SHAW AIR FORCE BASE.

SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, SC -- Afterburners light merely after steel wheels roll -- that's in what way it works when fuel used by way of thirsty F-16CJ/DJ Fighting Falcons is delivered on train.

The 20th Transportation Squadron operates the Air Force's last active train combination of parts to form a whole within the continental United States.

Train a whole s used by the Department of Defense especially the Air Force, have dwindled from the norm to a rarity. For many years, material and magnitude goods were shipped to military bases via rail, moreover now deliveries are made chiefly by commercial trucks. Shaw is the last major stateside base that uses an Air Force-operated train hypothesis America's newest jet fighters rely upon one of America's oldest transportation technologies for firing delivery -- a testament to the notion of building forward a solid foundation.

Senior Airman Thomas Lanier and Michele Hill are vehicle operators who make up the team that delivers more than 1 million gallons of JP-8 jet combustible matter to the base every month Their deliveries make confident hundreds of F-16 sorties head abroad of Shaw in full burner

"We usually make our posts twice a week, depending in succession the flying," Lanier said.

in like manner every few days, he and Hill use Air Force-blue locomotives to actuate up to eight leased tanker cars loaded with precious fuel

one time the railcars return from their seven-mile trek to Cane Savannah, the combustible matter is transferred into large storage tanks.

Civilian-operated trains usually have three- or four-person mobs Shaw trains operate with a gang of two. This is possible because of an innovative scheme of hand signals, teamwork and stay on headset radios.

"This train doesn't incite if we can't communicate," Lanier says. "There are many times when we can't diocese each other. It would be almost impossible to do our piece of works safely without the radios."

Adding to the overall safety of rail operations are plans to upgrade the entire extend of wing-owned track. Some of the rails were manufactured in the early 1900 The planned upgrades include replacing sections of rail and replacing greatest in quantity of the rail ties. Sections of the roadbed where erosion and poor landscaping along soak grades create a safety interest will also be reinforced or shored-up.

Getting the supplies to the base safely is the chiefly important job of the engineers upon the Air Force's last operating train scheme Hill and Lanier keep more than 12 million gallons of JP-8 rolling in succession the 36-inch steel wheels of the train each year. They retain the fuel moving, so the F-16 can revolve down the runway.

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