The Snapshots in Time Collection

Bomb Fin Assembly Debris Beneath Rail Car Trucks, Roseville Yard, California, 1973

Bomb Fin Assembly Debris Beneath Rail Car Trucks, Roseville Yard, California, 1973

Ordnance debris photographed at the Southern Pacific rail yard in Roseville, California, 1973, where bombs were staged for shipment overseas to support the Vietnam War. This close-up shows a bomb tail-fin/drag-skirt assembly on the ground beneath a rail car's wheel trucks - a stark reminder of the massive logistical operation of moving munitions by rail across the country during the war, and of Roseville Yard's history as the site of a major 1973 boxcar ordnance explosion. Project: 218336