British Expeditionary Force (World War I)

The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was the six-division British Army sent to the Western Front during the First World War. Planning for a British Expeditionary Force began with the 1906–1912 Haldane reforms of the British Army carried out by the Secretary of State for War Richard Haldane following the Second Boer War (1899–1902).
The term "British Expeditionary Force" is often used to refer only to the forces present in France prior to the end of the First Battle of Ypres on 22 November 1914. By the end of 1914—after the battles of Mons, Le Cateau, the Aisne and Ypres—the existent BEF had been almost exhausted, although it helped stop the German advance. An alternative endpoint of the BEF was 26 December 1914, when it was divided into the First and Second Armies (a Third, Fourth and Fifth being created later in the war). "British Expeditionary Force" remained the official name of the British armies in France and Flanders throughout the First World War.
Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany, who was famously dismissive of the BEF, allegedly issued an order on 19 August 1914 to "exterminate ... the treacherous English and walk over General French's contemptible little army". Hence, in later years, the survivors of the regular army dubbed themselves "The Old Contemptibles". No evidence of any such order being issued by the "Kaiser" has ever been found.
Formation.
Under the terms of the Entente Cordiale the United Kingdom had a diplomatic "understanding" with France to counter military aggression from the German Empire in the European continent. Detailed plans had been drawn up in advance for the British Army in the event of war breaking out between those two countries to dispatch a "British Expeditionary Force" to France which consisted of six infantry divisions and five cavalry brigades under the command of General Sir John French to repel any German attack in the West. The BEF was arranged into I Corps, under the command of General Sir Douglas Haig, and II Corps, under the command of General Sir James Grierson, which embarked for France on 15 August 1914.
In October 1914, 7th Division arrived in France, forming the basis of III Corps and the cavalry had grown to form the Cavalry Corps of three divisions. By December 1914, the BEF had expanded to such an extent that the First Army and the Second Army were formed.
By the end of 1914, after the battles of Mons, Le Cateau, the Aisne and Ypres, the old regular British Army had suffered massive casualties and lost most of its fighting strength but had managed to help stop the German advance.
Command structure.
The force was commanded by Field Marshal Sir John French until December 1915, when he was replaced by General Sir Douglas Haig. The BEF's Chief of Staff on mobilisation was General Archibald Murray. He was replaced in January 1915 by General William Robertson. Lieutenant-General Launcelot Kiggell then served as Chief of Staff from December 1915 to January 1917 when he was succeeded by Lieutenant-General Herbert Lawrence. The two initial Army Corps were commanded by Douglas Haig (I Corps) and Horace Smith-Dorrien (II Corps).
Kitchener's New Army.
As the Regular Army's strength declined, the numbers were made up, first by the Territorial Force, then by volunteers from Field Marshal Kitchener's New Army. By the end of August 1914, he had raised six new divisions and by March 1915, the number of divisions had increased to 29. The Territorial Force was also expanded, raising second and third line battalions and forming eight new divisions, which supplemented its peacetime strength of 14 divisions. The Third Army was formed in July 1915 and with the influx of troops from Kitchener's volunteers and further reorganisation, the Fourth Army and the Reserve Army, became the Fifth Army in 1916.
Growth during the War.
The BEF grew from six divisions of British regular army and reserves in 1914, to encompass the British Empire's war effort on the Western front in 1918 and some of its allies. Over the course of the war 5,399,563 men served with the BEF, the average strength being 2,046,901 men.
First Army.
The First Army was formed on 26 December 1914. Its first commander was Douglas Haig promoted from command of the I Corps. When Haig took over command of the BEF in 1915, the new commander was General Henry Horne. First Army remained in France until the end of the war.
Second Army.
The Second Army was formed at the same time as the First Army on 26 December 1914. The first commander was Smith–Dorrien promoted from command of the II Corps. In May 1915, Smith–Dorrien was sacked and replaced by General Herbert Plumer. Second Army served in France notably in the Ypres Salient, and later served in Italy between November 1917 and March 1918, then returned to France.
Third Army.
The Third Army was formed in July 1915, the first commander being General Edmund Allenby promoted after commanding the Cavalry Corps and the V Corps. He was replaced after the battle of Arras in May 1917, by General Julian Byng.
Fourth Army.
The Fourth Army was formed in February 1916, under the command of General Henry Rawlinson. Confusingly, when the Second Army was sent to Italy late in 1917, the Fourth Army was renumbered the Second Army whilst Rawlinson commanded the Ypres Salient. After Plumer's return from Italy Rawlinson spent a period as British Permanent Military Representative at the Supreme War Council at Versailles, but at the start of April he took over the remnants of Gough's Fifth Army after its recent defeat. It was renamed the Fourth Army.
Fifth Army.
The Fifth or Reserve Army was formed in May 1916, under command of General Hubert Gough. At first known as the Reserve Army, it was renamed the Fifth Army in October 1916. Fifth Army suffered heavy losses during the German spring offensive in March 1918. It was reformed again in May 1918 under the command of General William Birdwood.
Area of operations.
1914.
The British Army first engaged the German Army in the Battle of Mons on 23 August 1914, which was part of the greater Battle of the Frontiers. The massed rifle fire of the professional British soldiers inflicted heavy casualties on the Germans who attacked "en masse" over terrain devoid of cover. The British held up the German advance until the evening when they began retiring to a second defensive line in the retreat from Mons during which they were engaged in the Battle of Le Cateau. Following the British defeat at Le Cateau, the BEF retreated unmolested by the Germans for a further five days, eventually retreating a full 400 km in thirteen days.
The Allied retreat finally ended at the River Marne, where Entente forces prepared to make a stand to defend Paris. This led to the First Battle of the Marne, which was fought from 5 to 10 September 1914. This battle would prove to be a major turning point of the war: it denied the Germans an early victory. From 13 September the First Battle of the Aisne took place, with both sides starting to dig trenches. Then for a three-week period following the development of trench warfare each side gave up frontal assaults and began trying to encircle each other's flank. This period became known as the Race to the Sea: the Germans aimed to turn the Allied left flank, and the Allies sought to turn the German right flank.
By the end of First Battle of Ypres both sides started to dig in and trench warfare replaced the manoeuvre warfare that had featured during the Race to the Sea. The continuous trench lines of the Western Front now stretched from the North Sea to the Swiss frontier. The British Army held a small portion of this 400 mile front: from just north of the pre-war Belgium border to the River Somme in France, varying in length from in 1914, to over in 1918, in the area commonly known as Flanders.
1915.
From the end of 1914, and in 1915, BEF attacks centred around the Ypres Salient. Then in September 1915, six divisions took part in the Battle of Loos – notable for the first use of poison gas by the British.
1916.
In 1916 the BEF had moved into the Picardy region of France. The Battle of the Somme dominated British military activity for the year. Allied forces attempted to break through the German lines along a front north and south of the River Somme in northern France. On the first day on the Somme the BEF suffered 59,000 casualties. After the war a final tally counted 419,654 British and 204,253 French killed, wounded, or taken prisoner; of the 623,907 total casualties, 146,431 were either killed or missing.
1917.
In 1917 the BEF's attacks moved along the front, they operated in the Pas-de-Calais during the Battle of Arras. They then concentrated in Belgium for the Battle of Messines and the Battle of Passchendale, and ended the year back in the Pas-de-Calais for the Battle of Cambrai.
1918.
In the spring of 1918 the BEF came under attack both in Flanders and on the Somme during the German Spring Offensive. The Second Battle of the Somme represented the BEF response to the German attack. This in turn began the Hundred Days Offensive, which led to the eventual defeat of the German Army on the western front, after the First and Third armies broke through the Hindenburg Line at the Battle of the Canal du Nord. This led to the final battle of the war in November 1918, the Battle of the Sambre by the First, Third and Fourth Armies and to the capture of Mons, 11 November 1918, by the First Army.
Empire and Portuguese contribution.
The British Empire responded to the British call for troops for the Western Front and major formations of the British Indian Army, Canadian Army, Australian Army, New Zealand Army and the South African Army all served in France. The BEF also integrated most of the Portuguese Army troops who fought on the Western Front.
Indian Expeditionary Force A.
In September 1914, the BEF was reinforced by the Indian Expeditionary Force A which eventually formed two corps each of two divisions, the Indian Cavalry Corps and the Indian Infantry Corps. Upon arrival in Marseilles on 30 September 1914, only six weeks after the declaration of war, they were moved to the Ypres Salient and took part in the Battle of La Bassée in October 1914. In March 1915, the 7th (Meerut) Division was chosen to lead the assault in the Battle of Neuve Chapelle. The Expeditionary Force was hampered by a lack of familiarity with new equipment, only being issued Lee–Enfield rifles on their arrival in France and they had almost no artillery, relying on support from their neighbouring corps when in the front line. They were not accustomed to the continental weather and were poorly equipped to resist the cold, leading to low morale which was further compounded by the reserve system, whereby reinforcements were drafted in from any regiment and had no affiliation to their new units. Officer casualties were even more of a handicap, as replacements were unfamiliar with the Indian Army and could not speak the language. The infantry divisions were finally withdrawn to Egypt in October 1915, when they were replaced by the new British divisions of Kitchener's Army.
South African Overseas Expeditionary Force.
The South African Overseas Expeditionary Force consisted of the 1st South African Infantry Brigade of four infantry battalions supported by five Heavy Artillery batteries, a Field Ambulance, a Royal Engineers Signal Company and a General Hospital under the command of Brigadier General Henry Lukin. The brigade arrived in France in April 1916, and was assigned to the 9th (Scottish) Division and took part in the Battle of the Somme in July 1916, and on 14 July the Battle of Delville Wood. Of the 3,153 men in the brigade only 750 were left when the brigade was relieved on 20 July. Later in 1917, the brigade took part in the Battle of Arras and in the Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele). The brigade was destroyed in the 1918 German spring offensive and by the end of the war had suffered 15,000 casualties, with 5,000 killed.
Canadian Expeditionary Force.
The Canadian Expeditionary Force was the designation of the field force created by Canada for service overseas in the First World War. Its major combat formation was the Canadian Corps, which eventually commanded four Canadian infantry divisions. The Canadian Corps' first commander was General Edwin Alderson, who was succeeded by General Julian Byng in 1916, who was in turn succeeded in 1917, by the Canadian General Arthur Currie until the end of the war. They distinguished themselves in battle from the Second Battle of Ypres, through the Somme and particularly in the Battle of Arras at Vimy Ridge in April 1917. Since they were mostly untouched by the German offensive in the spring of 1918, the Canadians were ordered to help spearhead the last campaigns of the War from the Battle of Amiens in August 1918.
New Zealand Expeditionary Force.
The New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) under the command of General Alexander Godley was the title of the military forces sent from New Zealand to fight for Britain during the First World War. Upon the outbreak of war, New Zealand immediately offered to provide two brigades — one of infantry and one of mounted troops — a total of 8,500 men. The NZEF was closely tied to the AIF for much of the war. When the Gallipoli campaign began, the New Zealand contingent was insufficient to complete a division on their own so was combined with the 4th Australian Infantry Brigade to form the New Zealand and Australian Division. This division, along with the Australian 1st Division, formed the famous Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) under the command of General William Birdwood. After the end of the Gallipoli campaign, the NZEF formed its own infantry division; the New Zealand Division which served on the Western Front from April 1916. It took part in the Battle of Flers-Courcelette, the Battle of Morval, the Battle of Le Transloy, and the celebrated Battle of Le Quesnoy. The New Zealanders were considered exceptional troops by the Germans, a captured intelligence report named them "...An exceptionally good assault division ...".
Australian Imperial Force.
The Australian Imperial Force (AIF) was originally supposed to supply 20,000 men organised into one infantry division and one light horse brigade plus supporting units. By the end of the war, the AIF on the Western Front comprised five infantry divisions. The first Australian troops arrived in France in June 1915, the 1st Siege Artillery Brigade was formed under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Walter Adams Coxen, the Australian Army's Director of Artillery, for service on the Western Front. About half the men in the unit were permanent gunners of the Garrison Artillery. The brigade departed Melbourne for England on 17 July 1915 and landed in France on 27 February 1916. Its 54th Siege Battery was equipped with 8 inch howitzers and its 55th Siege Battery with 9.2 inch howitzers. Five infantry divisions of the AIF saw action on the Western Front in France and Belgium, leaving Egypt in March 1916. Initially they were organised into I Anzac Corps and II Anzac Corps alongside the New Zealand Division, however, on 1 November 1917 the Australian divisions were re-grouped together to form the Australian Corps. The 2nd Division was the first to arrive in France, followed by the 1st Division, while the 4th and 5th left Egypt later in June 1916. The 3rd Division was the last to arrive, having been formed in Australia in March 1916, and moving to England for training in July 1916, before being sent to France in December 1916. When originally formed in 1914 the AIF was commanded by Major General William Throsby Bridges, who also commanded the 1st Division. After Bridges' death at Gallipoli in May 1915, command transferred by default to Lieutenant General William Birdwood, a British officer who was commander of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. Birdwood was officially confirmed as commander of the AIF on 14 September 1916, while also commanding I Anzac Corps on the Western Front. Birdwood was later given command of the Australian Corps on formation in November 1917. Lieutenant General John Monash, an Australian officer, took over command of the corps in May 1918. Despite being promoted to command the Fifth Army, Birdwood retained command of the AIF.
Portuguese Expeditionary Corps.
Following a British Government call for Portuguese troops, on 7 August 1916 the Parliament of Portugal agreed the participation of the Portuguese Army on the Western Front. In addition to a heavy artillery corps of 1,000 men under the command of the French Army, most of the Portuguese forces to be sent to the Western Front were to be incorporated in the CEP – "Corpo Expedicionário Português" (Portuguese Expeditionary Corps) under British command. The CEP was organised as an army corps of two divisions and corps troops, totalling 55,000 men, under the command of General Tamagnini de Abreu. The first CEP troops arrived in France on 2 February 1917. The first troops reached the front on 4 April. On 4 June, the 1st Infantry Brigade of the 1st Division repelled the first major attack made by the German Army against the lines defended by the CEP troops. On 5 November 1917 the CEP assumed the responsibility for an autonomous sector in the front, under the direct command of First Army. Most of the CEP was destroyed in the Battle of La Lys on 9 April 1918, losing more than 7,000 men. From July 1918, the remaining men of the CEP participated in the final allied offensives under the command of Fifth Army.
Newfoundland Regiment.
Newfoundland in 1914 was not yet part of Canada. The tiny Dominion with a population of only 240,000 raised a force that eventually reached a strength of three battalions to serve in the war. The Newfoundland Regiment deployed to France in March 1916, as part of the 29th Division, after already having served in the Gallipoli Campaign. The Newfoundland Regiment was practically wiped out on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, suffering over 90% casualties. After receiving reinforcements, the Newfoundland Regiment continued to serve on the Western Front until the war's end. In honour of the regiment's service the privilege of adding the prefix Royal to the regiment's name was granted in December 1917, and the regiment was known as the Royal Newfoundland Regiment from that point on.
Weapons.
Until 1914, British infantry officers still carried swords and the cavalry retained the cavalry sword throughout the war. The other officers' weapon was the revolver, the three most common being the Webley MK V or VI, the Colt New Service and the Smith & Wesson hand ejector.
All other ranks in the BEF carried a .303 Lee–Enfield rifle fitted with an easily loaded ten-round magazine and issued with a seventeen-inch (430 mm) bayonet. These rifles enabled a high rate of fire with good accuracy, such that pre-war British soldiers were trained to hit a target fifteen times a minute at a range of 300 yards. The devastating efficiency and accuracy of the BEF infantry led the Germans to incorrectly believe that there were approximately 28 machine guns in each battalion.
When the BEF landed in France each infantry battalion and cavalry regiment was equipped with two Vickers or Maxim machine guns. Part of the reason for only allocating two guns per unit was the cost of manufacture and the need of a ten-week intensive training course for a Vickers gunner. During the course of 1916, the quicker to manufacture and more versatile Lewis guns began to be issued on the intended scale of the sixteen per battalion, one for each platoon. At the same time, the Vickers guns and their trained operators were redeployed to specialist companies of the Machine Gun Corps; one company was attached to each infantry brigade.
Campaign medals.
As well as individual gallantry awards, all members of the BEF qualified for up to three campaign medals.
The 1914 Star, the 1914–15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
The 1914 Star was issued to officers and men of British forces who served in France or Belgium between 5 August and midnight 22/23 November 1914. The former date is the day after Britain's declaration of war against the Central Powers, and the closing date marks the end of the First Battle of Ypres.
The 1914–1915 Star was issued to officers and men of British and Imperial forces who served in any theatre of the War between 5 August 1914 and 31 December 1915 (other than those who had already qualified for the 1914 Star).
The British War Medal was issued to officers and men of British and Imperial forces who had rendered service between 5 August 1914 and 11 November 1918. Officers and men of the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, and Dominion and Colonial naval forces (including reserves) were required to have completed 28 days mobilised service — the medal was automatically awarded in the event of death on active service before the completion of this period.
The Victory Medal was issued to all those who received the 1914 Star or the 1914–1915 Star, and to those who were awarded the British War Medal. It was never awarded singly. Women qualified for this and the earlier two medals, for service in nursing homes and other auxiliary forces.
The Territorial Force War Medal was only awarded soldiers in the Territorial Force. To qualify, the recipient had to have been a member of the Territorial Force on or prior to 30 September 1914, and to have served in an operational theatre outside of the United Kingdom between 5 August 1914 and 11 November 1918.
The Silver War Badge was issued in the United Kingdom to service personnel who had been honourably discharged due to wounds or sickness during the War. The badge, sometimes known as the Discharge Badge, Wound Badge or Services Rendered Badge, was first issued in September 1916, along with an official certificate of entitlement.
Aftermath.
The British Army during the Great War was the largest military force that Britain had ever put into the field up to that point. On the Western Front, the British Expeditionary Force ended the war as a strong fighting force, more experienced and slightly bigger than the United States Army and with better morale than the French Army.
The cost of victory, however, was high. The official "final and corrected" casualty figures for the British Army, including the Territorial Force , were issued on 10 March 1921. The losses for the period between 4 August 1914, and 30 September 1919, included 573,507 "killed in action, died from wounds and died of other causes" and 254,176 missing (minus 154,308 released prisoners), for a net total of 673,375 dead and missing. Casualty figures also indicated that there were 1,643,469 wounded.


Canadian River-class destroyer

The River class was a class of fourteen destroyers of the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) that served before and during the Second World War. They were named after .
The River class was a dissimilar collection of warships, consisting of twelve vessels purchased from the Royal Navy and two built specifically by British yards for the RCN. They included two A class, five C class, two D class, one E class, two F class, one G class and one H class.
 and were the first ships specifically built for the RCN and were adapted from the Royal Navy's A class.
History.
The majority of the River-class ships began the Second World War with the same equipment that they were built with; however, this was gradually modified as the war progressed. Modifications included removing gun mounts to make room for additional depth charge and torpedo systems, as well as adding new communications and radar masts. The River class were the backbone of the RCN destroyer fleet and served as leaders of the Mid-Ocean Escort Force during the Battle of the Atlantic. Four of the class were lost and one severely damaged during the war: and were sunk by collisions in 1940; was torpedoed by in 1942, and "Skeena" was driven aground on Viðey Island near Reykjavík, Iceland in 1944. "Saguenay" lost much of her stern in a November 1942 collision, and was subsequently relegated to training duties. The surviving ships were all decommissioned and scrapped following the war.
1939.
On 23 October 1939, the German-flagged tanker "Emmy Friederich" scuttled herself on encountering "Saguenay" in the Yucatán Channel.
1940.
On 8 March 1940 "Assiniboine", along with intercepted and captured the German merchant ship "Hannover" near Jamaica. "Hannover" was later converted into .
On the night of 25 June 1940, "Fraser" was tasked to join the destroyer and light cruiser on Operation Ariel to rescue 4,000 refugees trapped by the German Army from the coast of Bordeaux, France. The warships encountered rough seas and poor visibility, forcing the commanding officer of "Fraser" to close quarters with the other two vessels. "Fraser" executed a turn to port to bring the ship behind "Calcutta" but in doing so, the two ships collided. The bow of the heavier "Calcutta" sliced into "Fraser" with such force that the destroyer was cut into three pieces. "Fraser" lost 47 sailors, and a further 19 were lost from "Calcutta". Many of the survivors from "Fraser" transferred that summer to "Margaree" and were lost when that vessel sank on 22 October 1940 as a result of a collision with the freighter .
"Margaree" was lost on 22 October 1940, when she collided with the freighter MV "Port Fairy" at position . Of the 176 aboard "Margaree" at the time, 34 were rescued by "Port Fairy", but the other 142, including the captain and four other officers, were lost.
In November, "Ottawa" assisted in sinking the Italian submarine .
1942.
On 31 July 1942, "Skeena" and depth charged and sank the German submarine while escorting ON 115 at .
While escorting convoy SC-94 on 6 August 1942, "Assiniboine" achieved her first victory when she rammed, depth charged and shelled south of Cape Farewell, Greenland.
On 14 September 1942, while escorting Convoy ON-127 east of St. John's, Newfoundland, "Ottawa" was torpedoed by . Less than 30 minutes later, unable to maneuver, she was hit by a second torpedo. The second attack broke her in half, sinking her. 114 crew lost their lives, including the commanding officer, while 65 survivors were rescued by nearby vessels.
On 15 November 1942, "Saguenay" was rammed by the Panamanian freighter "Azra" off Cape Race, Newfoundland. The impact of the collision set off "Saguenay"s depth charges, which blew off her stern. She made port at Saint John, New Brunswick, where her stern was plated over. On 23 May 1943, "Saguenay" was transferred to Halifax, to serve with the Western Ocean Escort Force working from Halifax and St. John's, Newfoundland. In October 1943 "Saguenay" was towed to Digby, Nova Scotia, as a tender assigned to , the Royal Canadian Navy's training depot for new entries (recruits). She was used for teaching seamanship and gunnery until 30 July 1945, paid off in late 1945, and broken up in 1946.
"St. Laurent" had her first victory on 27 December 1942 when she was credited with sinking while escorting Convoy ON 154 north of the Azores, along with the corvettes , and .
1943.
On 2 March 1943 "Assiniboine" was damaged by her own depth charges during a battle with . She made Liverpool on 7 March and took 3 months to repair.
, formerly HMS "Fortune" joined the River class in May 1943. HMCS "Gatineau" joined in June.
1944.
On 6 March 1944 at 1830 hrs, the German U-boat was sunk in the North Atlantic, in position following a lengthy hunt to exhaustion. It was initially torpedoed by the British and an unsuccessful attempt was made at towing the submarine to port. The U-boat was subsequently sunk by depth charges from "Icarus", Canadian corvettes and , Canadian frigate , Canadian destroyers HMCS "Chaudière" and , and the British corvette .
"St. Laurent" was credited with the 10 March 1944 sinking of in the North Atlantic, along with the destroyer , corvette and frigate .
On 6 July 1944, "Ottawa" and "Kootenay" were detached from a convoy to assist HMS "Statice" with a submarine contact off Beachy Head, Sussex. As "Ottawa" swept the area, she gained sonar contact and attacked with depth charges. Shortly afterward, large amounts of debris appeared on the surface, including caps marked "U-678".
On 7 July 1944, "Kootenay", "Ottawa", and the corvette depth-charged and sank the German VIIC-class U-boat in the English Channel south-west of Brighton.
On 18 August "Kootenay", "Ottawa", and "Chaudière" depth-charged and sank the German VIIC-class U-boat in the Bay of Biscay near La Rochelle. On 20 August, the same ships depth-charged and sank the German VIIC-class U-boat in the Bay of Biscay west of Brest.
"Skeena" was lost in a storm on the night of 24 October 1944. She was anchored off Reykjavík, Iceland and dragged her anchor and grounded in waves off Viðey Island with the loss of 15 of her crew. Her hulk was written off and sold to Icelandic interests in June 1945; she was then raised and broken up. Her propeller was salvaged and used in a memorial near the Viðey Island ferry terminal.
1945.
On 14 February 1945 "Assiniboine" collided with merchant ship "Empire Bond" in the English Channel. She made Sheerness for repairs and was operational again in early March.


Attu Island

Attu (, ) is an island in the Near Islands (part of the Aleutian Islands chain). It is the westernmost point of the U.S. state of Alaska. The island became uninhabited in 2010, making it the largest uninhabited island in the United States.
The island was the site of the only World War II land battle fought in the United States (the Battle of Attu), and its battlefield area is a U.S. National Historic Landmark.
Attu Station, a former Coast Guard LORAN station, is located at , making it one of the westernmost points of the United States relative to the rest of the country. However, since it is in the Eastern Hemisphere, being on the opposite side of the 180° longitude line of the contiguous 48 states, it can also be considered one of the easternmost points of the country (a second Aleutian Island, Semisopochnoi Island at 179°46′E, is the easternmost location in the United States by this definition). For purposes of calendar date, the International Date Line, however, passes to the west of Attu Island, making it the westernmost place in the United States with the same date.
In the chain of the Aleuts, the next island to the west of Attu are the Russian Commander Islands, away (and on the other side of the International Date Line). Attu is nearly from the Alaskan mainland and northeast of the northernmost of the Kuril Islands of Russia, as well as being from Anchorage, from Alaska's capital of Juneau, and from New York City. Attu is about in size with a land area of , making it #23 on the list of largest islands in the United States. The population in the 2010 census was 20 people, all at the Attu Station, though all inhabitants left the island later in the year when the station closed. It then became the largest uninhabited island in the United States.
In 1982 the only significant trees on the island were those planted by American soldiers at a chapel constructed after the 1943 battle when the Japanese occupation was over; they have since gone.
Although Attu Island is the westernmost body of land east of the International Date Line, its time zone is the same as other western Aleutian Islands, UTC−10, which means that locations to the south-southeast (such as the uninhabited Baker Island and Howland Island in UTC−12 and Niue, Midway Atoll and American Samoa in UTC −11) have earlier clocks.
History.
The name "Attu" is the Unangan language (Aleut) name for the island. Archaeological research of the large number of archaeological sites on the island suggests an estimated precontact population ranging from 2,000 to 5,000 Unangan (Aleut).
Attu, being the nearest to Kamchatka, was the first of the Aleutian Islands exploited by Russian traders. Russian explorer Aleksei Chirikov called the island Saint Theodore in 1742. Russians stayed on the island several years at a stretch to hunt sea otters. The Russians often clashed with the local Unangan population. After the initial wave of traders, European ships largely overlooked Attu.
World War II.
The Aleuts were the primary inhabitants of the island prior to World War II. But, on June 7, 1942, six months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the 301st Independent Infantry Battalion of the Japanese Northern Army landed on the island without opposition, one day after landing on nearby Kiska, which made Attu the second of the only two invasion sites in North America during the war. Earlier, American territorial authorities had evacuated about 880 Aleuts from villages elsewhere in the Aleutian Islands to civilian camps in the Alaska Panhandle, where about 75 of them died of various infectious diseases over two years.
However, Attu Village had not yet been evacuated when the Japanese invaded. At the time, Attu's population consisted of 45 native Aleuts and two white Americans, Charles Foster Jones (1879–1942), a radio technician, originally from St. Paris, Ohio, and his wife Etta (1879–1965), a schoolteacher, originally from Vineland, New Jersey. The village consisted of several houses around Chichagof Harbor. The 42 Attu inhabitants who survived the Japanese invasion were taken to a prison camp near Otaru, Hokkaidō. Sixteen of them died while they were imprisoned. Mr. Jones, 63, was murdered by the Japanese forces almost immediately after the invasion. Mrs. Jones, 63, was subsequently taken to the Bund Hotel in Yokohama, Japan, which also housed Australian prisoners of war from the 1942 Battle of Rabaul in Papua New Guinea. Later, Mrs. Jones and the Australian prisoners were held at the Yokohama Yacht Club from 1942 to 1944, and then at the Totsuka prisoner of war camp until their release in August 1945. Mrs. Jones died in December 1965 at age 86 in Bradenton, Florida.
Before the Attu villagers were returned to the U.S., the American government stated publicly that it was not aware of their status.
According to Gen. Kiichiro Higuchi, the Commander of the Japanese Northern Army, the invasion of Kiska and Attu was part of a threefold objective:
In late September 1942, the Japanese garrison on Attu was transferred to Kiska, and then Attu was essentially left unoccupied, but American forces made no attempt to occupy Attu during this time. On October 29, 1942, the Japanese reestablished a base on Attu at Holtz Bay under the command of Lt. Col. Hiroshi Yanekawa. Initially the garrison was about 500 troops, but through reinforcements, that number reached about 2,300 by March 10, 1943. No more reinforcements arrived after that time, owing mainly to the efforts of the U.S. naval force under Rear Admiral Charles "Soc" McMorris, and U.S. Navy submarines. McMorris had been assigned to interdict the Japanese supply and reinforcement convoys. After the sizable naval Battle of the Komandorski Islands, the Japanese abandoned their attempts to resupply its Aleutian garrisons by surface ships. From then on, only submarines were used for the resupply runs.
On May 11, 1943, the American operation to recapture Attu began. A shortage of landing craft, unsuitable beaches, and equipment that failed to operate in the appalling weather caused great difficulties in projecting any force against the Japanese. Many soldiers suffered from frostbite – because essential supplies could not be landed, or having been landed, could not be moved to where they were needed. Army vehicles would not work on the tundra. The Japanese defenders under Colonel Yasuyo Yamasaki did not contest the landings, but rather they dug in on high ground away from the shore. This resulted in bloody fighting: there were 3,929 U.S. casualties: 549 were killed, 1,148 were injured, 1,200 had severe cold injuries, 614 succumbed to infectious diseases, and 318 died of miscellaneous causes – largely from Japanese booby traps and from friendly fire. The Japanese were defeated in Massacre Valley. The death count for the Japanese was 2,035. The Americans then built "Navy Town" near Massacre Bay.
On May 29, the last of the Japanese forces suddenly attacked near Massacre Bay in one of the largest banzai charges of the Pacific campaign. The charge, led by Colonel Yamasaki, penetrated U.S. lines far enough to encounter shocked rear-echelon units of the American force. After furious, brutal, close-quarter, and often hand-to-hand combat, the Japanese force was killed almost to the last man: only 28 prisoners were taken, none of them officers. U.S. burial teams counted 2,351 Japanese dead, but it was presumed that hundreds more had been buried by naval, air, and artillery bombardments over the course of the battle.
The Japanese Navy, realizing that their position was now untenable, evacuated Kiska three months later.
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) built a larger airfield, the Alexai Point Army Airfield, and then used it on July 10, 1943, as the base for an air attack on the Japanese-held Kurile Islands, now a part of Russia. This was the first air attack on the Japanese "homelands" since the famous Doolittle Raid in 1942. Other attacks followed.
On April 11, 1945, in a period of only two hours, at least nine Japanese incendiary balloons sent to start forest fires in the United States West Coast were intercepted and shot down near Attu by USAAF P-38 Lightning aircraft.
Postwar.
After the war, the survivors of the Otaru prison camp were shipped to other Aleutian islands or to the mainland of Alaska, as there were not enough survivors to sustain their old village at Attu. The United States government decided to construct a LORAN station on the southern tip of Attu, at Theodore Point. This installation was manned by a crew of about twenty members of the United States Coast Guard. The equipment to build the station came out of Holtz Bay and was ferried on barges and landing craft to Baxter Cove, about one mile east of the station. Bulldozers were used to cut a road from Baxter Cove to Theodore Point.
In 1954, the station was moved to Casco Cove, near the former Navy Base at Massacre Bay. In 1960, it was moved to Massacre Bay.
The island previously had scheduled airline service to and from Anchorage (ANC) flown by Reeve Aleutian Airways (RAA) which in 1976 was operating two direct flights a week between ANC and Attu with Lockheed L-188 Electra turboprop aircraft via an en route stop either at Adak Airport or Shemya in the Aleutian Islands. At the time, the airport on Attu was the westernmost airfield located in the U.S. to have scheduled passenger airline service.
In 1984, the "392" exchange in the 907 area code, which includes Attu (and whose rate center is on nearby Shemya Island), became the last telephone exchange in the United States to be upgraded to dial service. Prior to that, all telephone calls placed to and from that exchange could only be placed with the assistance of an operator.
The battlefield area and subsequent military sites were declared a National Historic Landmark in 1985. The battlefield is now part of Aleutian Islands World War II National Monument.
In 1987, with the approval of the U.S. Department of the Interior, the government of Japan placed a monument on Engineer Hill, site of the hand-to-hand finale of the battle against the Japanese. An inscription, in Japanese and English, reads: "In memory of all those who sacrificed their lives in the islands and seas of the North Pacific during World War II and in dedication to world peace."
In July 2007, the boots and foot bones of a Japanese soldier were found on the island, and on May 23, 2008, the remains of two more Japanese soldiers were discovered by U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Richard Brahm, a public affairs specialist who was a documentarian for the remains recovery team. More remains were located at the burial site, but were left untouched with plans to return at a later time and have them exhumed properly.
On August 1, 2010, the United States Coast Guard LORAN station on Attu permanently ceased operation. On August 27, 2010, the station was decommissioned and the Coast Guard personnel left, leaving the island with no resident population.
On June 7, 2012, the 70th anniversary of the Japanese invasion, Senator Lisa Murkowski and United States Coast Guard Rear Admiral Thomas Ostebo dedicated a memorial to Attu Village, its residents who died in Japanese captivity, and the survivors who were unable to return.
In 2015, Attu Island was visited by pilot and world circumnavigator Michael Smith. The island was a crucial refueling stop for Michael as he made his way from Adak island in the Aleutian Islands to Japan. As the island is uninhabited, he had to first fly containers of fuel there and then return as part of the journey from Adak to Japan. He was advised against staying overnight as there are large rats on the island.
After three months of efforts in digging up and removing contaminated soil from the island in the summer of 2016 via funding from the Formerly Used Defense Sites program, it was expected that further efforts would be required to finish the environmental clean up of the island.
Demographics.
Attu first appeared on the 1880 U.S. Census as the unincorporated Aleut village of "Attoo", which at the time consisted of the village on western Chichagof Harbor. It had 107 residents, consisting of 74 Aleuts, 32 "Creoles" (mixed Russian and Native) and 1 White resident. In 1890, it appeared as Attu. It did not return again on the census until 1930. It appeared on the 1940 census, two years before the Japanese invasion of the village and island. It did not return again until 1980, when it consisted of the naval station residents at Massacre Bay, and was made a census-designated place (CDP). It did not return on the 1990 census. The name was changed to Attu Naval Station and redesignated a CDP in 2000. It last appeared on the 2010 census, just before the closure of the station in August that year and the departure of its remaining residents.
Climate.
The weather on Attu is typically cloudy, rainy, and foggy. High winds occur occasionally. Five or six days a week are likely to be rainy, and there are only about eight to ten clear days a year. The rest of the time, even if rain is not falling, fog of varying density is the rule rather than the exception. There are of annual rainfall and other precipitation, with the heaviest rains in the autumn and early winter. According to the Köppen climate classification system, Attu has a subpolar oceanic climate (Cfc) closely bordering on a tundra climate ("ET"). For its latitude the climate is exceptionally chilly, with daytime maximum temperatures averaging in the mid-50s (°F) in summer.
Birding.
Attu was an important location in the world of competitive birding, whose goal is to see or hear the largest possible number of bird species within a specific geographic area during a specific time period. Because it is so physically remote from other parts of North America, there are a number of bird species likely to be found on Attu that are not seen anywhere else on the continent. John Fitchen called the island "the Holy Grail of North American birding".
During his record-setting big year of 1998, in which he identified a record 745 species (later revised to 748), Sandy Komito spent 29 days (May 10 – June 7) on the island. Since the closure of Attu Station by the U.S. Coast Guard in 2010, access to the island by birders has been greatly restricted. In a 2010 interview on the subject, Al Levantin (one of Komito's competitors during the 1998 season) singled out inaccessibility of Attu as the factor that would make it nearly impossible to break Komito's record. However, Neil Hayward did break the record, by one species, in 2013 without visiting Attu.
Birding tours can still reach Attu but only by boat, following a multi-day trip from Adak Island.
Education.
In the pre-World War II period, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) operated the sole school on the island. At the time of Attu's capture, the school had a single teacher who was a White American woman. , the uninhabited island is physically within the Aleutian Region School District.


Royal Air Force Germany

The former Royal Air Force Germany (RAFG) was a command of the Royal Air Force and part of British Forces Germany. It consisted of units located in Germany, initially as part of the occupation following the Second World War, and later as part of the RAF's commitment to the defence of Europe during the Cold War. The commander of RAFG doubled as commander of NATO's Second Allied Tactical Air Force.
History.
From 1954 Canberra bombers equipped 69 (briefly), 102, 103, 104, 149 Squadrons, and later 59 Squadron at RAF Gütersloh. This force was under Bomber Command control from Britain and had been moved to Germany because of overcrowding of suitable airfields in the UK. With the establishment of the British nuclear bomber forces in the context of NATO's strategy of massive retaliation the Canberra bomber squadrons were again withdrawn from Germany.
After 1955, the majority of the airfields were handed over to the newly established German Air Force and RAF Bückeburg to the army of the German Armed Forces. The number of RAF squadrons were reduced. This was both because of the nuclear strategy of NATO and for financial reasons after the fiasco of the Suez crisis. From 1 January 1959 the command was officially called Royal Air Force Germany, the RAF Second Tactical Air Force (2TAF) renamed. At this time the focus was the flying units already on just six main use airfields RAF Bruggen, RAF Geilenkirchen, RAF Gutersloh, RAF Jever (No. 2 Squadron, Swifts), RAF Laarbruch and RAF Wildenrath. Important aircraft types at this time were the Canberra as night fighting-suited fighter bombers to three and the Hunter as a day fighter stationed at two airports. From 1960 around the clock there were two on alert Canberra loaded with tactical nuclear weapons who were ready within 15 minutes. In addition there were two seasons that the Swift used them as scouts and four squadrons of Gloster Javelin all-weather interceptors. Two English Electric Lightning squadrons - No. 92 Squadron RAF and No. 19 Squadron RAF - arrived in Germany from 1965.
RAF Jever was transferred in 1961 and RAF Geilenkirchen in 1968, reducing the command to four flying airfields. When Geilenkirchen closed, it appears there were two flying squadrons at the station. No. 3 Squadron RAF moved to RAF Laarbruch and No. 92 Squadron RAF moved to RAF Gutersloh.
RAF Germany was disbanded as a separate command in 1993 as part of the reduction of British Armed Forces presence in Europe at the cessation of the Cold War. The remaining RAF forces in Germany ceased to be a separate command, and instead became No 2 Group RAF, part of RAF Strike Command. No 2 Group was then disbanded on 1 April 1996 by being absorbed into No 1 Group RAF.
Flying units in 1989.
Note 1: Unit with nuclear strike role with 18x WE.177 tactical nuclear weapons.
Further reading.


Battle of Hegra Fortress

The Battle of Hegra Fortress was a 25-day engagement in the 1940 Norwegian Campaign which saw a small force of Norwegian volunteers fighting numerically superior German forces from a fortified position. After initial fighting around the Meråker Line railway line, the Norwegians pulled back into Hegra Fortress and held off further German attacks before surrendering on 5 May as one of the last Norwegian units active in southern Norway.
Opposing forces.
Norwegian force.
The Norwegian defenders were 250 volunteer soldiers and the volunteer nurse Anne Margrethe Bang. Most of the volunteers that served at Hegra were from the area Hegra/Stjørdal/Trondheim, but they also included three Swedes.
The garrison at Hegra was equipped with small arms (Krag-Jørgensen rifles and carbines), as well as Madsen and Colt M/29 machine guns.
The fortress also had artillery, four and two positional pieces of reasonably modern make with gun shields; as well as four Krupp m/1887 field guns. The artillery had a maximum range of between six and nine kilometres.
Many of these men had been mobilized to Artillery Regiment no. 3 at Øyanmoen army camp at Værnes Air Station and were brought to Hegra to continue the mobilization after the Germans had reached their camp. The fortress at Hegra was originally only intended as a temporary refuge for the artillery regiment, but ended up as the centre of the volunteers' war in 1940.
German force.

Great Cacapon, West Virginia

Great Cacapon ( ) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Morgan County in the U.S. state of West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle. As of the 2010 census, its population was 386.
Great Cacapon takes its name from the Cacapon River (from the Native American meaning "medicine water") which empties into the Potomac River to the town's east. It was originally known as Cacapon Depot on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad mainline when a post office was established here in 1848. In 1876, its name was changed to Great Cacapon to differentiate it from Little Cacapon which was also on the B&O mainline. It lies four miles down Cacapon Mountain from the Panorama Overlook along Cacapon Road (West Virginia Route 9) west of Berkeley Springs.


Samuel Morse Felton Jr.

Samuel Morse Felton Jr. (February 3, 1853 – March 11, 1930) was an American railroad executive. He was an 1873 graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was a member of the Chi Phi Fraternity.
Family and education.
Felton was born on February 3, 1853, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Felton was the son of Samuel Morse Felton Sr. (1809-1889), Civil War era influential president of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad (1851-1865) and earlier of the Fitchburg Railroad, and the nephew of Cornelius Conway Felton and John B. Felton.
In 1880, Felton married Dora Hamilton, the daughter of a prominent Philadelphia attorney, and they had three daughters and a son. Mrs. Felton died in 1923.
Railroad career.
Felton entered the railroad industry as a rodman in Chester Creek, Pennsylvania, and worked his way up through engineer and superintendent positions. He developed a reputation for being able to rapidly facilitate the health of ailing railroads. He had quite a career as an engineer, superintendent and general manager of several railroads before rising into the presidency of both the Cincinnati, New Orleans and Texas Pacific Railway and Alabama Great Southern Railroad in 1890. He also led the Alton Railroad (1899–1907), the Mexican Central Railroad (1907), the Tennessee Central Railway and the Chicago Great Western Railway (1909–1925), before his own ailing health forced his retirement.
Military service.
During World War I (1914/1917-1918), Felton was appointed Director General of Military Railways with a military rank of Brigadier General and in that capacity had charge of the organization and dispatch to France of all American railway forces and supplies for the Western Front. He continued in that position during the World War years. For his service, he was honored with the Distinguished Service Medal by the United States and the Cross of the Legion of Honor by France.
Death and legacy.
On November 19, 1929, Felton suffered a heart attack and stroke for which he was hospitalized at Passavant Memorial Hospital. He remained in the hospital until his death on March 11, 1930.


Roswell, Colorado

Roswell, now annexed into the city of Colorado Springs, Colorado, was a coal mine settlement near the northern bluffs of Colorado Springs and a 19th-century railroad junction. The town was located at roughly the present intersection of Fillmore Street and North Nevada Avenue in Colorado Springs.
History.
The town of Roswell, built north of Colorado Springs in 1889, was named for a man from New York, Governor Roswell P. Flower, who felt that Colorado Springs' climate was only second to Saranac, New York for its curative benefits for tuberculosis patients. (See Tuberculosis treatment in Colorado Springs).
By 1899, he was an investor in mining and the Manitou and Pike's Peak Railway. The town was located on Monument Creek at the junction of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (D&RG) and Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroads (CRI&P). The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad had reached the area about 1875 and in 1889, Roswell had a Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (CRI&P) yard. Roswell had a stone Rock Island Round House and an Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway bridge over the CRI&P railway.
There were 448 residents in 1900. In 1902, Roswell was a "considerable settlement". Its streets included: Brewster, Cable, Elm (a northern city boundary), Holly, Laurel, Low, Myrtle, Parker, Poplar, Rock Island, Roswell, Sage, and part of Cedar. Roswell had a school, Methodist Episcopal Church, and the Roswell Hotel by 1903. That year, the Roswell Park had an equestrian race track and a ballpark.
According to the 1910 United States Federal census, there were 426 residents in Roswell (El Paso County precinct 22). By 1911, the population had reduced to 250 people. By 1919, Roswell was a transfer station for coal loads from the Pikeview mine to the north and the Keystone mine to the east. In the 1940s, the Roswell race track was used as an automobile speedway.


Isaac J. Wistar

Isaac Jones Wistar (November 14, 1827 – September 18, 1905) was an American lawyer, miner, farmer, soldier, and author. He served in the Union Army during the American Civil War, in which he was wounded twice, and was noted for his criticized performance during the 1864 Bermuda Hundred Campaign. After the conflict Wistar became a distinguished penologist and a writer.
Early life and career.
Isaac J. Wistar was born in 1827 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He received early his education at Westtown Friends' School, and then attended Haverford College. Wistar later received a Doctor of Science degree from the University of Pennsylvania.
Wistar began practicing as a lawyer in Philadelphia. In 1849, he moved to California in order to participate as a miner in the Gold Rush. From then until the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, Wistar held a great variety of vocations. Among these were: animal trapper, mountaineer, Indian fighter, farmer, and lawyer.
Civil War service.
At the beginning of the American Civil War in 1861, Wistar chose to follow his home state and the Union cause. He raised a company of men and was elected its captain. Wistar's company was added to the 71st Pennsylvania Infantry, originally known as the California Regiment. This regiment was organized at Fort Schuyler in New York. On June 28, Wistar was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel, and on July 1 the 71st left for Fortress Monroe on the Virginia Peninsula. On July 22, Wistar and the 71st was then ordered to Washington, D.C., forming part of the capital's defenses until that fall. Wistar participated in the much-publicized Union defeat in the Battle of Ball's Bluff on October 21. In the fight, he temporarily led the regiment and was seriously wounded, hit in his right elbow, his jaw, and thigh.
Following the death of Col. Edward D. Baker at Ball's Bluff, Wistar became the commander of the 71st Pennsylvania, and was promoted to colonel on November 11, 1861. The 71st participated in the Peninsular Campaign of 1862, although it isn't clear whether Wistar was actually present; at the Battle of Seven Pines (May 31 and June 1) the regiment was led by its major, and during the Seven Days Battles (June 30 and July 1) commanded by its lieutenant colonel.
Wistar fought in the Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862, and was wounded in his left arm. His commander, Oliver O. Howard, reported on Wistar's new injuries, saying "... with his right arm nearly useless from a former wound, had his left disabled," referring to the previous Ball's Bluff wounds. On November 29 Wistar was promoted to brigadier general, and he was assigned to brigade command in the VII Corps beginning on May 16, 1863.
Beginning on July 18, 1863, Wistar commanded the District of Yorktown in Virginia, and that August the post was re-designated as a subdistrict of the Department of Virginia and North Carolina. In April 1864, he briefly was given divisional command of the XVIII in the Army of the James. On May 7, Wistar resumed leading a brigade and participated in the Bermuda Hundred Campaign, but 11 days later he was relieved of duty and replaced by Col. Griffen Stedman. Military historian Ezra J. Warner surmises Wistar performed poorly during this campaign:
Wistar's resignation from the Union Army was accepted by the U.S. War Department on September 15, 1864.
Postbellum career.
Wistar resumed his law practice in Philadelphia, and he also was a noted penologist. He served as vice president of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, leading its coal and canal components. Wistar founded the Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology at the University of Pennsylvania in 1892, and also served as Inspector of the Pennsylvania State Penitentiary, both located in Philadelphia. He also served as president of the Pennsylvania State Board of Charities, the American Philosophical Society, and the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia.
Wistar authored several works, including an autobiography and writings about war and penology. He retired in 1903 and died two years later at his summer home in Claymont, New Castle County, Delaware. Mount Wistar in Greenland was named after him by Robert Peary in his 1898-1902 expedition.
Personal.
Wistar married Sarah Toland (1838-1895) in 1863, but the couple were childless. He was a widower for the last decade of his life, and bequeathed the bulk of his wealth to the Wistar Institute in 1905. His "New York Times" obituary noted that the endowment he established prior to his death generated an annual return of $30,000. Instead of being buried beside his wife at Laurel Hill Cemetery, Wistar was interred at the Institute.


Eastern Idaho Railroad

The Eastern Idaho Railroad started running on November 21, 1993, as a collection of two disconnected clusters of former Union Pacific branches. EIRR is owned by Watco, Inc (WAMX), of Pittsburg, Kansas, a short line operator. EIRR operates two segments, that move more than 35,000 carloads per year to the Union Pacific, with interchanges at Idaho Falls on the Northern Segment, and Minidoka on the Southern segment. The annual income is reported as being under 25 million dollars.
The Southern segment.
The Southern lines consist of:
All lines connect for a total of . Operations are based out of the ex-UP depots at Twin Falls and Rupert. The southern segment interchanges with U.P. at Minidoka, Idaho.
The Northern Segment.
The Northern lines consist of:
All lines connect for a total of , served by three locomotives, with operations based out of an office trailer on the north end of the Idaho Falls yard, the point at which EIRR interchanges with UP's Montana sub.


St. Paul Pass Tunnel

The St. Paul Pass Tunnel was a railway tunnel in the northwest United States at St. Paul Pass, on the Montana-Idaho border. The tunnel was on the main line of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad, commonly known as "The Milwaukee Road."
The pass is on the Bitterroot Range of northwestern Montana and the Idaho Panhandle. The Milwaukee Road crossed under it in the St. Paul Pass Tunnel, also known as the Taft Tunnel, completed in 1908; its length is at above sea level at East Portal in Montana. The pass above the tunnel is at an elevation of . The East Portal is southwest of exit 5 of Interstate 90.
With ongoing financial problems which worsened in the 1970s, the Milwaukee line abandoned its right-of-way in the West in 1980, but the tunnel and its approach grades have been revived as a rail trail route for hikers and bicyclists, the "Route of the Hiawatha" Trail.
Selection of route and construction.
The tunnel was constructed as part of the Milwaukee Road's "Pacific Coast Extension" project, undertaken in the first decade of the 1900s. It expanded its concentration of railroad lines in the upper Midwest area of Milwaukee-Chicago-Minneapolis-St. Paul across the Rocky Mountains to Washington, ending at the Seattle-Tacoma area on Puget Sound. The construction occurred late in the historical era of American railroading; it was the last transcontinental line built. Surveying began in 1901 and continued until 1909, when a final golden spike was driven in Montana at
The St. Paul Pass route was surveyed from Butte starting in August 1906 and continuing through November, using the tools of the era: transit, stadia rod, surveying chain, and barometer. The Milwaukee Road was committed to a route with no more than a 2.2 percent grade, and the surveying west of Butte to the St. Paul Pass was thorough and extensive; it covered some in order to select a route of . in spite of this diligent work, the surveyors and engineers only achieved a grade of 1.7% grade from Haugan on the east to Avery on the west in Idaho. This grade was vastly inferior to the Northern Pacific and Great Northern routes from Missoula and Whitefish respectively which had lines to and from Spokane not exceeding 1 percent. Exiting the west portal in Idaho, the route descends through several shorter tunnels, to Avery at just under , and on down the St. Joe River another
The St. Paul Pass was chosen because of the stands of marketable white pine timber and also because there were no other competing railroads nearby. The contract work for the building of the tunnel was done by Winston Brothers Company of Minneapolis, with the primary subcontract work carried out by contractors W.B. Cronk, A.D. McDougal & Company, Stewart and Welch, and Street & Lusk.
Grading toward the pass began from Missoula in July 1906, and about this same time work began on both approaches to the tunnel, with the approaches being completed in 1906. Heavy boring began in 1907, and the tunnel was officially completed in December 1908. The Milwaukee line recorded the tunnel as "#20" since it numbered its tunnels from east to west. The tunnel's official length was , it was the second-longest on the Milwaukee main line from Chicago to Seattle, behind only the 2¼-mile Snoqualmie Tunnel in Washington.
Decline and abandonment.
Because the Pacific Extension was built without federal land grant assistance that earlier transcontinental railroads had received as an incentive, its construction costs particularly for right of way acquisition, ran significantly over budget. The route by-passed some major population centers and passed through other areas of limited local traffic, which reduced prospective traffic revenues.
Because operation of steam locomotives over the mountain passes was difficult, in 1914 and 1915 the line underwent an electrification process in two sections, one over the Rocky Mountains (1914−1915) and the other over the Cascades (1917) extended to Seattle in 1927, which further deepened cost overruns. The extension became a long haul route. During its history, the Milwaukee offered high speed passenger trains from Chicago and twin cities area to the Tacoma and Seattle area, the well-known "Olympian Hiawatha".
Throughout its life, the initial overrun of costs for the Pacific Extension left the Milwaukee Road plagued by financial trouble. The depression and several unsuccessful receiverships followed by the general decline of railroad traffic in the 1950s, followed by the consolidation of larger railroads finally caused the Milwaukee to abandon its entire trackage system in the Idaho-Montana area in 1980.
Rail trail.
The abandoned tunnel sat dormant and empty for more than twenty years, then it was included in the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Company Historic District. The St. Paul Tunnel route was officially ‘rededicated’ on June 23, 2001, as part of the "Route of the Hiawatha" rail trail. Tours are available, or one can simply walk or take a bike through the tunnel from portal to portal, and the tunnel sees thousands of hikers and bikers annually. Along with the St. Paul Tunnel, there are other bridges and tunnels intact on the Idaho approaches to St. Paul Pass, as are part of the "gallows" structures that bore the overhead wires for the electric trains, and some signs and signals along the right of way.
A similar Milwaukee Road rail trail in Washington through the Cascades, Iron Horse State Park, includes the Snoqualmie Tunnel.
Taft.
The tunnel under the St. Paul Pass was also known as the Taft Tunnel, after the Montana boom town of Taft, (1907−1910) which sprang up at the east portal of the tunnel during construction. It had a short but colorful history, and was allegedly named after President William Howard Taft, who visited the work camp while Secretary of War under President Theodore Roosevelt; he chastised the town as a "sewer of sin" and "a sore on an otherwise beautiful national forest." Either out of jest or spite, the town named itself after Taft.
 It was the last of the wide-open towns that followed railroad construction (see Hell on Wheels).
The town sprang up after the end of the "wild west" era, and drew people who were leaving communities which were increasingly turning to law and order; it also attracted those returning from the gold rushes in Alaska, and became a den of criminals and vice. A long distance from the nearest county seat, then at Missoula, and the county sheriff and deputies let Taft develop as it would in anticipation that it would have a short life. It extended along a half-mile (0.8 km) stretch of right-of-way track and peaked at about three thousand denizens. Taft had between twenty and fifty saloons, and the second biggest profession after "railroad worker" was prostitution.
In the spring, the melting banks of snow in the mountain town meant the discovery of dead bodies, and allegedly during the final spring of 1909, as many as seventeen bodies were found. Buildings in Taft had been hastily constructed of wood and were flimsy. After experiencing a few smaller fires, Taft was destroyed by the 1910 "Big Burn" forest fires that extended over much of the Idaho Panhandle and western Montana. As the fire approached Taft, the remaining residents ignored a call to join firefighters, drank up what they could in the saloons and hastily left on an evacuation train. The residents had mostly "squatted" on national forest land, and forest rangers suppressed any effort to rebuild the town. By this time, the railroad construction workers had moved on, and with them the money.
After the fire, the railroad named the same area "East Portal" and it had an electric substation after electrification of the line in about 1914. The few remaining abandoned buildings were buried by the construction of Interstate 90 in 1962, and now nothing remains but its name; on I-90 is named "Taft."


Maine Trolley Cars

The Maine Trolley Cars are a group of 10 rail vehicles, mostly trolley cars, located in Kennebunkport, Maine. The cars were built in various years between 1893 and 1926, and the group was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 14, 1980. The trolley cars are a small part of the large collection of vehicles at the Seashore Trolley Museum. While the museum's collection of more than 250 vehicles includes ones from several different U.S. states and a few foreign countries, the 10 vehicles in the National Register listing were all operated in the state of Maine at one time.
Listing.
The following vehicles are included in the listing:


Alton Junction

The Alton Junction, more commonly known as the 21st Street Crossing, is a historically significant rail location in Chicago, Illinois. The junction can be found just east of Canal Street and north of Cermak Road near Chicago's Chinatown. It is located just south of a massive vertical lift bridge that spans the South Branch of the Chicago River and "guards" the entrance to Chicago's Union Station. While a significant amount of rail traffic still traverses this interlock every day, it has been greatly reduced from using 26 diamonds to control over 150 trains using the crossing.
The north-south line is the former Pennsylvania Railroad (Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago) mainline, which is now owned and operated by Amtrak as the southern gateway to the Union Station complex. The Norfolk Southern's Chicago Line and the former BNSF Southern Transcon terminate at the southern entrance to the interlocking, but both NS and Burlington Northern Santa Fe trains have trackage rights over the bridge to access the BNSF east-west main line. All of Amtrak's East Coast bound and Michigan trains use this track. The east-west line now belongs to the Canadian National Railway. It at one time was owned by Illinois Central and was the carrier's route out of its Central Station to Iowa.
Alton Junction was controlled by a manned interlocking tower until 2005 when Amtrak transferred control to its new Chicago Terminal control center. Known as 21st Street tower, its operators handled movements through the busy plant using a US&S Model 14 electro-pneumatic interlocking machine. In its final years 21st St took remote control of the closed NYC Clark St tower on the joint NYC/CRI&P tracks at 16th St


Patrick H. Joyce

Patrick H. "Pat" Joyce (March 6, 1879 – November 10, 1946) was an American railroad executive. He acted as chairman, president and trustee of the Chicago Great Western Railway between 1931 and 1946.


William T. Pugh

William T. Pugh (October 31, 1845 – August 9, 1928) was an American politician and a deputy United States marshal.
Pugh was born in Wales. He emigrated to the United States, in 1855, and settled in Cambria, Wisconsin. In 1864, he moved to Portage, Wisconsin. Pugh served in the 1st Wisconsin Heavy Artillery Regiment, Battery E, during the American Civil War. In 1872, he moved to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and was a locomotive engineer. Pugh served in the Wisconsin Assembly in 1891 and 1892 as a Republican. From 1900 until his death, Pugh served as a United States marshal. Pugh died at his home in Cambria, Wisconsin, after a long illness.


Luther Kountze

Luther Kountze (October 29, 1841 – April 17, 1918) was an American banker, responsible for helping the city of Denver, Colorado in a time of need and leaving a philanthropic legacy in Morristown, New Jersey. He founded a late-19th century national banking dynasty along with his brothers Charles, Herman and Augustus.
About.
From 1858 to 1862, Luther worked at the Kountze Brothers Bank in Omaha, Nebraska, which was operated by his brothers Augustus and Herman. Late in 1862, he went to Denver, Colorado, where he opened a bank under the name of Kountze Brothers and listed his brothers as senior members. In 1866, they organized the Colorado National Bank of Denver.
After a great fire engulfed much of the city in 1867, Kountze was credited with saving the city of Denver, Colorado from financial disaster, and ultimately, oblivion. Late that year and into the next, Kountze worked with several other investors to form the company that would eventually become the Denver Pacific Railroad and Telegraph Co.
Luther left Colorado for New York in 1867. In 1868, he established the Kountze Brothers Bank at 52 Wall Street in Manhattan. His brother Augustus later joined him there, where they traded securities and bonds. In 1908, U.S. Senator Robert M. La Follette included him in the "100 men who controlled banking." He was then vice-president and a director of the United States Mortgage and Trust Company.
In 1881, Luther moved to Morristown, New Jersey and built an English-style estate. He died in 1918, leaving an estate valued at $4,973,950.
Philanthropy.
Kountze was one of the founders of the Metropolitan Opera House Company. He contributed a large part of the land that now forms the National Jockey Hollow Park in Morristown, NJ.


D. William Brosnan

D. William 'Bill' Brosnan was a president of Southern Railway in the USA, a railroad that later merged with Norfolk and Western Railroad to form Norfolk Southern Railway. Born in 1903 in Albany, Georgia, he was the son of the town's fire chief. In 1923, he took a job as an engineer with the Georgia Department of Highways, before taking a job at as an apprentice student engineer for the Southern Railway, three years later, maintaining the right-of-way. Between 1931 and 1952, he had several promotions, from apprentice student engineer to junior engineer, to division superintendent, to general manager of the Central Lines of the Southern Railway, to vice president of operations. During his time as chief engineer for the Western Lines of the Southern Railway, in 1945 and 1946, he oversaw an increased mechanization of track maintenance and construction on the Southern Railway, and during his time as general manager for the Central Lines, he oversaw the automation of freight car classification in yards and terminals. He succeeded Harry A. DeButts in 1962. In 1964 Brosnan was selected as the first recipient of the Man of the Year award by "Modern Railways" magazine, an award now presented by "Railway Age" magazine as the Railroader of the Year.
He remained on the board of directors of the Southern until 1983. Brosnan died in 1985.


Charleston and Northern Railroad

The Charleston and Northern Railroad was a South Carolina railroad company that existed briefly the end of the 19th century.
The Charleston and Northern was created after the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad bought the Charleston, Sumter and Northern Railroad in October 1894, and the following year reorganized it under the Charleston and Northern Railroad to prevent it from being used by a competitor.
The line was originally chartered in 1885 by the South Carolina General Assembly as the Eutawville Railroad.
Its name was changed to the Charleston, Sumter and Northern in 1890 and went into receivership in 1892.
The Charleston and Northern was absorbed into the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, apparently in 1895.


James Hanley (California politician)

James Hanley (1847–1916) was a railway man who became a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and of the Los Angeles Common Council, the governing body of that city, in the late 19th century. He was the engineer on the first Southern Pacific transcontinental passenger train leaving from Los Angeles.
Personal.
Hanley was born April 14, 1847, in Ireland. He moved with his family to Australia when he was 10, where he later learned the railway business. At age 19 he took ship for San Francisco, California, and settled in Sacramento, where he joined Southern Pacific. After becoming an engineer, he was transferred to Los Angeles, and he "helped establish the first transcontinental passenger route to and from the West Coast." He retired after twenty years to go into real estate.
In 1915, as war was raging in Europe, Hanley publicly proclaimed that he wanted to reaffirm the oath of allegiance he had taken to the United States when he became a citizen. "I would like to reaffirm my allegiance every ten years just as a voluntary expression of constant and sustained loyalty," he said.
He died at the age of 68 on April 3, 1916, in the family home, 1152 Norton Avenue, in Arlington Heights, "from the effects of a stroke of apoplexy." Services were at Saint Thomas Church, and interment was at Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles. He was survived by his wife, Katie, and three children, John, Robert and Katherine. There had been another son, John T., who died in 1904.
Public service.
City.
A Democrat, he was elected on December 5, 1887, to represent the 1st Ward on the Los Angeles Common Council, serving until February 21, 1889.
He was elected Los Angeles city superintendent of streets in 1905, serving until 1907. One of his efforts was to stop the practice by the city of issuing warrants to the "About two hundred men" who worked on the streets and instead pay them weekly in cash, the idea being to stop what were called "warrant-shavers." He said that the majority of workers "assign their weekly warrants to the brokers, who draw the money from the municipal treasury and turn it over to the men, deducting a charge for their services that, in the aggregate, reaches a considerable sum each week."
Hanley was the first street superintendent to order the washing of the paved city streets, which previously had been only sprinkled to keep the dust down. The work, wrote a "Los Angeles Times" reporter,
was more difficult than an observer would imagine[,] and more than an hour was required to clean the block between Figueroa and Flower streets [at Seventh Street]. ... The mud was washed into the gutters and today it will be removed by the street department wagons. The difference between the cleaned portion of the street and that which has not been reached is surprising. One is as clean as many a kitchen floor and the other is coated deep with dirt.
County.
Hanley was a county supervisor for three terms, starting in 1892, 1896 and 1900. A dispute over balloting in 1902 was resolved by the California Supreme Court on April 12 of that year, with the decision that Hanley's opponent, Charles E. Patterson, had won the election.
References.
Access to the "Los Angeles Times" links may require the use of a library card.
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Gilbert Car Company

Gilbert Car Company was a railroad car builder based in Troy, New York. It began manufacturing streetcars in the late 1880s. Gilbert cars were sold and exported worldwide.
Founded by Orsamus Eaton (1792–1872) and Uri Gilbert (1809–1888), the company changed names several times as the partnership changed:
In 1879, Gilbert leased the Buffalo Car Works facility in Buffalo, which had a capacity of five to twelve new cars per day. The Gilbert company saw some success in 1881 when it secured an order for several hundred refrigerator cars for the newly established American Refrigerator Transit Company. In 1886, Gilbert leased the Jones Car Works of Schenectady.
Following the Panic of 1893, and the death in March 1893 of company president Edward Gilbert, son of Uri Gilbert, the company entered receivership in August 1893. Only a few months earlier, Gilbert had completed construction of a hundred cars for New York Central Railroad passenger trains. Then in 1895, the company stopped building rail cars. Upon closure, the plant value was estimated at $400,000 (). In 1899, the plant was rumored to be the target of acquisition for conversion into an automobile manufacturing facility.


James Millholland

James Millholland (1812–1875) was an American railway master mechanic who is particularly well known for his invention of many railway mechanisms. His association with the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company as master machinist spanned fifty years in the early development of the American railroad. He also founded the locomotive shops at Mount Savage, Maryland, the center of the Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad.
Millholland's inventions and contributions include the cast-iron crank axle, wooden spring, plate girder bridge, poppet throttle, anthracite firebox, water grate, drop frame, and steel tires. He was also an early user and advocate of the superheater, the feedwater heater, and the injector. Several of his innovations were adopted as standard practice by the railroad industry.
His son, James A. Millholland, was a railroad executive.


Edgewater Branch (NYSW)


Northern Lines Railway

Northern Lines Railway is a shortline railroad operating of track in and near St. Cloud in central Minnesota. The railroad was formed in 2004 to operate Burlington Northern Santa Fe trackage in the St. Cloud area. Interchange is made with BNSF in east St. Cloud.
The railroad operated three connected lines. The St. Joseph branch extends from the connection with BNSF in east St. Cloud westward, crosses the Mississippi River on the 1892 St. Cloud Rail Bridge and continues on to St. Joseph, approximately . Until the rail was removed in 2018, the East St. Cloud branch extended from the connection with BNSF in east St. Cloud, crossed U.S. Route 10, and terminated at the former Quebecor World printing plant in east St. Cloud, approximately .
Until 2012 the Cold Spring/Rockville branch extended southwestward from its connection with the St. Joseph branch line in west St. Cloud, passed through Waite Park and Rockville and terminated just west of Cold Spring, approximately . However, in 2011 Northern Lines applied to discontinue of service between Rockville and Cold Spring and in early 2012 track owner BNSF received permission to abandon the westernmost of track and convert an additional between Cold Spring and Rockville to industry track. Track was removed in Cold Spring and the last train, loaded with ties, left Cold Spring on August 22, 2012. Also in 2012, Archer Daniels Midland constructed a shuttle loading grain elevator on the Cold Spring/Rockville line between Waite Park and Rockville, joining Wenner Gas's propane terminal (expanded in 2014) in Rockville and Martin Marietta Materials's aggregate quarry in Waite Park as customers on the line.
In addition the railroad serves several customers in east St. Cloud via trackage rights on BNSF track.
The railroad handles approximately 9,000 carloads annually.
As of 2021 traffic from approximately 20 customers consists mainly of aggregates, building products, chemicals, coal, food products, grain, lumber, manufactured goods, paper, propane, scrap, steel and stone.
The railroad is owned by Anacostia and Pacific Company, Inc and has its local headquarters in the old Great Northern depot at the rail yard in central St. Cloud.


Kountze, Texas

Kountze ( ) is a city in Hardin County, Texas, United States. The population was 2,123 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Hardin County. The city is part of the Beaumont–Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Kountze was originally established as a railroad town in 1881. The city was named for Herman and Augustus Kountze, financial backers of the Sabine and East Texas Railroad. The seat of Hardin County, Kountze boasts an area of more than 89% forested lush green terrain. The local area produces over 3.5 million board feet (8,300 m³) of lumber annually.
Kountze describes itself as "The Big Light in the Big Thicket". The thicket is a vast area of tangled, often impenetrable woods, streams, and marshes that occupies a circle of southeastern Texas, about north of Beaumont. The cradle of the United States' oil industry is found in the region. Now portions of the thicket are nationally protected as the Big Thicket National Preserve.
In 1991, Kountze became the first American city with a Muslim mayor, an African American named Charles Bilal.
Sites of interest.
Kirby-Hill House: This historic home was built in 1902 by James L. Kirby, brother of timber baron and philanthropist John Henry Kirby. James' daughter, Lucy Kirby Hill, purchased the house from her father in 1907. It is the first Hardin County home listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
The Big Thicket National Preserve was established by Congress in 1974. This combination of virgin pine and cypress forest, hardwood forest, meadow, and blackwater swamp is managed by the National Park Service. The preserve was established to protect the remnant of its complex biological diversity.
Geography.
Kountze is slightly northeast of the center of Hardin County, north of Cypress Creek, an east-flowing tributary of Village Creek and part of the Neches River watershed. U.S. Route 287 (Pine Street) is the main highway through the city, leading north to Woodville and south to Beaumont. Texas State Highway 326 (W. Monroe Street) leads southwest from Kountze to Sour Lake.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city of Kountze has a total area of , of which , or 0.20%, is water.
Demographics.
As of the 2010 census, Kountze had a population of 2,123. The ethnic and racial makeup of the population was 70.1% non-Hispanic White, 23.1% African American, 0.2% Native American, 0.3% Asian Indian, 0.4% Filipino, 0.1% other Asian, 1.3% some other race, and 2.2% reporting two or more races, including 5.0% Hispanic.
As of the census of 2000, 2,115 people, 747 households, and 537 families resided in the city. The population density was 532.7 people per square mile (205.7/km). The 897 housing units averaged 225.9 per square mile (87.2/km). The racial makeup of the city was 70.59% White, 26.43% African American, 0.66% Native American, 0.43% Asian, 0.09% Pacific Islander, 0.71% from other races, and 1.09% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 2.84% of the population.
Of the 747 households, 36.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.9% were married couples living together, 15.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.0% were not families; 25.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.67 and the average family size was 3.20.
In the city, the population was distributed as 29.1% under the age of 18, 8.9% from 18 to 24, 28.6% from 25 to 44, 20.7% from 45 to 64, and 12.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.7 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $28,352, and for a family was $34,318. Males had a median income of $30,656 versus $22,083 for females. The per capita income for the city was $13,522. About 19.0% of families and 21.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 29.8% of those under age 18 and 24.9% of those age 65 or over.
Education.
The city is served by the Kountze Independent School District.
The Kountze Lions' varsity basketball team has won state titles in 1970, 2004, 2005, and 2007 in both 2A and 3A of UIL standings. The Kountze Lionette's varsity basketball team has also made four appearances at the Frank Erwin Center at the University of Texas at Austin. The Kountze volleyball team has also brought home several state championship titles, as well as advanced to the final four several times.
Climate.
The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the Köppen climate classification system, Kountze has a humid subtropical climate, "Cfa" on climate maps.


Henry Whitely

Henry Whitely was a businessman, railroad executive, and Federalist politician from the U.S. state of Delaware.
Background.
In 1816, Whitely, along with James Price and eight others, were appointed commissioners of the planned Wilmington and Christiana Turnpike.
In 1818, he bought a stone house and 100 acres of land in Newark, Delaware. (The house still stands today; in 1983, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.)
From October 1817 through September 1821, Whitely served in the Delaware House of Representatives.
In 1824, he was elected to the state Senate as a delegate from New Castle County. (That same year, he was part of a group of dignitaries appointed to escort the Marquis de Lafayette from the Pennsylvania state line to Wilmington.) He served as the Speaker of the Senate in 1827, during the 51st Assembly.
In 1833, he became a director of the Farmers' Bank of Delaware.
In 1838, he was a director of two of the four railroads that together built the first railroad south from Philadelphia: the Delaware and Maryland Railroad and the Wilmington and Susquehanna Railroad. His service as an early railroad executive is marked on the 1839 Newkirk Viaduct Monument. Much of the right-of-way is today owned by Amtrak as part of its Northeast Corridor.


Hoboken Manufacturers Railroad


Don Hahs

Don Hahs (born 17 December 1942) was President of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET), a railway workers' union in the United States.
Early career.
Don Hahs was born on 17 December 1942 in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
His father, E.D. Hahs, was a member of BLE Division 442.
Don Hahs joined the St. Louis Southwestern Railway as a clerk in 1961, and advanced to manager of special services in the traffic department.
In 1974 he was promoted to locomotive engineer for the Southern Pacific Railroad.
He joined BLE Division 366 in 1975.
Hahs was Local Chairman of BLE Division 366 in Del Rio, Texas, from 1977 to 1980, when he was elected BLE General Chairman of the Southern Pacific Railroad-Eastern Lines General Committee of Adjustment.
In 1986 he became a member of the BLE Constitution & Bylaws Committee.
He was elected Vice President of the union in 1996.
In this role he helped with the merger of Union Pacific and Southern Pacific.
Union President.
On 27 September 2001 Hahs was elected BLE President at the union's convention in Miami Beach, Florida.
He defeated the incumbent, Edward Dubroski, in a run-off election by 417 to 211 votes.
In 2003 the members of the BLE ratified a national contract that Hahs had helped to negotiate.
Hahs worked with James P. Hoffa of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) to merge the two unions, which took effect on 1 January 2004.
The BLE changed its name to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) on that date.
Hahs was reelected President on 21 June 2006.
In September 2007 a Teamsters oversight board accused Hahs of embezzling $58,000 of union funds.
The board alleged that he had used the money to buy tickets to matches of the Cleveland Cavaliers, a basketball team, and to pay for his wife's travel expenses.
Hahs was suspended from the union for a year, and was barred from holding IBT office or employment until 2010.
He was replaced as President by Edward Rodzwicz.
References.
Citations
Sources


Charleston, Sumter and Northern Railroad

The Charleston, Sumter and Northern Railroad was a South Carolina railroad that operated at the end of the 19th century.
The line was originally chartered in 1885 by the South Carolina General Assembly as the Eutawville Railroad.
The name was changed to the Charleston, Sumter and Northern Railroad in 1890 and the line from Bennettsville, South Carolina, to Charleston, South Carolina, was completed in 1891.
This route was suggested by an ad for an excursion train. As built the line ran east from Harlin City on the Atlantic Coast Line Sumter to Orangeburg mainline 11 miles to Vance, the on to Eutawville where it ran south to Pregnalls on the South Carolina Railroad Charleston to Columbia mainline. Excursions from North Carolina ran south to Pregnalls and the proceeded over the South Carolina RR to reach Charleston.
A branch line ran from Eutawville east 6 miles to Ferguson, the home of Santee River Cypress Lumber Company's sawmill.
The mainline ran north from Vance across the Santee River to Saint Paul, Sumter Bennettsville to Gibson, NC. Some trains veered northeast over the "South Carolina Pacific" to connect with a second line to reach Fayetteville, NC.
One excursion trip was well documented from Fayetteville to Sumter, to Vance, Eutawville and Pregnalls to continue on to Charleston on the Atlantic Coast. One round trip did NOT represent the Charleston, Sumter & Northern, which was clever at using connections to form a through route across northern South Carolina.
The wooden trestle across the Santee River was burned down isolating the Harlin City to Ferguson line along with the Eutawville to Pregnalls line; from the Saint Paul to Gibson line.
Atlantic Coast Line purchased the Harlin City/Ferguson/Pregnalls line; but the Saint Paul-Gibson line went to a number of owners such as Tom Wilson's Northewestern Railroad of South Carolina from ST. Paul to Sumter, later to include a branch line northwest to Camden on the Seaboard Air Line.
The extension north from Sumter to Gibson was purchased by ACL under the name Charleston & Northern as the ACL owned the Central Railroad of South Carolina from the junction at Lanes on the major mainline, up to Manning to terminate at Sumter.
The track south from St. Paul to the Santee River was used by several large lumber companies of Sumter to reach the forest swamps on the north bank of the Santee River.
The line went into receivership in 1892.
The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad bought the Charleston, Sumter and Northern in October 1894, and the following year reorganized the line as the Charleston and Northern Railroad to prevent it from being used by a competitor.
The line was absorbed into the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, apparently in 1895. AS stated above, the track from the Santee River north to Sumter was sold to Tom Wilson's Northwestern Railroad of South Car0lina.
References.
Logging Railroads of South Carolina, Tom Fetters


Passenger Train Journal

Passenger Train Journal "(PTJ)" is an American magazine about passenger rail transport and rail transit past and present, oriented for railfans and published currently by White River Productions. Founded in 1968, it was published continuously until 1996, and monthly from 1979 onward, but then ceased publication. After a 10-year absence, it was restarted in 2006 with a different publishing company, as a quarterly magazine. "PTJ" deals exclusively with passenger rail, not freight. Although focused on North America, each issue includes at least a small amount of content on overseas—usually European—passenger rail. The magazine is headquartered in Lee, Illinois.
History.
"Passenger Train Journal" was founded in 1968 by Kevin McKinney, who established the PTJ Publishing Company for the purpose. The magazine originally was issued quarterly, becoming bimonthly in fall 1975 and monthly starting in March 1979. McKinney remained its publisher and owner until selling the magazine to Interurban Press in 1987. Publication continued under Interurban Press, and as of 1992 "PTJ"'s circulation was about 10,000. In 1993, Interurban Press was acquired by Pentrex, which continued publishing "PTJ" until abruptly "suspending" publication at the end of 1996. Pentrex never revived the magazine, and indeed in 1999 ceased publishing all of its other magazines as well.
White River Productions era.
In 2006, "Passenger Train Journal" was resurrected by Kevin EuDaly of White River Productions, as a quarterly magazine. Appointed to the position of Editor was Mike Schafer, who had been one of the magazine's past editors, from 1983 until 1990. The first issue published by White River Productions was No. 229, Fourth Quarter 2006. For the first ten years after the magazine's relaunching, each issue had 48 pages, but the page count was increased to 64 pages per issue with the first issue of 2017.


Ottawa Rail Bridge

The Ottawa Rail Bridge is a railroad bridge spanning the Illinois River in the municipality of Ottawa, LaSalle County, Illinois. The first rail crossing on this site was constructed in 1871 by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, along a route leased from the Ottawa, Oswego and Fox River Valley Railroad between Ottawa and Streator, Illinois. The current bridge was constructed in 1898 by the King Bridge Company and altered in 1932 to include a vertical-lift span designed by Waddell & Harrington. The Illinois Railway now operates trains over the bridge on its Ottawa Branch between Streator and Montgomery, Illinois.


Railroads Illustrated

Railroads Illustrated, formerly known as CTC Board, was a monthly magazine, published by White River Productions (WRP), devoted to railroad photography. WRP purchased "CTC Board" magazine from Hundman Publishing after the May 2006 issue, and rebranded the magazine as "Railroads Illustrated", and used the CTC Board name for the news section. December 2014 marked the final monthly issue, with future expanded editions to be released annually. The news section and some feature content now appears in an expanded "Railfan & Railroad", which was acquired by WRP in 2014.
CTC Board (1970-2006).
"Railroads Illustrated" was originally published as "CTC Board" (ISSN 0164-8373), a monthly magazine devoted to railroad photography, rail industry and tourist railroad news, and historical articles, from 1970 to 2006. The magazine's name referred to the centralized traffic control displays used by train dispatchers to control rail traffic across a given territory. The magazine's well-known cover logo was an Alaska Railroad F-unit.
It originally was a mimeographed leaflet by Dean Lewis of Castro Valley, California, and later was published by David Styffe in Southern California; HyRail Productions of Denver, Colorado; then Hundman Publishing, of Edmonds, Washington. The editor until the July 2005 issue was Dale Sanders. From August 2005 until the final issue, the magazine was edited by author Paul D. Schneider. Mark W. Hemphill (later editor of "Trains" magazine), then rail photographer Brian Rutherford, were production editors for many years.
While the magazine's focus was on railroad photography, it included current news for railfans, as well as articles from railroad professionals such as Jack Wheelihan of General Motors' Electro-Motive Division, and Bob Eisthen, a private investment analyst. Among "CTC Board's" notable works was a series devoted to the last logging railroads in North America, the race for high-horsepower locomotives in the U.S. during the 1960s, photo essays showcasing the work of U.S. railroad photographers, and a retrospective on the end of the Milwaukee Road's Pacific Coast Extension. In addition, the magazine explored thematic issues, such as "Storm Light," (photographs taken under stormy weather conditions), "Black and White Forever" (showcasing contemporary black-and-white photography), and photographs taken on a single day, entitled a "Day in North America."
Railroads Illustrated (2007-2014).
"CTC Board" ended production in 2006, with the June issue (No. 332) becoming the final issue using that name. With owner/publisher Bob Hundman seeking retirement, the magazine was sold to White River Productions (WRP), publisher of "Passenger Train Journal" and other magazines. WRP renamed the magazine "Railroads Illustrated" (ISSN 1071-8311), the "CTC Board" name being retained for the news section. WRP's production began with No. 333, published in February 2007, with Cinthia Priest as editor.
Railroads Illustrated Annual (2014-present).
When WRP acquired "Railfan & Railroad" magazine in 2014, it was decided to end monthly production of "Railroads Illustrated". Future editions of "Railroads Illustrated" would be released on an annual special edition schedule. Monthly subscribers would receive "Railfan & Railroad" beginning with the January 2015 issue. When White River Productions acquired "Railfan & Railroad" magazine in September 2014, it was decided to transfer the best features of "Railroads Illustrated" to the new expanded monthly format including the news columns and the closing Parting Shot image on the final page. The last monthly edition was published in December 2014, and the publication was converted into an annual. The new 100-page Railroads Illustrated Annual publication focuses on creative railroad photography, featuring subjects both current and historical. All content is sourced from outside contributors who are regular readers of the publication.
In 2019, Steve Jessup succeeded Cinthia Priest as editor of Railroads Illustrated Annual.