Limestone

There was an article in today's PPH regarding (sadly) layoffs at ME Military Authority in Limestone. The company refurbishes military vehicles, and has completed 10,000 (!) Humvees. Did these ever move by rail (or was rail ever considered)?

MM&A tried and was successful with one or two moves. The problems have been that the track to the base is in poor condition, so loading and unloading must take place off the base. The other problem is consolidating moves from off the MM&A-loading multiple vehicle. And the story goes that these vehicles were vandalized when they were moved by rail in the Iron Roads days.

TNT

Cowford wrote:Did these ever move by rail (or was rail ever considered)?

I remember seeing some military vehicles (appeared to my untrained eyes to be Humvees) moving eastbound on Pan Am (still Guilford at the time) back in 2002. I heard that they were headed somewhere to be either rebuilt or sold, but never heard anything more after that.

That's a shame. I'd imagine the logistics of trasloading the vehicles in PI or Caribou would have been pretty straightforward, but that of locating/coordinating ramps at all the disparate National Guard origins would have been another story altogether (good challenge for a rail-oriented logistics company!) And it's sadly ironic that the Humvees are made to combat IEDs, and they get damaged by no-good punks. I'd imagine they are too wide for an enclosed rack, so require a chain flat.

The ones I saw in 2002 were in ATSF auto racks, but they weren't completely enclosed because I could see quite clearly what was inside.

I thought the industry had converted 100% to fully enclosed racks by then (I thought it happened sometime in the 90s)... apparently FE racks operate on the old CP line; not sure if clearances would allow use on the old BAR.