Delweddau Diwydiant

Chris

Feel free to drop me a line , just seen your post

Keith

Hi, I have tried to reply to Chris Martin about his comments on Henry Pollard. Our family would love to exchange information and photos about our mutual relative who obviously had a really interesting life. Chris, if you read this please contact Debra or me again.

My grandfather (H.J.Pollard) was Eisenhower's personal chef whilst onboard these trains. I can verify this for you Graham Monk, but I can't find any contact details for you on here. Google "cjmpiper69" and you might find me with some digging.

His Secretary is a little confused. He was travelling through Wales not England!

This has been really interesting - thanks! I've read the Albert Phillips articles, and listened to the podcast as well.

I'd love to make a model of this train, but would need more details about the vehicles within it (types, numbers etc.). It sounds like Keith Joyce might have this information, so if you read this Keith and are happy to share, please let me know!

Thanks

Chris

Hi David,

Thank you very much for noticing this. We have now corrected the orientation of the image.

Best wishes,

Marc
Digital Team

The painting is wrong or has it become flipped when scanned ? The smokebox door hinges are on the left but should be on the right.

My father-in-law's uncle, John Henry Pollard (known as Jack), was, we think, a chef on the train in 1944. We inherited some articles and papers fromm him including a Luftwaffer dagger and a list of autographs believd to be from Eisenhower, Churchill, Omar Bradley, Edy, Edward A Brooks, Sarah S Oliver and J. Lawton Collins. If anyone can verify his presence there it would complete a real missing link in our family history.

Hi all,
My dad, Wilson Calcagnini, was drafted in 1942 at age 29. He had been working in the NYC subway system for 13 years (started at 16....a white lie, needed the job in 1929). He was promoted to Tech Sergeant in SHAEF responsible for Ike's train throughout the 1945 European campaign. (He told me that one of the US Generals was also a NYC subway exec and grabbed him for the role - I forget the name he told me and have been unable to find any linkage back to a US General or officer and the NYC IRT Subway system). My Dad came over with Ike's rail cars on a barge from Southhampton and kept a daily log of every location to which the train traveled. It is just a one or two word location log in a small 1945 pocket calendar. He told me of multiple trips he had to make (by air) back to England to secure repair parts as necessary. He had a great relationship with General Eisenhower who affectionately referred to him as Sergeant Cal.

He told me of multiple meetings Ike had on the train with the likes of Montgomery, Bradley, Churchill and Patton....I am trying to determine on what specific dates those meetings occurred in 1945. I have read Ike's, Montgomery's and Churchill's accounts of the campaign but have been unable to nail down consistent dates of such meetings and exactly which ones occurred on the train itself. If anyone can provide a more detailed log of such activity, It would be most appreciated. It has been a fascinating exercise for me and it really puts into perspective the sacrifice and commitment these men and women made for our countries.

George Calcagnini (gcalcag@gmail.com)

Hi Chris,

I am sorry to say that the Museum does not hold any information on this train other than the caption for the painting – the information in the caption was provided by the artist when he made the painting available to the Museum, and is believed to have been obtained from published books on railway history and on Second World War history. You might wish to contact the Imperial War Museum in London and the National Railway Museum in York to see whether they hold information that might be useful to the project. I am sorry that the Museum cannot directly help you and hope that these suggestions may be useful to you.

Best wishes,

Jennifer Protheroe-Jones
Principal Curator – Industry