5.13.
THEATER PRACTICES
Railroads and their effectiveness may be
destroyed in many other ways and by other methods.
The element of time and the possibility of future use
will always control the extent of destruction. The
track maintenance man's job in a theater will consist
primarily of repair and rehabilitation to damaged
right of way. Often, the principles outlined and
stressed in this teaching of roadbed, track, curves,
superelevation, line, surface, and gage will be
followed almost to the letter. But in many other
instances, the policy of refinements of track and
roadbed followed on most commercial railroads will
have to be dispensed with because of the urgency of
the military situation.
5.14.
SUMMARY
If you want to deny an enemy the immediate
use of a railroad and increase the amount of effort
required to rehabilitate it, you need specially trained
crews, explosives, and wrecking equipment. The
crews should know railroad construction,
maintenance, and operating procedures and should
be able to pick out the most vulnerable spots where
destruction will cause the greatest amount of
rehabilitation effort. However, if you have people
trained only in using explosives but unfamiliar with
rail-roads, the crews should be supplemented with
train operating and maintenance-of-way people who
know the vulnerable spots.
If you must rehabilitate a railroad that has
Figure 5.7. Tie Ripper in Operation and
been damaged deliberately, you need special
Resultant Destruction.
construction equipment and a large work force.
Railroads in a theater of operations are rehabilitated by the
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