NAAFI BREAK BAOR TROOP TRAIN STYLE

Gentlemen

Help please (a subject for the more mature members of this site and fellow railway enthusiasts)

I have been contacted separately and privately by two groups of railway enthusiasts (one Dutch, the other German) who are researching the workings of the BAOR Troop Trains of the 1950s operating out of the Hook of Holland.

There is one topic which is a major puzzle. The NAAFI Buffet Cars. Built in the early 1950s they were designed to supplement the facilities and meal service provided by conventional restaurant cars incorporated in the trains from the Hook (but not the Berliner). They were more like a mobile Red Shield /Toc H/ NAAFI Canteen and sold snacks (biscuits, chocolate), soft drinks, magazines, cigarettes and beer (at duty free prices). For this reason they were not permitted into Holland but were detached/attached prior to the border (Kefeld/Moenchen Gladbach/Osnabruck to restock and await the next Troop Train into the Zone. The coaches were painted wine red with the words NAAFI Buffet Car in large capital letters on the side.

Can anyone remember using these coaches? It would appear the coaches had a relatively short life and were withdrawn from service well before the official end of the BAOR Troop Trains in 1961.

I travelled on these trains a number of times - on the 'Green Train' - from 1952- 54 but was not even aware of them having a NAAFI coach and certainly didn't know that beer was available!
As I travelled to and from Duisburg, could it be that the Naafi coach had already been detached?

Cliffo

You were out of luck you would have had a maximum of 20 minutes drinking time between Duisburg and Krefeld.

I think it was the Blue train I was on. We got off at Diepholz for Nienburg.

I don't recall seeing a NAAFI car but we were offered beer with our meal.

Another sober passenger with perhaps 45 minutes potential drinking time between Osnabruck and Diepholz

JPW, this is news to me, never saw or heard any mention of NAFFI Buffet cars when using the Mil trains on leave in the late 50's early 60's when based in Verden.

BobG

There were NAAFI cars on the Austrian military trains between Villach and Calais during
the 1940's

brian beckett wrote:

There were NAAFI cars on the Austrian military trains between Villach and Calais during
the 1940's

Hi all,

Yes there were three such cars, cant work out the model, as they dont appear to be the standard WR4u speisewagen
I have a b/w photo of NAAFi / BUFFET CAR. WD No 14 taken Osnabruck High level station, 13/9/1952, not attached to a train.
One report stated in occasional use until 1995, but not sure about that

One reason why not allowed into Holland they sold cheap fags [1/- for 20 at that time]

I did an article in 2006 covering the leave trains, and gave copies to any interested RCTS members

Regards
Sapper Burgess

Gentlemen, especially Burgess, for your input

The relevant archive material has long since disappeared so it is only by coments from those who were there can a simple history be preserved.

They were specially adapted from prewar bogie passenger coaches and must have had a very short life of 3/4 years. I think it was one or two of the original restaurant cars which survived into the 1990s as part of the BAOR Ambulance train pool. I am almost certain that Bob G and I traveled in one at the start of a British involvement in a NATO Exercise in Northern Italy in the late 1970s. (Horse meat was part of the menu served up dockside at Dunkirk, needless to sat few Brits were tempted to try it (self included))

JPW. No doubt you remember the journey down to Aviano - terrible. Trains ( 1 for troops, 2 carrying Vehs etc) left Dunkirk in the early evening the troop train carrying max pax, who had been imbibing well in the workers canteen beforehand, during the night the train ran out of water - no replen until about midday in Mondano before crossing into Italy, major problems with restaurant cars. Ran out of water again before we got to Aviano the following day. Return journey much better, Comd LSG managed to get some air lift for a good number of pers so train was comfortable on the journey back up to Dunkirk, that was when we shared a compartment. Only real problem was the strike by Italian railway workers which meant we were late into Dunkirk and, as a result, missed most of the ferry bookings back to UK. Happy Days.

BobG

Happy Days indeed Bob

One of the problems with the Restaurant Car, according to ASM John Ashton of the M-G Railway Squadron Workshops who was travelling on the train, was hot axle boxes. It was one of the modified pre war coaches, part of the BAOR War Reserve Ambulance train fleet, It was envisaged for real they would shuttle between a railhead in the Minden area and the evacuation airfields at a maximum of 50 kms in the hour, a 1000 km jurney across France and Northern Italy at speeds up to 60mph plus resulted in red hot axle boxes and frequent stops to let the bearings cool.