Radar Train Mystery Solved

by: Rodger Stroup

For many years as our trains have passed the summit at milepost 2.2 our narrators have mentioned that in the field on the Southside of the tracks during the Cold War there was a siding with a series of cars that belonged to the Strategic Air Command.  Inquiries to the U. S. Air Force Archives and Museum failed to illicit any additional information.  All we knew was that they had something to do with radar and radios.  That is until one Saturday in late August when museum member Bill Eccles was onboard and heard the limited facts we provided.  After returning to Rockton Bill talked with me and not only did he know what the train was, he had pictures taken on December 30, 1966.

The Radar Bomb Scoring train was used by the United States Air Force to track simulated bomb runs by B-52 and B-58 bombers.  The train was located adjacent to the Rockton & Rion tracks on a siding at the summit of the railroad from October 1966 until March 1967 (according to an article I found in The News and Herald, October 6, 1966).

Watch the videos below for additional information on the RBS trains: