[sapper740]

Previously, the only method I had seen of a retreating army destroying track was of Engineers labouriously laying explosive charges. A time consuming process, time which the Engineers didn't always have. A quicker method I have seen was that of a ripper blade attached to the rearmost train car which tore the ties in half and spread the rails apart. The damage left by this method was minimal as the rails were left straight and the ballast mostly undisturbed. A Rail Road Company would be able to restore the tracks quite quickly. Apparently the U.S. Army made note of this and came up with a better way to quickly demolish railway tracks with explosives by utilizing a purpose built CCKW 352 which ran on the tracks and deposited charges. The resulting blast would deform the rails making restoring the rail line much more difficult.

CHIMO! Derek.