sure that's where it was located prior to coming to Camp Atterbury.

Of course it could have been used in removing all the  equipment, but
according to the old papers, it must have been there prior to 1947?

The BLW paperwork just notes it was there in April 1947, and a few years later it was in California.  Unfortunately we don't know exactly when it arrived at the camp, just that it was there in 4/47 when Baldwin took note.

Tim

Seconds after a train arrives at the railhead here, returning veterans are lined up to unload the baggage and put it in the lettered racks which line the platform outside the Receiving Division. Here Capt. Charles Ruly directs the procedure with the aid of a PA system

"Old Timer" Switch Engine Doing Duty at Atterbury
The Franklin Evening Star -  01 May 1944

 
 
 

 A "New" Troop Train Car Arrives At Camp Atterbury
1999

 A railroad car, formerly the "Indian Song", retired by the railroad and converted into a McDonald's Restaurant Dining Room in Greenwood, Indiana, was donated to Camp Atterbury by the McDonald's owner. The car was moved to the Military Display Area of the Camp Atterbury Museum. It will be converted in a gift shop and will contain items for sale.

Camp Atterbury, Terhan, Iran 1943

Locomotives on the transfer table behind the running shed at
Camp Atterbury in Teheran, Iran, 01/08/1945

U. S. Engineers carrying out repairs on locomotives at
Camp Atterbury, Teheran, Iran, 10/1944.

 

"Atterbury Special Was All-American Train in France"

An interesting bit of information was revealed in a letter to Pfc Robert Randolph, Co. D, 249th Quartermaster Battalion, from Lowell Thomas, nationally know radio commentator:

Dear Bob:

So you are at Atterbury, away out in Indiana.  That that camp must be named after a man I knew in the First World War.  His name was General Atterbury, and he had a lot to do with transportation.  In fact there was a train that regularly ran between the American Front and the City of Tours, which was called "The Atterbury Special".  It was the nearest thing to an all-American train that ever operated in Europe.

Cordially yours, Lowell Thomas

(Appeared in the Camp Crier, issue 11/20/1944)

James D. West - Indiana Military Org
Page Last Revised 11/22/2011