I love when you finally track down a verifiable fact for your book. Received this email today in response to an email I sent about a month ago. First the email and then the glossary entries.
Dear Mr. McCaslin, your inquiry has been transmitted to us, the City Archives. We are able to confirm – by evidence of the Bremerhaven Port of Embarkation telephone directory of 1947 – that there has been a Rail Transportation Office at the Bremerhaven main station. It was housed in a separate building next to the reception building. Sincerely yours Dr. Hartmut Bickelmann Archivdirektor Magistrat der Stadt Bremerhaven Stadtarchiv
RTO: Rail Transportation Office. The office in Berlin for the Berlin Duty Train where passengers boarded and administrative duties were performed. There was also an RTO in Frankfurt, W. Germany and Bremerhaven, W. Germany. Existence of Bremerhaven RTO verified by Magistrat der Stadt Bremerhaven, Stadtarchiv.
Berlin Duty Train: In the fall of 1945, the U.S. European Commander directed the U. S. Transportation Corps in Europe to establish rail transportation "connections" with Berlin. Commanded by US Military Berlin, the Duty Train maintained our “Allied Right of Free Access” through communist E. Germany to W. Berlin during the Cold War. It transported US military and civilian personnel and freight both ways between W. Berlin in the East and Frankfurt/Bremerhaven in W. Germany.
