White Train

File:White-train-featured-image-768x492.png

{{Short description|American armored train used to transport nuclear weapons during the Cold War}}

The United States Department of Energy Nuclear Weapons Transport Train, known as the White Train, was used to transport nuclear weapons for most of the Cold War. From 1951 to 1987, the Department of Energy's Office of Secure Transportation (OST) used the train to move the weapons from the Pantex plant in the Texas panhandle, where they had been constructed.{{Cite journal|title=Pantex Donates Cold War Era Train Cars to Railroad Museum|publisher=Office of History and Heritage Resources|journal=PARTNERS IN PRESERVATION - Cultural Resources News from the Department of Energy|date=August 2006|volume=2|issue=2|url=http://www.mbe.doe.gov/me70/history/August06.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060927214554/http://www.mbe.doe.gov/me70/history/August06.pdf|archive-date=27 September 2006|page=5}} The train, which was armored and carried an array of defensive armament, became the focus for peace and anti-nuclear weapon activism in the west.{{cite web | last=Day | first=Sam | title=Commitment to Nuclear Truthtelling | website=no-nukes.org | date=c. 2000 | url=http://no-nukes.org/nukewatch/sp00samday.html | access-date=7 September 2022}} While the train's color was changed numerous times to avoid notice, it continued to be referred to by its original color. After the last attempt to prosecute protesters who blocked the passage of the train failed, the Department of Energy began instead to move nuclear weapons by truck without public notice.{{Cite news

| title = The Myth Of Disarmament and Trident

| first=Glen|last=Milner

| newspaper=Seattle Post Intelligencer

| date=31 October 1998

| via= Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action

| url = http://www.gzcenter.org/newsletters/october_1998/page5.html

| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010306073131/http://gzcenter.org/newsletters/october_1998/page5.html

| archive-date=6 March 2001

| page=5 }} Some of the White Train cars are preserved at the Amarillo Railroad Museum,{{cite web|url=https://www.amarillorailmuseum.com/white-train|title=White Train|publisher=Amarillo Railroad Museum|access-date=2022-09-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120622054859/http://amarillorailmuseum.com/white_train.html|archive-date=2012-06-22|url-status=live}} while a few others are preserved at the Pantex Plant.