Why trains ? Reasons !

[Bull`s eye]

So, why trains ? Warfare of 20th century without trains would be unthinkable. Starting with american civil war, trains played a decisive role, combat role AND supply. Franco/Prussian war 1870/71, mobilization without trains ??? WWI too.
Trains are the backbone of every mobile warfare.

Eastfront : supply via trains, armored trains in combat role and security duties. Railroad lines had been the artery of the wehrmacht, cause supply via road ( rollbahn ) wasn´t sufficiant, and sometimes the lorries did use more fuel than they delivered . Partisan actions against railroad lines, stations caused serious problems

Westfront : if there had been a working railraod system during the allied landings, germany had been able to send more and faster supplies via normandy...
Later Pattons rush was slowed due to shortened supply ( not completely solved with the red ball highway ).

Suppy in any form is essential, movement of armored and infantry forces without a working trainsystem very difficult

These are some of my reasons " pro " trains made by GHQ.

Advantages:

You can make " Sets " and sell them
Axis and allied ( even US, cause many Locos had been in use after D-day in europe
Armored and " normal "
Great variety of types
additional accessories like buildings, rails ,cargo loads for flats
figures too

A complex add on for the existing ranges, with great potential

This is what i mean :





and



this too



and



perhaps ?



and


of course


but also " normal "
stuff

and hospital trains




Trains are undisputed essential in modern warfare, and they would be a really wonderfull add on for the existing ranges of " 20th century " onwards...

[Przemek Wieczorek]

There is my train. I'd like to finish it tis week. Next will be armour trai to protect my supply lines from "russian bandits"

http://wargamer.pl/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4452&start=60

[Bull`s eye]

Nice ..so far i understood a paper model in 1/400 ?

[Przemek Wieczorek]

1/300. In 1/400 rail lorries are too narrow for Panthers and Tigers.

[Mobius]

I have a page on armored trains and rules for them in Panzer War.
http://www.panzer-war.com/page8.html

[robdab]

And it looks like Przemek's train is displayed on Leva railroad tracks beside a Leva railway platform/building ?

[Hamer]

Yea guys thats the Polish power !!!!

[Bull`s eye]

Polish power , he has had ideas... thank you again for te pics

[Bull`s eye]

I have a page on armored trains and rules for them in Panzer War.
http://www.panzer-war.com/page8.html

Did you use H&R BP 44 ? I bought it, but will not use it, cause it is really toooooo small...

And not only armored trains, but all that rolling stock is interesting

[Mobius]

="Bull`s eye" Did you use H&R BP 44 ? I bought it, but will not use it, cause it is really toooooo small...

Yes, it is H&R.
The problem with running armored trains is that they are way too large for a game battlefield. Our game ground scale is 1:2000. When playing with 1:285 or 1:300 tanks isn't so bad as you can just measure from the center of each figure. But trains are a real problem because the center of each car is over 100m scale meters from one another. And some weapons may not effectively reach the other end of the train.

[Kaoschallenged1]

I have 2 of the H&R Armoured trains so far. I just ordered some of the Vac-U-Cast minis to see what they look like. One of the reasons I picked some up was because of the Armored Train rules that Mobius has . Robert

[Bull`s eye]

I have 2 of the H&R Armoured trains so far. I just ordered some of the Vac-U-Cast minis to see what they look like. One of the reasons I picked some up was because of the Armored Train rules that Mobius has . Robert

I have the vac-u-cast armored locomotive, and some box cars, flat...they need a little detailing and rebuilding but they are priceworthy and really usable ... don´t know, why they did not continue the line

[Mk 1]

Recounting an item I posted some months ago...


A steam locomotive suitable for WW2 service.


An electric (overhead wire) locomotive suitable for cold war European service.

These are plastic models made by Furuta, a Japanese company. They have many different locomotives available, in scales ranging from 1:220 to about 1:450. You have to be careful to check the scale if you want something close to 1:285.

There are also now actual functional electric trains in 1:300 scale available in Japan from Bandai.


The scale is called ZZ guage. The trains run on watch batteries (instead of line-power). The sets each with one train and an oval track, some other extra (the Yamanote line set comes with an automated crossing arm), and seem to run about $30. I've seen sets for the Shinkansen (bullet train) line, the Yamanote line (commuter circle in Tokyo), and one other express line.

[Bull`s eye]

Steam loco seems good for burma scenarios, electric loco not really usable for " cold war " ( european/german electric locos have a different appearance...

But i would prefer trains and equipment with the high quality of GHQ
And i think, trains will be a good deal

Next time an article " Why airfield equipment and more planes

[Mk 1]

Bull`s eye said:
... electric loco not really usable for " cold war " ( european/german electric locos have a different appearance...

I certainly make no claims to expertise on the topic of trains ... Perhaps you can educate me?

Some examples of the locomotives on the SNCF:



Doesn't look like an exact match to the same model, I freely admit. But as far as general type goes, other than being painted in the wrong colors it seems to my untrained eye to quite resemble the locomotives I've seen pulling freight in France.

But i would prefer trains and equipment with the high quality of GHQ
And i think, trains will be a good deal

I agree that railroads are important to 20th century warfare, and so should also play a role in wargaming. I have managed to collect a fair variety of rail stuff for my wargaming. But contrary to Mobius (and others here) I have no interest in playing games involving armored trains. My interest is more related to the importance of railheads, rail lines, and rail bridges as objectives.


Here is a battle we fought at my house two years ago. This is a Tunisia scenario, for the second battle at Sened Station in early 1943. Unfortunatly, I have never been able to find maps of the area showing any level of detail, so I've tried to re-construct from unit accounts what the area might have looked like. The rail station is at the center of the game, and its possetion was one of the key victory conditions.

Yep. Railroad am good fer games.