Winston
Lorenzo von Matterhorn
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2009
- Messages
- 9,560
- Reaction score
- 1,748
No, not chastity related...
The Navy is a prolific user of nuclear power and needs to protect nuclear material when traveling by rail. That's where the armored caboose comes in. - MARCH 8, 2021
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zo...rmored-blue-train-caboose-belongs-to-the-navy
But after our investigation, spurred by rail spotters not being able to make sense of a mysterious blue-painted armored caboose, we learned that this year, the Navy, in cooperation with the Department of Energy, is set to begin using a new "fleet" of heavily armored cabooses specially outfitted to escort trainloads of sensitive nuclear material.
A reader of The Drive, Rafi Ward, first alerted us to pictures that have been circulating on social media of one of these mysterious cabooses, which has an alpha-numeric identification code, VWXX-800, a prefix that is known in the railroad world as a reporting mark. We subsequently acquired pictures of this car from photographer Anthony Delgado. Based on our own digging, The War Zone can now confirm that this railcar, and others like it, are being built under a U.S. government contract to support the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program (NNPP), more commonly known simply as Naval Reactors.
"The railcar series you describe (VWXX-800) is currently being built, outfitted, and certified by Vigor Works LLC under contract to the U.S. Government and will be used as a courier escort vehicle by the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program to support spent nuclear fuel and other national security shipments," a spokesperson for Naval Reactors told The War Zone. "The first railcar is expected to be delivered at the end of 2021 and placed into service shortly thereafter. The railcar replaces similar escort vehicles the Navy uses that are near the end of their service life."
The Navy is a prolific user of nuclear power and needs to protect nuclear material when traveling by rail. That's where the armored caboose comes in. - MARCH 8, 2021
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zo...rmored-blue-train-caboose-belongs-to-the-navy
But after our investigation, spurred by rail spotters not being able to make sense of a mysterious blue-painted armored caboose, we learned that this year, the Navy, in cooperation with the Department of Energy, is set to begin using a new "fleet" of heavily armored cabooses specially outfitted to escort trainloads of sensitive nuclear material.
A reader of The Drive, Rafi Ward, first alerted us to pictures that have been circulating on social media of one of these mysterious cabooses, which has an alpha-numeric identification code, VWXX-800, a prefix that is known in the railroad world as a reporting mark. We subsequently acquired pictures of this car from photographer Anthony Delgado. Based on our own digging, The War Zone can now confirm that this railcar, and others like it, are being built under a U.S. government contract to support the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program (NNPP), more commonly known simply as Naval Reactors.
"The railcar series you describe (VWXX-800) is currently being built, outfitted, and certified by Vigor Works LLC under contract to the U.S. Government and will be used as a courier escort vehicle by the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program to support spent nuclear fuel and other national security shipments," a spokesperson for Naval Reactors told The War Zone. "The first railcar is expected to be delivered at the end of 2021 and placed into service shortly thereafter. The railcar replaces similar escort vehicles the Navy uses that are near the end of their service life."
