Steam Reserve Corps

The **British Army's Steam Railway Reserve Corps**, aka the **Steam Reserve Corps** **(SRC)**, was a railway unit of the British military during WWII, when groups of locomotives joined together to form platoons to serve the country they live for. By 1969, the SRC was renamed the **Railway Reserve Corps (RRC)** after steam was replaced.

## History

While the Battle for France was still on, the British Army's railway operations under the War Department (WD) were a disarray and there needed to be combined force since the WD alone couldn't have enough locomotives. As a result, the British Army Steam Railway Reserve Corps was formed in August of 1940 with locomotives from all railways putting aside rivalry to fight for the survival of their homeland. The locomotives were separated into platoons and sent across the theatres of WWII that Britain was involved in such as Asia.

Most locomotives in the SRC were built after WWI while there were a few wartime veterans such as Will and Olivia heading back to finish the job they thought they had finished nearly 30 years ago in the Great War. In 1941, the SRC's emblem was drawn and was used by officers working with the Crops' locomotives in the theatres of WWII. Following the defeat of Germany to the Allies in 1945, many platoons were recalled to help the USATC and Soviet forces to help bring Europe out of the rubble of the war, and were later disbanded.

## Emblem

The SRC/RRC's emblem was designed in 1941 and featured a silhouetted tank locomotive in the centre of a roundal-like symbol. The tank engine was a London, Brighton & South Coast Railway (LBSCR) E2 0-6-0T that dated from 1913 and represented a Swiss-built member of the class for the Railway Operating Division (ROD), No. 1527 'Swiss Gaurd', who was lost to Austro-Hungarian artillery in 1917. The emblem remained unchanged apart from the word 'STEAM' being replaced with 'RAILWAY' in 1969.

## Platoons

The SRC/RRC has currently twelve active platoons, which include:

* The 17th Platoon "Shunter Regiment"
* The 2nd Platoon "Chopper Brigade"
* The 92nd Platoon

In the past, there were 94 active platoons by the time World War Two ended in 1945, which include:

* The 1st Platoon "Deutsche Reichsbahn Traitor’s Union"
* The 91st Platoon "North Eastern Force"
* The 119th Platoon
* The 19th Platoon "Great Western Platoon"
* The 110th Platoon
* The 21st Platoon "Midland Brigade"
* The 65th Platoon "Scottish Chargers"
* The 33rd Platoon "Heavy Metal"
* The 88th Platoon
* The 8th Platoon "Railway Commandos"

## Trivia

The Steam/Railway Reserve Corps emblem was inspired by the US Army Armour Branch insignia. It was created on Microsoft Powerpoint.

The SRC/RRC was inspired by military usage of railways during WWII and IronLawl's Steam Reserve Corps.

During one of the MSR's Wartime Weekends, Will carried a head board with the Steam Reserve Corps' emblem on the front. This emblem is the 1940-1969 version.

The main weapons issued by the SRC are WWI-era railway artillery, along with modern small 16inch railway howitzers based on of the WWI weapons.

* The 16inch howitzers are actually fictional and were 3D-printed by Shane Sowter. It took two prototypes for the gun's carriage to be finalised. Depsite the calibre, the 16in howitzers appear to be smaller than 16 inches.
* The 12inch howitzers are models ordered from Shapeways.

Five of the former SRC locomotives ended up in Strategic Steam Reserve after their withdrawal by BR.

* Two were from the Railway Commandos.

The carriages issued by the SRC are originally owned by the North Western Railway (NWR) and are still painted in that company's Brunswick Green and Cream livery.

Despite being related to railway warfare, the SRC is not run by the War Department by run by the Royal Engineers.