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3.1. GENERAL
An essential part of a rail planning job is to determine the
amount of equipment required for the operation. To a military
planner, railway equipment falls into three categories: rolling
stock, consisting of boxcars, gondolas, flatcars, tank cars, and
refrigerator cars; road engines, the motive power used to pull trains
over main lines between terminals or division points; and switch
engines, the motive power used to switch cars within yards and at
division terminals. Each category and how to determine how much of
each is required for a rail operation is explained separately in
paragraphs 3.3 and 3.4. The following paragraph discusses where rail
equipment comes from and how it is obtained.
3.2. AVAILABLE EQUIPMENT
Equipment in liberated or occupied territory that may be used by
the TRS depends on the extent of destruction or damage and types and
availability of fuel and spare parts. The planner may find technical
data on rail equipment in a theater in logistical surveys, special
transportation studies based on intelligence reports, reports of
governments and privately owned railways produced during peacetime,
and articles appearing in such publications as the British Railway
Gazette and the United States Railway Age.
The U.S. Army owns railway equipment to be used by the TRS in a
theater of operations when required. The types and characteristics
of some of the motive power are given in table I in the preceding
chapter; table V lists those of rolling stock. Whenever a planner
cannot determine how much equipment is on hand for his use in a
theater, he should plan to use equipment as listed in these two
tables.
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