The research on the Tanks for the Memories project has had some interesting late twists. Looking for information about transporting M46 tanks to Korea, I ran across the Facebook pages of the 73rd Heavy Tank Battalion which lead me to many different sources.I found an M46 loading illustration from the M46 TS operating manual But not the whole manual.
This actually showed an M46 load illustration with inset cleat design but I did not find the rest of the manual chapter.
I then located the complete Army TS operating manual for the M47 tank which had almost identical hull (chassis) and tracks as the M46 and included a section on field and factory loading onto railroad flatcars. This had a better illustration of the loading including the design illustrations for the tie down rods, steel cleats, and steel chocks. I am talking to possible 3D printers about making these.
There were two sections covering rail loading M46 tanks onto railroad flat cars. The first was for field loading for movement in a combat theater of operation or from armor unit locations to training exercise areas. However, I am interested in the factory loading where the tanks were loaded onto flatcars inside the factory building by overhead cranes for shipment to ports for overseas deployment.
I also located the photos from a 28 Life Magazine pictorial on the manufacture and shipping of the M46 tanks from the Detroit Armory Tank Plant unfortunately without captions. The article in Life was probably published in 1949 or early 1950 before the Korean War broke out in mid 1950. It would have been censored after North Korea invaded South Korea.
This answered a lot of questions. Along with the Army manual which has drawings of the metal cleats, chocks and steel rod tie downs used for factory to dock transportation. I am going to try and get those 3D reproduced as well.
And then there was this photo from 1954 after the truce in Korea
Marilyn Monroe standing in the Tank Commanders hatch in the turret of an M46 in Korea. The guy climbing out of the loaders hatch was the battalion commanding officer. Marilyn was taking a break from new husband Joe DiMaggio who was conducting baseball training camps in Japan.
In 1967-69 I was assigned to the 3rd Battalion 33rd Armored Regiment then stationed in Germany as part of the 3rd Armored Division in Europe....we had M60A1 diesel powered tanks then but no Marilyn...
After reading Robert Bowdidge's recent blog,
https://vasonabranch.blogspot.com/2026/06/figuring-out-more-about-figures.html,
maybe he could design and print an MM figure in HO using AI to go in an HO M46 tank..
In Tanks for the Memories part 3 and maybe more, I'll get back to model railroading and the flatcars transporting the M46 tanks to Oakland for shipment to Korea.
