RBS Express railroad trains were 3 mobile
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...
radar stations for
1CEVG Radar Bomb Scoring
Radar Bomb Scoring is a combat aviation ground support operation used to evaluate Cold War aircrews' effectiveness with simulated unguided bomb drops near radar stations of the United States Navy, the USAF Strategic Air Command, and Army Project ...
(RBS) of
Strategic Air Command
Strategic Air Command (SAC) was both a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile ...
bomber crews beginning in March 1961. Electronic equipment included the "MSQ-39, TLQ-11, MPS-9, and the
IFF/SIF for the MSQ-39" along with support railcars ("work train"), and the trains were temporarily used at various rail sites (e.g., sidings) with the radar antennas emplaced using hoists built onto flatcars.
[ Pulled by a "contracted locomotive" that left the train at the site] (e.g., for 45 days),[ and a ]North American B-25 Mitchell
The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Major General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served in ...
was used for calibration of the radar station.
Each train used "existing U.S. Army stock" from Ogden General Depot, and each train's 21 cars (17 support and 4 radar cars) included "a generator car
In rail transport, head-end power (HEP), also known as electric train supply (ETS), is the electrical power distribution system on a passenger train. The power source, usually a locomotive (or a generator car) at the front or 'head' of a train, p ...
, two box cars (one for radar equipment maintenance, and one for support maintenance) dining car, two day-room cars, supply cars, admin car, and 4 rew sleeping cars" Depot maintenance for the trains was at the Tooele Army Depot
Tooele Army Depot (TEAD) is a United States Army Joint Munitions Command post in Tooele County, Utah. It serves as a storage site for war reserve and training ammunition. The depot stores, issues, receives, renovates, modifies, maintains and demi ...
southwest of Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
("Army Rail Shops").[ Major Eugene R. Butler was the 1st commander of the "First RBS Express",] and each 1CEVG squadron's detachments manned a train[ (after the 1965 discontinuation of RBS squadrons, RBS detachments continued operating trains.) Butler's command had 60 11th RBS airmen: 15 from the Joplin Bomb Plot and others from the bomb plots at La Junta CO, Bismarck ND, Minneapolis MN, Salt Lake City UT, St Louis MO, and Little Rock AR.]
References
{{Reflist , refs=
[{{cite AV media , title=The RBS Express SFP1324 , url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr6JAkt1jmI , publisher=1365th Photo Sq , access-date=2012-05-17 , quote=''idea..born in 1960 … USAX 35764''5:50'' …USAX 35704''6:10 … ]rain silo near siding
Rain is water drop (liquid), droplets that have condensation, condensed from Water vapor#In Earth's atmosphere, atmospheric water vapor and then Precipitation, fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsib ...
sup>6:57''
[{{Who, date=July 2012{{Cite report , chapter=Chapter II: Personnel , title=1st Combat Evaluation Group (SAC): April-June 1966 , volume=I , chapter-url=http://www.docstoc.com/docs/111974612/1CEVG-Combat-Skyspot-History , chapter-format=DocStoc.com image , access-date=2012-07-14 ]
partial transcription at 1stCombatEvaluationGroup.com)
{{webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130606171407/http://www.1stcombatevaluationgroup.com/1CEVG_skyspot_history.PDF , date=2013-06-06
[{{cite news , title=Combat Evaluation Group - A place for CEVG'ers and Range Rats to Meet (Yahoo newsgroup) , date=January 9, 2000 Citations in chronological order:
*{{cite news , author=johnd584 , date=November 26, 2004 , title=Message 11827 , quote=11th RBS express set up in Rhame ND and Capt Reeves from Bismarck was the commander in summer of 1961 or 62
*{{cite news , last=Reyburn , first=David W , date=November 29, 2004, title=Re: Re: ombat Evaluation GroupRe: RBS Express , quote=''train in Deeth, Nevada in April 1, 1963…train in Igloo, S.D. the middle of August 1963 and was there until we moved the train to Vaughn, N.M. the first of Oct. 1963…Train at Creston, WY the first of April…left for the Train Nov 12, 1964 for Moulton, Iowa…train and moved it to Scott City, KS…Left the train About February 25, 1965… train in Oberlin, LA in the middle of August 1965
*{{cite news , last=McAfee , first=Emerson R , title=tbd , quote=train. … Several of us…volunteered to go to Lake City in 1964… And we had all kinds of volunteers for Mayfield, KY
*{{cite news , last=Withers , first=Daniel A , date=February 17, 2005 , title=Message 13073 , quote=Closing Deeth (literally), we relocated to the New Mexico garden spot of Vaughn.
*{{cite news , last=McAfee , first=Emerson R , date=August 6, 2005 , title=Re: Greetings! , quote=I was at Det. 8 Richmond from Jun 63-Apr 72. I also made trips to Browns IL but we were the ones who moved it from Mauk GA to Browns so I was only at Browns for about a week
*{{cite news , last=Hirsch , first=Ken , date=August 6, 2005 , title=Message tbd , quote=I was stationed at Detachment 3, Statesboro, GA from Oct. 1963 - Sept. 1966. Tours on the RBS Express were at…Browns, IL; Jonesboro, AR; Train on display in Philadelphia, PA; Mount Pleasant, TN and Port Henry, NY (2 tours - I liked it up there!).
*{{cite news , last=Avery , first=Jim , date=August 8, 2005 , title=Message 15844 , quote=We actually moved the train from Lake City, SC to Browns, IL. (The train moved from Mauk, GA to Thoreau, NM).
*{{Cite news , last=Ross , first=Don , date=August 30, 2007 , title=Sqdns, Det 4 and Germany , url=https://groups.yahoo.com/group/combatevaluationgroup/message/38535 , format=Yahoo newsgroup , access-date=2012-07-09 , quote=three RBS Express trains. One per sqdn
*{{cite web , last=Skinner , first=Don , date=July 31, 2010 , title=Memories/1CEG , url=http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:OyiJjj_m1tcJ:groups.yahoo.com/group/combatevaluationgroup/message/86756+reeves+%22msq-35%22&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us , access-date=2012-09-24 , quote=I spent the first 3 months of 1964 on RBS Express at Thoreau, NM as maintenance man {{Dead link, date=November 2018 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes ]
Cold War military history of the United States
Electronic warfare
Strategic Air Command
Railway weapons