Operation Chattanooga Choo Choo Diorama

Test photo of work in progress 

 Operation Chattanooga Choo Choo was part of the Allied Transportation Plan leading up to D-Day.  According to "The Army Air Forces in World War II, III Europe:Argument to V-E Day,"

"The most sensational attacks were the CHATTANOOGA CHOO-CHOO missions, the first of which took place on 21 May when 763 AEAF fighters swept over the northern half of France and 500 Eighth Air Force fighters ranged over Germany firing and bombing at trains. Another occurred on 25 May when three Ninth Air Force fighter groups operated over the Rhineland and northern France and more than 600 Eighth Air Force fighters shot up trains in Belgium and France. Other outstanding CHATTANOOGA missions were carried out by 571 Eighth Air Force fighters in eastern Germany and Poland on 29 May and by the Ninth Air Force in France on 2, 3, and 4 June. These operations furnished good practice for fighter pilots in attacking ground targets, a skill they were to develop to a high degree after the invasion, and they brought about enormous disruption to enemy traffic and ruin to equipment while producing important psychological effects on railroad personnel. French train crews deserted in large numbers, especially after fighters began to drop belly tanks on stalled trains and to set them afire by strafing. This situation caused the Germans to employ crews of their own nationality on the more hazardous runs, and after 26 May railway operations in daylight were sharply reduced even in cases where the lines were unbroken.

The battle against enemy transportation was a splendid success on the eve of D-day. It "opened the door for the invasion," as Spaatz later informed Arnold.94 British-American aircraft had dropped a total of 76,200 tons (on rail centers 71,000, bridges 4,400, and open lines 800) and would aim 78,000 tons more at transportation targets before France was free of the German. Railway traffic in France fell off dramatically between 19 May -- when the Allies were somewhat discouraged about the transportation bombings and 9 June 1944, the index dropping from 69 to 38 (based on 100 for January and February 1944). By mid-July the index would be only 23, and traffic in northern France would be practically at a standstill. Von Rundstedt had been unable to move effective reinforcements into the Seine-Loire triangle at the time of the invasion, and his forces had been committed piecemeal and could not even be deployed as units. Thus, the Allies had won their premier objective in the transportation campaign: they were able to build up their forces in Normandy from across the Channel faster than the Germans could reinforce theirs from adjacent areas in France."

This diorama is a group build by the Tailgate Modelers. The group includes Dan Pierce, Rob Kempinski and David Keene from Florida, and Mark Franke and I from Virginia. Our name is derived from the Dan's business where he sells model kits at hobby shows, and sometimes from the back of his truck. 

I proposed the idea for diorama last summer when we got back from the IPMS Nationals in Texas. The concept was to build a diorama showing US P-47s attacking German trains.  We initially planned to set the diorama in Italy. But we relocated the site of the diorama to France when we learned that the theme for the 2024 IPMS Nationals was D-Day.

We divide the work as follows Dan built the locomotive. Rob built the 1/72nd scale P-47, David built 2 1/144the scale P-47s, Mark built a truck, and I did the diorama box, bridge, railcars, and all the scenery. We were assisted by Jennifer and Rob in making some of the trees. 

Dan built the Kreigslokomotive. It is a 1/72nd scale model by Hobby Boss. This was the second model Dan built for the diorama. The first was a Revell 1/87th scale kit of a German Kreigslokomotive. He did a nice job on that, but the kit was too basic. So, we upped the scale the trains to 1/72nd.  This kit is much better detailed. Rob delivered the locomotive to Virginia on one of his visits.

The drawback of doing the trains in 1/72nd scale was that there are no German railcars available in that scale. So I had to make some on my 3D printer. I was able to find some files, but they needed some work.

I also had to make custom decals as none were available. 

Rob built three 1/72nd scale P-47s for the project. The first two were bare metal finish P-47s for fighter groups that fought in Italy. He agreed to build one more painted in Overlord invasion stripes once the diorama was moved to depict France. I used one of the silver planes as a stand in during construction to mockup the layout. That way the plane with the invasion stripes place was not damaged.  

David built two 1/144th scale P-47s. We will only need one. It will be located toward the back for forced perspective. 

I built the box to house the diorama. It is like a shadow box with a coved backdrop covering the sides and back. The backdrop is a piece of sheet 0.060" styrene. There is also a top panel that is removable for construction and maintenance access. We have a LED battery powered under cabinet light that puts out 200 lumens to illuminate the diorama.

I scratch built the bridge based on a photo of a an actual bridge in Normandy, France.  Once the bridge was built, I added and shaped the terrain using foam and putty. 

Jennifer and Rob visited in late June. They helped me make trees. There are 42 large trees on the diorama.  I painted the backdrop while they built trees.

I flocked the trees and installed them over the course of 3 days. Then it was time to add the ground texture. 

The diorama is almost done. It's good thing as it has to be ready to go by 15 July.  We started this last year but work on it was diverted to making the D-Day diorama for Keith Rocco.