" LOADED FOR WAR " SANTA FE RAILROAD IN WORLD WAR II AT&SF STEAM LOCOMOTIVES MD31180

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] is an engine of war long before Pearl Harbor the American railroads ever conscious of the gathering clouds of conflict worked out a plan of unified and immediate action should this nation be forced to accept the challenge of aggression to their everlasting credit this careful planning was not to be in vain or suddenly the infamous blow was struck and overnight engines of peace and progress were transformed into engines of war in a conflict unparalleled in the annals of human history the die had been cast the decencies of mankind were the state and squarely upon the success or failure of the American railroads rested the fate of the nation for only that nation possessed of adequate rail transport should hope to survive the ordeal of total war but did this nation possess adequate transport facilities could Santa Fe shoulder her share of the tremendous burden would Santa Fe meet the strain of wartime traffic without delay or confusion well as man can best be judged by worth of beamed let us look at the record when the greenlight for military movement was signaled on that fateful day in December the American railroads became the supply lines to the battle fronts the strong arm of the homefront with a well trained determined army of more than a million workers they were of the very first to enlist in the common cause for the duration the order that came flashing over the wires was short but to the point move all available equipment to military bases without delay a large order yes but the dispatch sent smoothness with which this urgent request was carried out will long span the record of nvivo achievement a record which future generations of railroad employees will ever regard with respect and all a record of free men and private enterprise or without seriously disrupting existing schedules long lines of baggage cars sleeping cars boxcars and coaches were assembled and rushed to widely-separated military bases every available crew was mustered engineers firemen brakeman men who willingly returned to work to in many instances three and four shifts without thought of personal well-being there was a job to be done a job that had to be done a job that would be done and even before Congress could gather to declare a formal state of war to exist the armed might of these free and indivisible United States was already gathering momentum rail equipment was backed onto siding awaiting only the signal from inspecting officers to receive their urgent cargoes to get started rolling in the greatest mass movement of troops and equipment in the history of this or any nation flat car after flat car loaded with speed and precision utility cars Scout cars heavy trucks tanks jeeps peeps tank destroyers hundreds of fighting vehicles rumbling endlessly countless tons of steel and firepower rolling aboard and into riding positions there to be plucked and nailed and wired and secured by hands which had long trained for this very day [Music] then came division after division thousands upon thousands of hardened well-trained superbly equipped fighting men to file quickly aboard comfortable Pullman cars their ultimate destinations a closely guarded military secret not a second was lost from caboose to headend yaddam rolling and within a matter of hours from receipt of the initial order hundreds of trains loaded with the world's finest soldiers sailors and Marines were started moving to embarkation points to take their stand our stand against the aggressor [Music] what the American railroads meet the strain of wartime traffic without delay or confusion railroad men know their jobs they know those jobs well in the first months of this globe encircling conflict they moved more men and more equipment and with greater speed and efficiency and during the entire span of World War one yes the wheels of war are rolling and there is no longer any question as to the ability or the determination of the American railroads to shoulder their share of the nation's tremendous war efforts their achievements furnish the unalterable proof but great as is the demand for the movement of troops and equipment it still remains only a small part of the real job the railroads are doing a job so big has to be almost beyond the bounds of human comprehension the day-by-day mass movement of freight only a few years ago there were those who said the railroads were through that they belong to an era fast receding well today they are literally the lifeline of America and every day more than 40,000 trains are started moving with Santa Fe alone operating as many as 1800 trains every 24 hours that's more than 75 trains an hour a train every 48 seconds of the day and night to sustain the life and economy on the homefront meanwhile meeting the heavy demands of the nation's war effort an aircraft factory requires vital parts to maintain production schedules it's up to the railroads to get them there without delay a shipyard is running short of steel plates it's up to the railroads to get it there there is an acute food shortage in an overcrowded defense area it's up to the railroads are the nation's railroads getting their cargoes through on time well just look at those ships being born being born through the untiring efforts of thousands of free American skilled workers from rail transported prefabricated steel plates Liberty ships Corvettes destroyers carriers tankers invasion barges being built and launched in ever-increasing never-ending streams as America's answer to the Menace of the Nazi u-boat and the boasted in vulnerability of the and his conquests look at those car loads of beef on the hook luscious big juicy steaks and hides for shoe leather which the railroads are delivering to the nation's busy packing houses and bacon for America's 130 million industrious citizens at home and abroad throughout the 48 states and country elevators and in the massive storage bins of the city's tons and more tons of ripe golden grains are being delivered and stored ensuring ample supplies for domestic consumption and for those hungry nations across the seas [Music] from producer to consumer for today toes important freight from the warm belts of the Pacific slope vitamin rich citrus delivered to the nation's breakfast table and planes look assam deadly pursuit ships and mighty precision bombers to blast and clear the ways for conquering allied armies each on its own heralding the steadily approaching doom of the once mighty axis and its satellite yes the American railroads are getting the freight through and not only are they getting them through by their unstinting efforts they are actually helping to build the ships and planes and tanks and Chiefs are helping make the cheryl's and the munitions to feed into hungry guns just finish early as though they were standing working on the production lines for production without transportation it's a ship without of a sail Oh our indispensably interdependent but not only must the railroads transport the bulk of the finished products to feed into the mall of this hungriest of all wars to them also falls the vital task of supplying an uninterrupted stream of raw materials to the nation's widespread factories for the Battle of production begins far from the lathes and the mills deep down under the earth where men go searching for the raw materials from which will be shaped our victory from the mountains of Pennsylvania and Colorado from Illinois and New Mexico comes coal torn and blown and scooped from thick veins which for centuries have been preparing for this day for the all-important job of keeping blast furnaces blasting until the freedoms of the lands above are once again secured [Music] from the vast reservoirs of Oklahoma's Texas and the great southwest oil the black gold of mobility and striking power without which the battles on far-flung invasion fronts as well as the economy of the homefront would but despair and die at the outbreak of war the nation's railroads proposed that they could move two hundred thousand barrels a day if they had to at that time this was regarded as being hardly more than a daydream but this was not the first proposal the railroads were to make and to make good Tom we have loadings passed the two hundred thousand barrel add a figure for that one crucial point the railroad proving they could meet any emergency transported 1 million barrels a day [Music] out of the gaping expanses of open pit mines comes king copper huge mechanical shovels continually eat away at nature's seemingly inexhaustible supply lifting 8 cubic yards with heat ravenous fight [Music] then it's up to the railroads to get it moving to the smelters where man again bests nature to extract the golden metal from the rich ore [Music] from the Gulf Coast comes over brought to the surface by the ingenious use of forced steam the yellow chemical soon hardens to become gaudy flat-topped mountains than the muffled roar and the mighty Avalanche Falls in loosened Cascades ordinarily moved almost entirely by boat the submarine forced an end to this method of transport it was up to the railroads to supply an additional 20,000 cars if this essential of gunpowder was to be delivered to the nation's munitions makers well the cars were found the munitions makers are being supplied from New Mexico Potter another essential of gunpowder and vital ingredients of numberless other products rendered from its prehistoric manufacturing plants far below the surface by methods mostly akin to the mining of coal the chunk potash is run to the head of shaft by miniature railroads they're to be raised and ground and extracted before being forced loaded into waiting boxcars which will transport the Crimson chemical to the corners of the nation and on and on from the past virgin forests of America logs and then finished lumber from Oklahoma and the endless acreage of Texas cotton yes all the way down to scraps with the railroads transporting the boss of the nations file and at the same time contributing a large percentage of the total tonnage and not only must the railroads deliver all of these essentials to the nations factories without delay they must get them all there at the right time [Music] but all of this vast and steadily increasing traffic burden is not being handled without difficulties in addition to the shortage of trained manpower there is an even more acute shortage of equipment without which this mighty stream of produce and products would lose momentum with factories which formerly manufactured rails and equipment now geared to the production of weapons of war it is no longer a question now will it run today the nation's railroads have only one slogan if it's got wheels get it rolling before the war it was customary to run old equipment on two dead tracks they're to be stored for use at some future date well that future date is now and dead tracks no longer have lines of rolling stock standing idle only by calling all usable equipment back into service can the job be done both motives are high on the premium list and no matter their condition nothing is impossible look at this old slobber bucket number 37 23 geez just another of many locomotives with shop foreman and dismantlers daily start on the road to recovery but where once there were ample supplies of new parts today nothing is being wasted or discarded each and every one of the engines 25,000 odd units is carefully marked to ensure proper and speedy repair and replacement then each of the various parts is inspected and sent to the shops where machines and a skill of experienced workmen do the impossible cutting grinding reshaping and rebuilding each worn unit back to unbelievable newness and efficiency [Applause] [Music] old firebreak is removed and replaced acetylene torches cut away and repair all flaws inside the huge boilers piston housings are reboard to insure driving power once the locomotive returns to the rails and huge wheels worn and flat from thousands of miles of hard running are cleaned and dipped and sprayed and lifted again into the shops where new tires are fitted securely by expanding temperatures [Music] [Applause] [Music] yes and on and on throughout the length and breadth of teeming santa fe shots from Cleburne to Topeka to Richmond from Albuquerque to San Bernardino and Chicago modern miracles of Reconstruction and rehabilitation are daily being performed with speed and efficiency heretofore were thought impossible not only returning to the road equipment which was not too long ago regarded as being irretrievable but also keeping all other equipment in perfect running condition for the performance of the given task [Music] [Music] poor locomotives are not the only type of equipment which must be repaired and rebuilt look in any car shop and you'll see lines of old gondolas and refrigerator cars and boxcars being torn down rebuilt and painted to bring them back into immediate service look into any foundry where rumbling machines respond to the skilled will of their operators ever hammering ever cutting ever shaping old parts to new and then melting down what remains to pour and mould again look into the metal shop and see sheer weight and deft manipulation shape thick steel as though it might well be the thinness of tin foil and ears which must be ground to within a thousandth of an inch and thousand gauges and airbrake meters in each and every department the story is the same this is a war of movement let's keep them rolling but let us not neglect the unsung heroes who are always present in the background of the steam and the rumbling wheels those tireless thousands of loyal workers who are keeping the road beds in flawless condition or constantly repairing and replacing mile upon mile of worn tracks and - almost overnight lay spur lines to enhance the speed than the efficiency of crowded rails [Music] give credit to the tower men who direct the constant flow of heavy traffic to the bridge crews who daily construct and repair important spans over deep and yawning defiles to the conductor's for their patience and ingenuity to the local station agent whose day is endless to the busy ticket salesman and his problems to the dispatchers who keep the trains rolling on schedule to the thoroughness of the signal maintainer to the efficiency of the telegraphers and to those other thousands of tireless workers high and low too numerous to mention give the railroad man his due for each and every one on his own is an important card which must function smoothly health confusion and disaster resolve [Music] did I hear someone say not to forget the women never fear every rail that is laid every train started moving all freight and passengers carry require a multitudinous detail of office work in ever-increasing numbers women are helping the railroads to maintain their high standards of service to the nation but don't think that the only jobs women are performing are behind office desks with thousands of rail employees going into the Armed Forces women readily volunteered for heavier duties in the shops they're holding down man-sized jobs and handling those jobs with comparable skill [Music] yes the wheels of war are rolling from Cal catcher to caboose the American railroads are winning as important and as tough a battle as has ever been fought they are keeping faith with sons and husbands and sweethearts who are depending on the railroads to maintain schedules without mishap or delay else all they possess perish forever and when victory has been won the American railroads will have an even more important job or it will be theirs to carry the fall tees of a great and even greater United States of America a nation grown in technical skill and boundless opportunities a nation of hundreds of new and better products a land of food aplenty and plastics and textiles and more which will flow endlessly over the bands of Steel they have preserved and strengthened did this nation possessed adequate transportation facilities would Santa Fe shoulder her share of the tremendous burden well if ever anyone could take justifiable pride in contribution to the peace and decencies of mankind it is the men and the wheels of the American railroads it is the wheels and the men of Santa Bay let them face the Sun and hold their heads ever high for theirs is a glorious achievement [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music]

Channel: PeriscopeFilm

Views: 98,518

Keywords: Periscope Film, Stock Footage, 4K, HD, 2K, 16mm film, 8mm film, 35mm film, film transfer

Id: ggVR4nZ6OeY

Length: 23min 23sec (1403 seconds)

Published: Sun May 24 2020