Leafing through Charles Small's Two-Foot Rails to the Front this evening, I noticed something quite unexpected, and interesting. For those unfamiliar with it, this 60cm gauge train and its cargo may well quality, but it was something else that caught my eye.











At the front end of the heavy duty, standard gauge, depressed-center car is a narrow upright section labeled as a "loading box" on the U.S. Army Ordnance drawing. This is painted in a manner that can only be characterized as disruptive camouflage, although I have seen other terms used for this general style. It's more difficult to discern, but the superstructure of this car also appears to be in camo. Due to the reflection of the sun, it's difficult to tell if any of the other equipment is painted in camo.

I have to think that the painting was done a month or more before the test, as I can't imagine anyone bothering to do it after the Armistice.

You're right; there's a suggestion on the frame of the flatcar over the front truck that the camouflage extends to the car itself, but I can't tell whether the tone variations on the sides of the cabs of the locomotive are camouflage, random imperfections, or lettering stamped on the picture.

The links from the 8" M1888 Wikipedia page are equally uninformative; the PDF link to the Coast Artillery Journal has a number of images that look to be standard-gauge cars, and from the article appears to be more purpose-built equipment, not "the make-shift design and construction that prevailed during the first World War when most of the mounts had to be improvised because time was short". However, the gross design of the flatcar seems to be the same, and the pictures on pages 10 and 11 of the PDF document show the braces deployed when the gun is set up for firing, which is useful as a reference. Also, just as vague as in the image you posted, the image from page 11 shows the ammunition car with a color variation across the top of the car that suggests a camouflage pattern.

I'm guessing it is just the gun carriage car with the camo, given the intended destination - although I have to wonder if anyone really thought it would actually be shipped to Europe. The last two cars would have been shipped also, but I just can't tell how they're painted. The text from the book makes it clear that it was built as a standard gauge car, but with the intent that various gauge trucks could be mounted under it. The basic car might already have existed, as these were used for very heavy loads that would have height (gauge) clearance issues on a non-well car - such as big transformers. No doubt the gun mounting and the swinging braces were custom designed/built.

My suspicion is that this was tested only because someone thought, "Well, the war may be over, but we paid for and built the damn thing, so let's try it." If they thought the axle-loading and stability problems were resolved, wait until they got to the mud-pits of the Western Front ;-)

I just found a photo of a M1888 on a standard gauge railcar mounting, firing - location unknown, but it looks like a training exercise.

http://www.web4homes.com/rendezvous/artillery.htm

A little less than halfway down.

Charles,

An excellent find! Thank you, these have great diorama potential.