Furlough Train Ticket

1. Thousands of tons of vehicles, parts, and weapons had be transported.
2. Military units on official ‘troop trains’ had to be moved from training camps to coastal ports of embarkation (POE).
3. Civilians with a need, and often military assignments, also had to be transported.
4. The GI’s (including Army, Navy, Marines, Coast Guarders) on furlough had to travel.

Official troop trains were sealed, in a manner of speaking, because the movement of units were secret. Men on these trains could not get off once aboard, to preserve the secrecy. Thus, these men did not get off at North Platte or anywhere else, and, I think, the trains, when they did stop were held away from public depots.

The civilian trains, often with very old railroad cars (often gas lit, unheated, turn of the century cars), were given over to men on furlough. The joke was that Indian arrows were still stuck in the sides of those cars.

The Challenger trains ran daily between the west coast and Chicago, and the trick was to get on the Challenger as best one could. Depending on its location, getting from a military camp to the train called for innovative moves. It took as much as 3 days for the Challenger to get from the coast to Chicago (or back, of course.) so innovation was the order of the day. (see the San Francisco Challenger page)

A furlough was, typically, for ten days, and military personnel carried travel orders that ‘train ride’ MP’s could inspect as they and the conductors went through the moving train.

GI’s stationed at Camp Beale (Marysville/ Sacramento) found out that, if they had a weekend (Saturday-Sunday) pass and if they could get to Reno, Nevada, they could head off the Saturday or Sunday Challenger and gain a precious 36-48 hours of additional time. With such a big 'down payment' against the 60 hours travel time, innovation was the order of the day. The travel time was often lengthened as the furlough train stopped moving so that higher priority trains could pass on ahead.

We called this innovation, the Reno Express. Once the MP's were satisfied that the GI’s papers were in order, the conductor kind of looked the other way when it was a Saturday or Sunday train and the ticket was dated Monday.

The ticket posted above is mine, dated on Monday. Even at half fare, cost about 3 months of GI pay to purchase. I caught the Reno Express and saved two days travel time; thus it was that I spent a few minutes in the North Platte Canteen, sopping up as much ambience as the local folk provided so unstintingly.

It happened that our battalion had a gap between the time we finished our training and the scheduled departure for overseas at POE San Francisco; thus allowing furloughs. Many thousands of men never got a furlough like this. They departed home through an induction center and, all too often, came home a year or so later in a casket.

These were critically difficult emotional times. The 60 hour trip back to camp on a dismal train was virtually traumatic.

Do I here you say, why not fly? We are talking 1940’s when the airlines used 18 passenger DC3’s and many of those were converted to paratroop aircraft. Fly? Might as well flap your arms up and down.

© 1997 Frank Nolte aka Franken793@AOL.COM