An Experimental Military Railway: The Claiborne-Polk Military Railroad

The Claiborne-Polk Military Railroad was a railroad operated by the United States Army at Camp Claiborne in central Louisiana during World War II. 

On the east end, it connected to the Missouri Pacific near Alexandria, LA, and on the west, the Kansas City Southern near Leesville, a distance of about 48 miles.

The somewhat-abridged version of the right of way is viewable on our map.

Claiborne-Polk Military Railroad Map. Image: Robertson Collection

The railroad was built to simulate how railroads would operate in and around a war theater. Experiments in sabotaging tracks were undertaken here, as were how repairs of the railroad would work in the war environment.

One such operation is filmed below, and it shows just how incredibly resilient trains of the day were to sabotage. This YouTube video shows an experiment on how much track would have to be compromised for a derailment to occur with a steam engine.


The trains mostly stay on the tracks, even when relatively large gaps of track were removed.

As the road had no revenue or logistical purpose, and was only to simulate train movements, its rolling stock was decades old, and in some cases, consisted of rolling stock from Europe.

"Troops marching to railcars at the Camp Claiborne Rail Yard that carried them to Camp Polk on the Claiborne-Polk Railroad." (Robertson Collection)

Reports suggest one engine was lost in quicksand and remains on site today.

At the War's end in 1945, the camp, and thus the railroad, were decommissioned. Most of the land was returned to the Kisatchie National Forest.

Thanks as always for reading!


Location: LA-112, Forest Hill, LA 71430, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Underwater Water Slide: Fly Over at Durinrell TikiBad

Image
Have you ever wished to experience being transferred from one pool of liquid to another via a pipe? Had you visited the Dutch water park known as Durinrell , also known as Tikibad before 2010, you would have had the chance. Half water slide, half war crime, this was a unique water slide that was filled to the brim with water, leaving riders completely submerged throughout the journey. Image:  XtremeRidesNL Known as the Fly Over was an underwater water slide, which is exactly how it sounds, and transported riders from one pool to another using the water as propulsion. Built in 1994, riders dove underwater to access the slide, using gravity to transport them upwards via the Communicating Vessels Principle . Riders would be completely underwater for about 15-20 seconds. This is how I imagine those 15-20 seconds felt like while riding the slide. The slide was built to drain water in five seconds or less in case a rider got stuck in the slide or had a medical emergency, but the threat tha
Read more

Railroad Vocabulary: A List of Words and Phrases Used in the Industry - Updated February 2024

Image
As somebody who enjoyed watching trains, but was not an employee of the railroad industry ( at least growing up ), when I would interact with railfans and historians, there was often a lot of technical jargon that applied only to the railroad industry thrown back and forth that made it difficult for a newcomer to understand what they were talking about. For example, what is a dinky? It's actually a passenger train. This non-inclusive language seems to keep the loop closed to members of the community, and to uncouple (no pun intended) that technical jargon and help make it easier for people to communicate with people in the industry, I am creating a list of railroad vocabulary that I'm hoping will make the industry more transparent.  BNSF 2361 . Image: Matt Flores While I ultimately believe that such technical jargon has no place outside of perhaps technical communications between employees, I know quite well that I alone am not going to stop people from communicating in a non-i
Read more

The Abandoned Route 66 in McCook, IL

Image
Route 66, the iconic "Main Street of America," weaves through the heart of the United States, connecting communities and embodying the spirit of adventure. However, not all sections of this historic highway have stood the test of time. While much of the former US 66 is drivable in one way or another, especially in Illinois, there are some parts are not.  One of the first such roadblocks for would-be travelers heading from Chicago to Los Angeles via the Mother Road, now known as Joliet Road, comes just outside of Chicago in McCook, IL, where the former highway is closed between 55th St and East Ave, and has been for over two decades. (Link to the location on our Ghost Towns Map ) Image: Google Maps at 55th and Joliet Rd in McCook, IL The land that the quarry would eventually take over was part of Stinson Airport in the early days of Route 66, dating back to before 1930. ( Abandoned Airports map ). 1938 USGS Aerial Imagery The quarrying on the south side of the road would
Read more