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  • Need info on Normandy Marshalling yards in 1944

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Discussion about railroad topics everywhere outside of Canada and the United States.

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 #1532191  by JimM
 
Hello all, new here and I have an unusual request.
I'm looking for information on Normandy railroad marshalling yards in 1944.

This is for a flight sim project. I'm looking for where these yards were, (locations, towns etc) aerial photos, etc etc.
I'm hoping that someone here can give some insight as to where to look, or might have, or know of a resource.
Stations would also be of use. Basically anything on railway infrastructure.
Normandy Map Area.jpg
Normandy Map Area.jpg (811.84 KiB) Viewed 2358 times
 #1532405  by JimM
 
Thanks - I'd found that (and anything else that comes up in a simple Google search) but this doesn't have the info I need.
I'm hoping for some info on which locations in Normandy had marshalling yards etc.
 #1533071  by Gilbert B Norman
 
This "not really on topic" thought occurs to me, especially considering the originator intimates to be developing a "sim" where the likely goal is to "take 'em out".

Obviously, when Eisenhower was planning the Invasion, he had little use for railroads as part of the supply line. Wasteful as it might seem, his supply line was structured around highways.

Hitler did not have as many options for his offensives on either Front. He had no choice but rail, and with Allied air superiority in place before D-Day, proved to be quite vulnerable. The Autobahn system constructed during Hitler's rise to power, could well have become a liability.

My first journey Overseas was during '60 for "the family trip". War damage was quite visible in cities such as London and Munich. Of late, I have been visiting Salzburg - mostly for the music during the Festival. If you know where to look, there are still vestiges of war damage. Owing to Hitler's need for the rails, the home of "Wolfie" and the "Von Trapps" was a target, as rail lines to Italy over the Brenner Pass, to Munich and Vienna, to Passau on the Danube, all converge at Salzburg.

Funny how "Wolfie's" house - today a tourist trap - not really near any rail line, got "taken out".
 #1540776  by JayBee
 
Oops Gilbert, the line to Italy via the Brenner Pass is via Innsbruck not Salzburg.

The main railway line serving the portion of Normandy near the beaches comes from Paris to Caen where there is a railway yard and then runs mostly parallel to the coast through Bayeux, and Carentan before turning north to Cherbourg. There is a branch running south to St. Lo from the village of Lisoe(midway between Bayeux and Carentan. Closer to the beaches and running to the small villages mainly as a series of branches off of this main line was a narrow gauge railway (600mm) called the "Société des Chemin de fer du Calvados". These tracks are now abandoned. The largest freight yards in the general area would be at Le Havre and the major marshalling yard at Rouen-Sotteville. Rouen was the site of the first bombing mission of the Eighth Air Force in WW2.
 #1540935  by Gilbert B Norman
 
Stand corrected, Mr. JayBee. The line to Italy from Salzburg along the Salzach (very scenic might I add) enters Italy at Tarvisio.

I've scrubbed out of going over this year (they could well scrub the entire forty day long Festival, which last occurred during WWII); when I was planning to go, one day trip I had in mind was to that area (Villach).