User:HarryS0462/sandbox

Of the various clubs formed by the naval forces during the Korean war, the most renowned was that of an group that focused on the destruction of trains which ran the deadly gauntlet in the Taeback Mountain range. The Trainbusters Club (TBC) saw its beginnings in July 1952 when the American destroyer Orleck destroyed two trains during a two week period. The commander of Task Force 95, recognizing a morale booster when he saw one, declared Orleck the trainbusting champion and issued a challenge to the rest of the American task group to beat that score. The TBC was initially considered to be a United States Navy project. In the spirit of fairness and competition, the challenge to destroy trains was eventually extended to ships from other navies. Had the idea of the TBC been formed sooner, many more ships would have qualified for membership and the official count of 28 trains destroyed would have been much greater. The first rule for admittance to the 'club' and the membership fee, required that the train's engine be destroyed. After that, any damage inflicted to a train would be counted as a kill regardless of the fate of the engine. Rules were so strictly enforced that all kills recorded were legitimate. Membership, however, was difficult because of the engine clause. Trains that were southbound and laden with war material were considered much more valuable targets than northbound trains which were essentially empty. Korean train engineers soon learned what 'hell on earth' meant. They too, were brave men. They found themselves dodging shell explosions just a few feet ahead of their travel. They took their trains across damaged tracks and trestles which swayed precariously. They did their utmost to save the trains by attempting repairs. During daylight, they hid in tunnels hoping that the entrances and exits did not get blocked by the persistent and accurate shelling of the naval guns. Out of the twenty-eight kills officially tallied by the TBC, the RCN accounted for eight. CRUSADER, HAIDA, and ATHABASKAN were collectively credited with that number. That gave the RCN the proportional record which was a significant feat in itself. The main achievement, however, was the winning of the championship by HMCS CRUSADER, who bagged four trains, three of them in a single twenty four hour period. The business of trainbusting was based on extreme patience, a degree of luck and superb gunnery. Often the Korean weather kept ships far out at sea so the guns were operating at maximum range and had to be able to hit a speeding target. Poor weather also made verification of damage very difficult.