So I expected like 2 people to respond at most, but instead I saw a lot of you come here more often than I thought. I'll start posting these somewhat weekly in no particular order. Also I tried submitting this earlier but I believe it was caught by the spam filters for me posting twice. Enjoy.
In the 1980s the United States was rolling out a new ICBM called the Peacekeeper. It was bigger and better than the old Minutemen-type ICBMs that kept America in the arms race. Packed with MIRVs, these new missiles could strike multiple targets with precision and accuracy like no other. But how to deploy these brand new missiles? Sure, SAC could use the old Minuteman silos, but why not try something new? Something mobile.
That's where the Rail Garrison Cars came in. Regan, famous for his Star Wars system, also came up with the silliest ICBM deployment plan ever to come about. Establishing a permanent missile base wasn't easy anymore. Russians would have satellite imagery of any base in the country, as the silos and layout could be picked up easily with enough effort. So why not move the bases around and keep the image analysts guessing? Rather than putting the missiles in vertical silos, they were stored horizontally in custom built boxcars with bay doors for roofs. The idea was to hook two of these cars together to create a failsafe launch system, with a complimentary control center boxcar to launch from. To create a fully mobile missile base on rails, several other cars were proposed to be added to the consist: a base security car, a personnel car, a maintenance car, and an extra fuel tanker for super self-sufficiency. There were even talks of painting the cars in commercial livery to disguise them against spies. It was a great plan! Now our missile readiness level was at a status of always ready and the Commies wouldn't know where to shoot!
Initially they built one missile car prototype for testing. It measured about 90ft long, one of the longest boxcars ever, and it barely fit the missile. It was sent to Vandenberg Air Force Base (the only place besides Cape Canaveral where the Space Shuttle can launch), where it successfully passed launch testing. It was then sent to the TTC (a testing center), where it passed weight and turn testing.
This is where is gets sketchy. Some sources say that a full test train was completed and undergoing trails at Vandenberg. This would make sense because there's a whole test facility on base, with a loop of track, several maintenance and manufacturing sheds, and an earthen bunker to park the train. You can see it on google earth. I can't find anything specifically mentioning the operation of a full train, though. Only the process of deployment (which was essentially "scramble the trains into the country and launch the missiles").
1 year after the prototype boxcar finished testing, the Cold War ended, and the project was cut. None of the trains destined for Alaska or the Dakotas left Vandenberg, and all the missiles reserved for the project were put into regular silos. The original car was saved, however, and is now on outdoor display at the Wright-Patterson Nation Museum of the US Air Force. I've stood next to it once, it's not very exciting. The fact you can't see inside makes it even more boring.
NY Times article announcing to the US public the idea in 89
Some reading on the repurposing of these cars after the program was cut.
Images
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Tl;dr: Moving targets are hard to shoot with nukes, trains move, so why use elephants?
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[–] I_like_paint ago
I'd hate to be the driver on that train