Here's an interesting video made in 1944 by the O.S.S.:

http://www.realmilitaryflix.com/public/212.cfm?sd=61

Consolidation #4 in this video looks to me to be ex-Norfolk & Western. The description of 50" drivers and a 53 ton locomotive doesn't seem to fit any of the surviving N&W 2-8-0's. Maybe the narrator had it wrong, or perhaps there was another class of N&W Consol. Or maybe this ISN'T a former N&W engine.

Les

It's a Norfolk & Western G class. Steamlocomotive.info gives the following stats on surviving sister no. 6 at the Virginia Museum of Transportation:

Drivers: 50"
Empty weight: 120,785 lbs
Weight on Drivers: 105,785 lbs (approx 52.9 tons)

Presumably the 4 on her cabside was her number on the N&W, considering that other members of the class were also numbered in the single digits.

Wow, Murphy's Law can be hard to tempt. What a great find, and an educational one too. It makes you wonder how many acts of rail sabotage during the war were successful versus how many were not. I've known about engines traveling for miles with their pony trucks derailed (re-railing before slamming into a frog or grade crossing), but these deliberate attempts to derail the train and locomotive prove interesting.

KL

In any case, its still a very interesting video!

It would have been very effective to mis-align the rails at the break. Do you suppose that method not attempted because of the tools involved? As it is, they ended up unspiking a good length of rail to get a large enough gap. Alternately, they could have blown the rail on the outside of a curve.

It almost seems like they were trying to fail.

Anyway. my comments have nothing to do with railway preservation, and I imagine that discussing hypothetical railroad sabotage techniques on the internets is sure to attract unwanted attention from federal authorities.

I think the most interesting thing about this video is certainly not the sabotage attempts, but the fact that the N&W 2-8-0 keeps running by the camera. Kind of like a number of photo run-by's for the fan with video or movie camera. I am not sure how many in-action records there are of a N&W class G, but here are multiple ones! And even some close up views of the engine. Norfolk & Western fans must surely be happy!

Les

I would assume that the OSS' purpose was to teach techniques that would go undetected until the train was on top of the break. Misaligning a rail end, or removing a rail would both be visible from the cab, also to any patrols that might be assigned to watch the track. I would assume they were trying to teach that explosives placed to simply cut the rail wouldn't get the job done.

I'll have to admit, I didn't bother to turn the sound on my office computer (I HATE noisy computers) so didn't listen to the narration. I note with interest one of the "instructors" pointing to the rail break wore a strange uniform cap. Did the narration mention who he was? Brit? Free French? Russian? It would appear someone with experience :-)

Dennis -

It did not.

Les

That sure speaks to the guidance principle of a railroad. They want the train to jump the track, but the guidance jumps the gap.

This segment is alos in the DVD set "War Trains" which you can find on amazon. I bought a copy a while back and watch it every now and then...

There was one interesting thing that the narrator said, that COULD have made a difference in their results.
Towards the middle of the clip, he mentions that they were using a "pusher" engine to shove the train downgrade over the break and that the engine was NOT under steam.
I wonder if, had the engine been under power, would the dynamic augment of the engine caused it to possibly "walk" to one side or the other as it crossed the gap, not allowing it to line up with the rail?

Inquiring minds want to know!

Bruce Pierce

Years earlier, the Andrews Raiders tried to wreck the "Texas" by disconnecting the inside rail of a curve. There was no derailment then. Earlier in their trip, they did derail a Western & Atlantic hand car by removing an entire rail.