Shaw trains still chugging

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. Suzanne Ovel
  • 20th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. (AFPN) --  History stops here often. It chugs to a halt about three times a week outside an elongated single-story building as two 80-ton locomotives deliver jet fuel to the fuels management flight. Shaw's rail operation, which has been active since 1941, is almost an anomaly in the Air Force.

"We're one of the very few bases that have a locomotive," said Lt. Col. Michael McDaniel, 20th Logistics Readiness Squadron commander.

The rails brought military equipment and fuel here through the 1970s, but today the locomotives, built in the 1950s, only lug fuel onto base about 10 to 12 cars at a time.

Michele Hill, a conductor here for nine years, is part of the two-person team that serves as a liaison between the fuels flight and the commercial railroad. They coordinate the timing and the amount of each delivery.

"We plan out what their needs are for fuel day to day," Ms. Hill said.

When she and Tom Scher, an engineer, are not delivering fuel, they handle maintenance and daily, monthly and quarterly inspections on the trains. While these veterans work daily to maintain Shaw's locomotives, the Department of Defense is looking at the trains' long-term future.

"The Defense Energy Supply Center is the single fuel-managing organization for DOD, and (officials there) decide if we receive fuel via rail or train," Colonel McDaniel said.

As more and more DOD-owned cars go out of service, DOD will need to decide which bases receive the remaining serviceable train cars and which bases start using trucks.

In the meantime, Shaw is scheduled to receive $4 million to upgrade six miles of rails, which the base owns.

Colonel McDaniel said the base already spent $1 million of this money to replace some of the rails and rail ties.

"There's a piece of rail out there that was stamped 'made in 1895,’" he said. "The rail's been replaced, but it's an indication of [the age of Shaw's rail tracks]."

While the base focuses on upgrading its railroad tracks, the train's operators focus on enjoying the job that lets them work outside independently.

Mr. Scher, who has worked on trains from their steam-engine days to diesel-engine upgrades, said his job is one of the most desirable occupations on base.

"It doesn't get any better than this," he said.