Special Containment Procedures: Upon encountering SCP-7856, utilization of any visual-oriented equipment is prohibited within its immediate vicinity due to the damaging nature of SCP-7856's anomalous effects on optical technology.
All cases of civilian encounters with SCP-7856 are to be treated with Class-B amnestics within the first 24 hours of exposure before being transported back to the nearest point of active civilization.
All instances of SCP-7856-1 are to be treated with respect and decency in keeping with SCP-7856's historical background.
If the anomaly is encountered by Foundation researchers or operatives in the field, personnel are not permitted to ask SCP-7856 what it was doing between the years 1938 – 1945. (Please see Agent Stanfeld’s report on Operation SIDEBAR).
A German-built locomotive of the same class as SCP-7856
Description: SCP-7856 is the spectral manifestation of a Deutsche Reichsbahn’s Class 52 locomotive. The manifestation measures approximately 656 ft or 200-meters in length and possesses an observed average travel speed of 30 mph or 48 kph. However, it can rapidly accelerate to well over 120 mph or 193 kph in the span of 0.4 seconds. Comparatively, even the world’s fastest combustion-engine supercars require four times this amount of time just to reach half of the same speed. It should likewise be noted that contemporary locomotives of SCP-7856's specific type can only achieve less than half of its observed maximum speed and only within the span of a much longer buildup period.
The manifestation of SCP-7856 is singular in nature, only comprising one locomotive of the same appearance, a train engine carrying 10 passenger coaches of late 1930s design. While there is no set timeframe or season in which SCP-7856 appears, there are set locations. The anomaly has so far only appeared in mainland Europe. It is most frequently sighted between Germany and Eastern European countries such as Hungary, Austria and the Czech Republic. However, Poland is the only country in which it has been found to manifest with a high enough frequency to match its manifestations in Germany. It strictly manifests anywhere within a 50-mile radius of any abandoned train station. When the station was constructed or abandoned do not seem to matter so long as the location is no longer frequented by human beings.
Persons either knowingly or unknowingly entering the 50-mile radius considered 7856’s area of effect or AOE will not necessarily encounter a manifestation of the anomaly. Containment personnel have observed that those simply walking through the area are consistently left alone. However, persons under distress, specifically those being pursued into an AOE by a potential threat such as a hostile assailant or wild animal will promptly activate 7856’s manifestation response.
Prior to receiving amnestic treatment, civilians who witnessed 7856 state that the train seems to appear as if out of thin air, often with the door to its nearest coach already open to them. They are then possessed by a strong compulsion that they will be safe if they come aboard and proceed to run inside, at which point SCP-7856 will immediately accelerate at high speed away from the source of the danger. Most of those taken onboard remain conscious of the journey ahead for no longer than an average of 1 minute. The reason for this remains unclear. They eventually wake up safely a varying period of time later at the abandoned train station that lies at the center of the anomaly's current AOE. From there they can safely proceed to the nearest point of civilization such as cities, small towns or farming communities.
Since 7856’s discovery, the Foundation has excluded pertinent reports such as those made by Einsatzgruppe VI, SS-Oberführer Erich Naumann from being released to the public via the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act of 1998. Given the aforementioned statement, it should come as no surprise to Foundation researchers not familiar with SCP-7856 that this specific anomaly is at least suspected to have been involved in the events surrounding the systematic extermination of two thirds of Europe’s Jewish population as well as other groups targeted by the Nazi regime. Examination of captured transportation records held by SS Death’s Head units confirm the existence of a train matching the description of SCP-7856 being assigned to the “delivery of undesirables” at various concentration camps from October 1938 – February 1945. Records also show the same train being utilized intermittently by Einsatzgruppe VI and Einsatzgruppe C for “supply rendezvous” and “special activities” following the respective German invasions of Poland and Soviet Russia.
Researchers assigned to 7856’s containment over the last several decades are still unsure how the manifestation came to exist given that it is modeled after an inanimate object, very much outside the traditionally accepted view of what can possess an animating force or soul (with exception to confirmed anomalies under Foundation monitoring). Currently, theories abound among Foundation personnel familiar with this SCP as to whether it raises the question of an afterlife for inanimate objects. However, the primarily accepted theory which will be shared later in this report suggests that the manifestation is not the result of a single inanimate soul but multiple animate entities operating in tandem. This was only further substantiated following the eye-witness testimonies of those who managed to stay conscious for longer than 5 minutes while aboard, which will be included later in this file.
Discovery: The existence of SCP-7856 was officially made known to the SCP Foundation shortly after an incident that occurred on the evening of October 10th, 1961. The first recorded contact with the anomaly took place after two teenage boys attempted to escape from their hometown of Müncheberg in Märkisch-Oderland, East Germany. The boys were attempting to reach East Berlin by car and from there intended to cross through a well-known weak point in the Berlin Wall to West Berlin. However, on the night of their attempt, a third member of their party who was secretly a Soviet informant exposed their plans to the local authorities.
A pursuit party from the police was dispatched to apprehend them. A brief car chase ensued that led to the pursued teenagers crashing into the edge of a forest between Müncheberg and the town of Strausberg. From there, they attempted to escape on foot into the forest with the authorities close behind.
The following is an interview with one of the teenagers, Anton Krause, and Foundation researcher, Dr. R. Lanza regarding the events of the encounter. The interview was conducted in German and has been translated into English.
7856-Interview #2
Interviewer: Doctor Robert Lanza
Interviewed: Anton Krause
Date: 10/11/1961
<Begin Log>
Dr. Lanza enters the interview room where Krause is already seated.
Dr. Lanza: “Good morning, Anton. I hope you don’t mind if I ask you a few questions to-”
Krause: “It was just there. I don’t-, I don’t know what else to say. It was just…there, right there parked in the clearing…like it was waiting for us or something. I don’t know. It didn’t scare me at first. It just felt like it made sense to go in. I was only scared when we woke up in the middle of nowhere. That’s when things started coming back to us. We were really freaked out after that. We-”Dr Lanza: “Anton, calm down. I haven’t asked you anything yet.”
Krause: “But-, I-…”
Dr. Lanza: “Relax, we’ll get to that. Hot chocolate?”
Krause: “…Yes-…yes please.”
Dr. Lanza hands Krause one of the cups of hot chocolate he carried into the interview room. Krause takes a few sips and visibly calms.
Dr. Lanza: “Better?”
Krause nods.
Dr. Lanza: “Good. Listen, I know yesterday you saw something you’ve been struggling to understand. You were up all-night babbling about it from what I heard. You won’t have to worry about that for long.”
Krause: “Pardon?”
Dr. Lanza waves a hand dismissively.
Dr. Lanza: “Let’s start from the edge of the forest. You and your friend crashed into a tree and went on foot into the woods. What happened next? Take it nice and slow.”
Krause: “We-, we were-…wait, where’s Felix?”
Dr. Lanza: “Recovering from his injuries in the room next door. I just saw him. He was a little troubled like you seem to be but he’s fine now.”
Krause nods hesitantly and pauses.
Krause: “He has family in West Berlin. We heard it’s better on that side of the wall. We were trying to reach them, but-”
Dr. Lanza: “Never mind that. The forest, what happened after you went into the forest?”
Krause visibly tenses again.
Krause: “We ran for a bit, felt like the whole KGB was on our heels with how many dogs and police they sent after us. We got to this ravine. Felix fell down to the bottom, broke his leg. I had to carry him. I don’t think I got very far. The police almost had us when I saw this clearing. There were a lot of lights in it. I ran straight there thinking it was a house. And what do I see there except…”
Dr. Lanza: “A train?”
Krause: “…Yeah, a train.”
Dr. Lanza: “And what did this ‘train’ look like?”
Krause shrugs.
Krause: “I don’t know, like-, like a train. A normal train, just old. It looked really really old, like something my father would’ve driven.”
Dr Lanza: “Your father?”
Krause: “He was a conductor during the war.”
Dr. Lanza: “A conductor?”
Krause: “Yeah, 4th Army. And don’t look at me crazy. He may have driven trains, but he didn’t drive ‘those’ trains. He just handled getting troops from here to hell holes like Minsk and Smolensk. He didn’t-…he-…”
Dr. Lanza: “I know. Trust me, Anton, I know all about your dad and I know all about you. I just wanted to see how honest you’d be with me. Now, what else did you see?”
Krause: “You…know everything? Are you-…wait, did we-…”
Dr. Lanza shakes his head.
Dr. Lanza: “No, the Soviets didn’t catch you. You’re in much safer hands now, trust me.”
Krause: “…CIA?”
Dr. Lanza: “Anton.”
Krause: “Right, right, plausible deniability and all that. Well, so long as you’re not torturing me for answers, I guess it’s alright. Like I said, it looked old, about three decades out of place. The train engine in the front was mostly black with some red highlights that I can remember. It had ten, maybe twelve coaches in the back, probably about 200-meters long overall. We found it sitting on some train tracks but, from what I could tell, they only went as far as its wheels did. Everything else around it was grass. It’s like the whole thing was just sitting on a piece of railway that went nowhere.”
Dr Lanza: “Were there any identifying markers on the side of it? Numbers, signs?”
Krause: “With how hard they were coming after us, I didn’t really have time to look at it, but I don’t think I saw any, at least not any that stuck out to me. There were some curtains in the windows.”
Krause pauses.
Dr. Lanza: “Anton?”
Krause begins to wrap his arms around himself in a self-comforting gesture.
Krause: “I think-…before we ran in, I think I saw…people…in the windows.”
Dr. Lanza: “And what were these people doing?”
Krause: “Staring…at us…but not in a creepy way. It’s more like they were just passing by, and happened to see us. They looked, I don’t know, worried.”
Dr. Lanza: “Can you tell me anything about their appearance? How were they dressed? Did they say anything to you?”
Krause: “No, I didn’t see or hear much of anything. I just didn’t have time to pay attention to them. What I can say for sure is that I saw people of different ages in there, men, women, children. They were just watching us. For some reason, I know-, I can feel it.”
Dr Lanza: “Feel what?”
Krause: “They were waiting for us, almost like how you’d stop a bus if you saw someone running after it. It was as if the whole train was there just for us. Maybe it was. Either way, I got hit with this strange feeling that I absolutely needed to get onboard regardless of what I thought. I went straight up into one of the coaches. Felix was with me. We got in and, well, I’ll put it this way: I never saw anyone else get off.”
Dr. Lanza: “The compartment was empty?”
Krause: “I don’t know what else to tell you, sir. We got to look through the other coaches too. The people we saw just weren’t there anymore. We checked under the chairs, in the baggage areas. Nothing. We thought they all agreed to jump out right before we came in, but that didn’t make any sense either. There’s no way that many people could move that fast.”
Dr. Lanza: “How many people do you think you saw?”
Krause: “They weren’t a small group, that’s for sure. I think it was probably close to a hundred.”
Dr. Lanza: “On the whole train?”
Krause: “Per coach. They looked like they’d been crammed in there, no better than a bunch of sardines. God knows how they managed to fit that many people inside.”
Dr. Lanza: “What about the train itself? Was it moving by this point?”
Krause: “Moving? Well, to be honest with you, a word like ‘moving’ doesn’t really do any justice to what that thing actually did. I’ll tell you what, now I know what an artillery shell sees when you shoot it out of a cannon. It was like a bullet. The second we got on, the doors all closed and we were shooting off with the same speed of those new jet fighters America’s been making. Maybe even faster. Strangest thing is we didn’t even feel any of it. It didn’t knock us off our feet or anything. If you didn’t know any better, you’d swear it wasn’t moving at all, only to get motion sick the second you looked outside. We couldn’t believe it, neither of us. How do I say it? There was-, there was no…”
Dr. Lanza: “No motion?”
Krause: “Yeah, that.”
Dr. Lanza: “…Interesting. What happened afterwards?”
Krause: “After that, we-, we-, ugh, we sat down. The next thing I know, Felix is shaking me awake on the boarding platform of this old train station. We were the only ones there. Imagine that, being alone at an old station in the middle of the woods at night. Doesn’t paint a pretty picture, does it? I mean, I just about lost it at that point.”
Dr. Lanza: “Sounds about right. We found you boys wandering around a town that wasn’t too far from there. So, you don’t have any memories of what happened after you two sat down?”
Krause: “…No.”
Dr. Lanza: “Well…apparently neither does Felix. Seems to me like both of you dozed off and got dropped off.”
Krause: “How? We were the only ones there.”
Dr. Lanza: “Were you?”
Krause stops to consider the question and shivers slightly.
Dr. Lanza: “Alright, I think that’s almost the last question I have for you. I still have two more, if you think you can handle them.”
Krause: “I don’t know what I can handle right now.”
Dr. Lanza: “Let’s find out.”
Dr. Lanza proceeds to open his personal folder revealing various black and white photographs of German train types dating between 1804 – 1961. He lays them out in front of Krause and points to each in turn.
Dr. Lanza: “Did it look like any of these?”
Krause examines the pictures for approximately 20 seconds before settling on the image of a Deutsche Reichsbahn's Class 52 steam locomotive produced in late 1938. He then points at the picture with a notedly disturbed expression.
Dr. Lanza: “That one?”
Krause: “No mistaking it. This one just has the identification numbers and signs on it. Other than that, I’d say they’re basically the same train.”
Dr. Lanza: “Interesting. Tell me, did you see anyone here?”
Dr. Lanza points to the cab at the back of the train engine.
Krause: “The cab? No. I think it was the only part of the train that didn’t have any lights on. It was too dark to say who was behind the controls, if there was anyone at all.”
Dr. Lanza: “I see. Well, Anton, I think that’s all we need. Don’t worry, we’ll be releasing you and Felix together very shortly. Then you can both forget all about this.”
Krause: “Thank-, thank you, ugh, I-, I never got your name.”
Dr. Lanza: “No, you didn’t.”
Dr. Lanza gets up and moves for the door.
Krause: “Wait. If you don’t mind me asking, sir, where are we now?”
Dr. Lanza pauses.
Dr. Lanza: “West Berlin.”
Dr. Lanza smiles back at Krause who faintly returns the expression before the doctor leaves the interview room.
<End Log>
Note: Anton Krause and Felix Bauman were both administered Class B Amnestics before being cleared by Foundation personnel and returned to the general populace of West Berlin. However, further investigations into SCP-7856 as well as its anomalous manifestation and transportation capabilities are still ongoing as of this interview.
Addendum A:
Following the first confirmed encounter with SCP-7856, the Foundation undertook preliminary measures towards threat assessment and containment. Small observation posts disguised as ranger stations were placed around the forest where the anomaly was first discovered with the intent to identify its general movement patterns and behaviors. This was quickly proven redundant when there was a second confirmed case of a person encountering SCP-7856.
The encounter took place outside the city of Wolfsburg in West Germany when a farmer fled from a female Eurasian Brown Bear after he had stumbled across her cubs. The mother bear chased him into a field in the municipality of Tappenbeck where SCP-7856 manifested in front of him. Similar to Krause and Bauman, he felt strongly compelled to run inside and was able to escape from the bear. He later woke up at an abandoned train station on the outskirts of Wolfsburg, close to his home. This marked a change in the by then still sparse information the Foundation had compiled regarding the anomaly's behavioral patterns.
Unlike the previous case with Krause and Bauman, the farmer had only travelled 3 miles or 4.8 kilometers from where he had initially been transported. He went to inform the police of the incident but was laughed out of their station as they believed him to be a “drunkard”. Foundation infiltrators, however, managed to take him aside for further information. In an interview, he stated that his only thought when he encountered SCP-7856 was getting back home to his wife. He was administered Class B amnestics before being allowed to return to his family with a proper cover story.
Another encounter was identified two weeks later that again shifted the Foundation’s paradigm on the previously growing consensus of SCP-7856's movement patterns. In the city of Lublin, Poland, the young daughter of a local official had managed to escape a group of human traffickers who intended to capture her and hold her for ransom, doing so with the help of SCP-7856. She was later found by local police at an abandoned train station on the eastern city limits some 2 miles or 3.2 kilometers away from where she had initially disappeared. This marked the first time that SCP-7856 had manifested in the middle of a heavily populated urban area, eliminating the theory that the anomaly only manifests in isolated regions.
Clandestine questioning was carried out with several individuals who were within the immediate vicinity of the incident, including the testimony of the daughter herself as well as her attempted kidnappers who were now in police custody. According to the interrogation reports, none were able to see or hear the train except for the girl herself. The kidnappers stated that she “suddenly started walking on thin air for a few steps before disappearing entirely”.
Moreover, drivers within the vicinity who were presumably heading in the opposite direction of SCP-7856 reported no disturbances whatsoever. Considering that if the anomaly was fully solid and not transient, its passage would have led to the destruction of oncoming traffic and a mass casualty event amounting easily in the hundreds, marking this discovery as substantial. This suggests that SCP-7856 possesses the ability to allow only those it intends to rescue to see or perceive its existence while also possessing a purely spectral form. Once aboard, an individual is likewise believed to be briefly converted into a similar state without their conscious awareness.
Following the Lublin incident, all witnesses involved received Class B amnestics.
In the wake of the first three encounters, the Foundation placed personnel on observation duty around the three aforementioned stations, both to keep watch for SCP-7856 and to search these sites for reasons as to why the anomaly selected these locations. No noticeable causes were ever identified save for the obvious commonality that each site was an abandoned train station.
More encounters with SCP-7856 followed similar formats to these first three cases. From these connections, the Foundation was able to come to a number of new conclusions.
SCP-7856's motivations are seemingly entirely altruistic. The anomaly can sense the perilous situations of those it is trying to save so long as the scenario occurs within 50-miles of an abandoned train station. The train station must not have any active human occupation or usage just prior to the manifestation in order to be used as an anchor point for SCP-7856's AOE. SCP-7856's manifestations were confirmed to be completely contained to Europe as there have been no other encounters with the entity anywhere else around the world. From this point forward, the Foundation concludes that SCP-7856 is not a dangerous anomaly. It received the object class designation ‘Safe’ following the reaching of a consensus by dedicated researchers in March 1967.
Actual tests using D-class personnel were not authorized and conducted until June of the same year due to budgetary constraints as well as the rapid rise in attrition rates for more critical D-class experiments observed in 1967. The first test was to ascertain as to whether SCP-7856 can sense the intentions of those it saves in terms of a destination they may or may not have had in mind just prior to its manifestation. During both the Müncheberg and Wolfsburg incidents, SCP-7856 seemed to transport those it had rescued to train stations that were within close proximity of the locations they were thinking of while they were still in danger. However, during the Lublin Incident, the daughter of the government official had no destination in mind aside from a safe place to hide from her pursuers. She was subsequently placed in the station that served as the closest anchor point for the anomaly's area of effect.
For this test, two D-class personnel, D-971 and D-322 were brought within 40 miles of an abandoned train station near the town of Helmstedt. The station was especially selected since its 50-mile radius did not intersect with any other abandoned stations in the region, ensuring that the test subjects could only be taken to that location if they had no clear destination in mind. The D-class personnel were told to keep East Berlin in mind as their destination. They were then each provided with helmet-mounted recording equipment before having approximately 20 pounds of raw meat attached to their persons. Previously captured wild dogs were then released and forced the two D-classes to flee in the direction of the Helmstedt station. However, no manifestation of SCP-7856 ever occurred. Ultimately, both D-971 and D-322 were both hunted down by the pursuing dogs and killed.
Research staff quickly took note of the new finding and wondered as to why the anomaly did not manifest for the two D-classes. A new question was soon raised as to whether SCP-7856 has a functional consciousness and/or sense of morality as well as an ability to sense the previous actions of any person within its area of effect. Both D-971 and D-322 were convicted serial killers from West Germany with a combined criminal record of 23 cases of first-degree murder and a combined sentencing of over 390 years of incarceration.
The Foundation conducted a second test using a newly inducted Foundation operative, Agent Louis Stanfeld, who had no prior criminal history. It was his first mission. He was given the same treatment as D-971 and D-322 by being strapped with raw meat and given a helmet-mounted camera as well as a shot of adrenaline to increase his stamina. He was allowed to keep his service pistol for safety reasons as well as to test whether a person’s ability to defend themselves was a consideration for SCP-7856 prior to making an appearance.
Agent Stanfeld was dropped off at the same 40-mile distance from the train station near Helmstedt and was given a 1-minute head start. He was on the move for approximately 2 minutes when SCP-7856 appeared in a nearby clearing. However, it was at this point that Stanfeld’s camera equipment began to malfunction. He managed to run inside the first coach wherein his camera system failed and shut down. He was discovered 20 minutes later sleeping on a bench at a train station near East Berlin, the destination that researchers had told him to keep in mind as he performed the operation.
In his after-action report, Stanfeld confirmed that he was awake for at least 6 minutes after his camera failed. During this time, he noticed at least several persons in different parts of the train dressed in clothing indicative of trends that were prevalent in 1930s – 1940s Europe. However, whenever he tried to approach them, they would quickly disappear. This changed shortly after the 5-minute mark. Around this time, he spotted a young woman sitting down in the third coach and was able to successfully approach her without triggering a disappearance. This was the first recorded case of an interaction between Foundation personnel and an instance of SCP-7856-1.
He managed to strike up a short conversation with the instance during which he learned her name, ‘Katalin’. He was later able to identify her language as Hungarian which he was partly familiar with. The instance of SCP-7856-1 proved surprisingly open to the interaction and was able to hold a formal conversation with Agent Stanfeld for exactly 1 minute. Unfortunately, Stanfeld failed to garner any specific information out of Katalin of pertinent value to Foundation goals and eventually succumbed to the anomaly's exhausting effects.
From these two tests, research staff concluded that SCP-7856 does possess something akin to a moral compass as it was willing to appear for an individual who was otherwise innocent of the crimes of those it refused to save. Also confirmed was its ability to sense the intended destination of those it rescues which is equally matched by its capacity to respond to their desires. Next was its willingness to intervene on behalf of those in need of rescue regardless of their ability to defend themselves, suggesting that both their relative innocence and presence within its AOE is sufficient to trigger a manifestation. Lastly was the first encounter with an instance of SCP-7856-1 which substantiated prior accounts of sightings of other persons onboard taken from those rescued by the train.
As the nature of the anomaly became more apparent with each encounter resulting in the rescue of individuals or groups of individuals from strenuous conditions, the Foundation pursued a far less aggressive containment strategy than previously utilized. Nevertheless, plans were made to attempt another encounter with more instances of SCP-7856-1 for longer periods. It was hoped that these instances would be more willing to divulge greater information about the train the longer the person onboard remained awake.
Operation SIDEBAR was authorized on January 25th, 1968, with the intention of once again coming into contact with the entities aboard SCP-7856. The operation would again rely on Agent Stanfeld getting onboard a coach and remaining awake for as long as possible with the goal of interviewing as many instances as situationally feasible. This time, only audio-recording equipment was provided to test if the anomaly's effects were strictly relegated to visual-oriented devices.
On the day of the operation, the same scenario of feral dogs being sent after a meat-ladened Stanfeld was relied upon. He was allowed his service weapon as well as administered additional shots of adrenaline. The result was the same and SCP-7856 manifested at the edge of a nearby swamp just 3 minutes after the operation commenced, further confirming that a person previously saved by the train can be rescued once again, even under the same circumstances.
Agent Stanfeld was able to remain awake for 15 minutes before succumbing to the train’s exhausting effects. Below is the translated audio taken from his time aboard SCP-7856 as part of Operation SIDEBAR. Included are details extrapolated from his after-action report to provide further operational context.
Operation SIDEBAR – Mission Audio (Transcript):
<Begin Log>
Agent Stanfeld enters the coach second from the front of the train just prior to its departure. He tests his audio equipment to confirm that it remains functional. He then looks up at the door that he entered through. On the inside of it above the window are inscribed two short sentences written in German: ‘Für diejenigen, die ich nicht sagen konnte. Für diejenigen, die ich nicht retten konnte. ’
The phrase in English translates as: ‘For those I couldn’t tell. For those I couldn’t save.’
Stanfeld moves towards one of the seats and sits down for the next 5 minutes, during which time he sees multiple instances of SCP-7856-1s moving to and fro among the other coaches but not interacting with him directly.
After the 5 minute-mark has passed and the train’s anomalous exhausting effects have not taken hold, Agent Stanfeld takes note of a smell he would later describe as bitter almond. Shortly after making this observation, he is approached by an instance of SCP-7856-1 that appears as a little boy in clothing indicative of the 1940s. The boy speaks to him in German, introducing himself as Anselm. Stanfeld notes the presence of a distinctive odor emanating from him.
Anselm: “You’re strange, stranger.”
Stanfeld: “Oh, and why’s that?”
Anselm: “How are you still awake? Nobody usually lasts this long. Even you didn’t last this long last time.”
Stanfeld: “So, you were watching me the last time I came aboard?”
Anselm shrugs.
Anselm: “We all were.”
Stanfeld: “We?”
Anselm: “Come on, there’s no way you missed them. We’ve been here the whole time. See, my mom’s sitting right next to you.”
Stanfeld looks to the window seat beside him and sees nothing.
Anselm: “Give her a minute, she’s watching the view.”
Suddenly an instance of SCP-7856-1 appears beside Stanfeld, a middle-aged woman with a look of displeasure.
Anselm: “There she is.”
Anselm’s Mother: “Ansi, why don’t you go hang around your father for a moment.”
Anselm: “But-”
Anselm’s Mother: “Go.”
Anselm sighs before waving goodbye to Agent Stanfeld and vanishing into thin air.
Anselm’s Mother: “That boy. Anyways, if you don’t mind me asking, who are you and how come you’re still awake?”
Stanfeld: “I guess you guys are used to people knocking off early on these things.”
Anselm’s Mother: “It’s the train. It has that effect on people we pick up, which is why I don’t understand how you’re still talking.”
Stanfeld: “I took a few things before I came here to keep me going. Listen, I’m sure you’re as curious about me as I am about you. I have a few questions myself. I hope it’s not a problem if I run a few by you.”
Anselm’s Mother: “I’ll answer yours if you answer mine. You don’t strike me as the terrified, normal kind of person we usually get aboard. Why are you here?”
Stanfeld: “To learn more about you. Well, you and everyone on this train.”
Anselm’s Mother: “Everyone?”
Stanfeld: “Yes.”
Anselm’s Mother: “Then you might be here for a while.”
At this point, Stanfeld begins hearing voices all around them. He looks and finds that the once empty seats in his coach are now all filled with SCP-7856-1 instances, many of whom are either conversing among themselves or paying close attention to him.
Stanfeld: “Oh man, where do I even start with this?”
Anselm’s Mother: “That’s still not everyone. Not even close. These are just the ones who wouldn’t mind a bit of conversation with a stranger.”
Agent Stanfeld is unsure of whether she is referring to passengers in the other coaches or if there are even more instances in the same coach that he cannot perceive. Among those he can see are different instances of various ages. Stanfeld takes note of two young women talking and giggling as they look at him, an elderly man with a thick beard, a man wearing a Soviet officer’s uniform and a younger man with a dark circle near the center of his forehead, possibly a scar.
Stanfeld: “…Okay, let’s figure this out one step at a time. Can I ask your name?”
Anselm’s Mother: “…Adina. You’ve already met my son. He’s usually the most eager to meet new people if he gets the chance. That’s why you saw him first.”
Stanfeld: “I see. Where’re you from?”
Adina: “Munich. At least I used to be. Wouldn’t say I can call it home now.”
Stanfeld: “Really? I’m from Munich myself. Which part?”
Adina: “Alstadt, you?”
Stanfeld: “Ah, you’re from the older parts. Me, I grew up close to the Frauenkirche.”
Adina: “Did you? Well, I didn’t think anything in that area would still be standing after all this time.”
Stanfeld: “What do you mean?”
As the question is posed, Adina becomes visibly perturbed and begins to withdraw from the conversation.
Adina: “It doesn’t matter, it’s not my life anymore.”
Stanfeld is confused by this comment and moves to ask more questions, only to find that Adina is no longer there. Not long afterwards, another of the SCP-7856-1 instances with the appearance of a young man with a scar approaches him and sits down in a neighboring seat. He addresses Agent Stanfeld in Hungarian which he is partly fluent in. However, Stanfeld finds that he does not need to switch languages to understand and communicate with him.
Young Man: “Before you ask, it’s József. József Balogh.”
Stanfeld: “Alright, József, nice to meet you. I’m-”
József: “Agent Louis Stanfeld. I know. I got ahold of your wallet the first time you came here. So, what do you want to know, Louis? All I’ve got on my hands is time.”
Stanfeld: “Right…why don’t you tell me about yourself? Where’re you from, how’d you get here and…how’d this ‘train’ get here?”
József: “Well-well-well, I feel like I’m being interviewed for the morning paper right now, not that it’s a problem. First off, ‘here’ isn’t really the right way to see it. We honestly speed to too many places all the time to say that. I don’t know if I want to spill anything more about that last question, but I can give you some scraps about myself. Maybe if you’re smart, you’ll connect the dots.”
Stanfeld: “I’ll try.”
József: “…I was from a small town, Freistadt, Austria. Ever heard of it?”
Stanfeld shakes his head.
József: “No? I wouldn’t suppose you would’ve. I was a carpenter there, even an occasional pickpocket when times were hard. I had this girl I liked; Lana was her name. I was planning to get married to her. Her father didn’t like that. He told me to buzz off, so she told him to buzz off too, and he did. At least for a while. Then the Jackboots came. Lana, she…tried to hide me and my family in her barn. Her father, well, he led them straight to us.”
József proceeds to look out the coach window to the forest passing outside.
József: “You know…sometimes I find myself wondering about things…”
Stanfeld: “Like?”
József: “…I wonder if she’s still waiting for me.”
József looks back to Stanfeld.
József: “By the way, do you know what time it is out there?”
Stanfeld: “Ugh, around two o’clock.”
József: “No, I meant the date. You know, the year?”
Stanfeld: “It’s currently January 25th, 1968.”
József pauses to consider this for a moment. He then turns to look out the window again before speaking in a low voice.
József: “A whole 24 years, huh? Well…that’s something…”
Stanfeld: “József?”
József looks back at him again with a pained expression on his face that he quickly tries to hide.
József: “Guess we could look at the bright side. Lucky for her I like older women .”
Stanfeld: “József, you mentioned something about Jackboots. Can you tell me more about that?”
The pained expression suddenly returns to József’s face as he perhaps unconsciously begins to rub the circular scar on his forehead.
József: “Huh…yeah, I guess I did, didn’t I? My mistake.”
József gives another smile before disappearing entirely.
As Stanfeld tries to plan out his next interaction, the SCP-7856-1 instance with the appearance of a Soviet officer stops beside his seat. He addresses Agent Stanfeld in Russian. Stanfeld is not fluent in Russian whatsoever but is somehow able to understand exactly what he is saying and respond in German without any notable difficulty in cross-language comprehension.
Officer: “You asked all the wrong questions to all the wrong people. So, let me try. I have one for you, ‘Agent Stanfeld’. With a name like that, you’d definitely know the answer.”
Stanfeld: “Can I get a name first?”
The officer frowns sharply and crosses his arms. The action unintentionally allows Stanfeld to spot two patches on his shoulders with the respective Cyrillic print outs: ‘Leytenant I. Fedorov’ & ‘242nd Rifle Div. – 900th Rifle Regt.’
Fedorov: “Did you lose?”
Stanfeld: “What?”
Fedorov peers down at Stanfeld more intensely.
Fedorov: “The fact you’re even talking to me right now is a pretty solid sign of it. But I want to know for sure. I want to hear it from your own mouth. Answer me. Did…you…lose?”
Stanfeld does not respond, eventually prompting Fedorov to throw his head back in a cackling laugh.
Fedorov: “Hah, you did! So, it was actually worth something after all! I’ve got to tell Yuri about this!"
Stanfeld: “But I didn’t say anything.”
Fedorov: “And if you’d won, you would’ve! That’s just how you all are. Thanks for that, Stanfeld! You just about made my…well, however long it’s been.”
Fedorov walks off, laughing some more, only to be interrupted by Anselm as he comes running past. The bad smell makes a noticeable return, briefly overpowering the coach’s scent of bitter almond.
Anselm: “My father said I could come back and talk to you for a while. I was just wondering…do you have any chocolate?”
Stanfeld: “Chocolate?”
Anselm: “What’re you, a scratched record? Yes, chocolate. Please, I haven’t had any in so long.”
Stanfeld: “When’s the last time you had some?”
Anselm: “I don’t know, before we got here. So, do you have any? Please-please-please?”
Agent Stanfeld decides to conduct a test by taking out a Moser Roth chocolate bar and handing it to Anselm. Anselm takes it without issue and begins removing the wrapping, suggesting that the instances aboard are able to interact with objects that have origins outside of SCP-7856 seemingly without issue. Anselm continues biting into the chocolate as he hurries off for a neighboring coach.
Stanfeld: “What, not even a thank you?”
Anselm stops to smile at him with chocolate-covered teeth.
Anselm: “Thanks! I’m going to go share some with my friends now! Come again soon, and make sure you bring some more!”
As Anselm hurries off, Stanfeld takes stock of those who are still inside of the same coach, zeroing in on the two gossiping girls sitting nearby.
Stanfeld: “Hey, quick question. I was just wondering about the kid. Do any of you know why he smells so…”
Girl 1: “Bad?”
Girl 2: “Yeah, he can’t really help it.”
Both girls are speaking in Polish which Stanfeld is decently familiar with. However, during their conversation he still understands certain words and phrases that he had no prior knowledge of as he continues to communicate in German.
Stanfeld: “Why’s that?”
Girl 1: “He…doesn’t really like showers.”
Fedorov: “None of them do. And to be honest, I don’t blame them. All they made me do was starve. Speaking of which,”
Fedorov walks off towards the neighboring coach where Anselm had run off to.
Fedorov: “I wouldn’t mind some chocolate myself.”
Stanfeld: “You guys have showers on this train?”
Neither Girl 1 nor Girl 2 say anything. Upon further inspection, the entire coach has gone quiet.
Girl 2: “…Hygiene’s not that important to a lot of us anymore. Let’s leave it at that.”
Stanfeld: “Right, okay. Let’s switch topics then. What’re your names?”
Girl 2: “Beata.”
Girl 1: “Aldona. Nice to meet you, Louis.”
The two girls giggle together.
Stanfeld: “Please call me age-, anyway, don’t worry about it. So, I’d assume you two are from Poland?”
Aldona: “Wow, József was right. It does feel like an interview.”
Stanfeld: “It is…just not for the morning paper. More like the evening news.”
Aldona: “Ooh, a nighttime radio special. Alright, well, since you asked nicely, I’m from Lublin. I was an opera singer. I wanted to be on Broadway someday.”
Beata: “Warsaw. Not a singer but I was good at making the enemy sing if you know what I mean?”
Beata makes a gesture of a rifle with her hands.
Stanfeld: “The enemy?”
Beata: “Yeah, you know. The-”
Aldona nudges Beata in the shoulder and shakes her head, gesturing back in Stanfeld’s direction. Beata sighs and nods in agreement.
Beata: “Anyway, that was a long time ago if what you told József is true. It doesn’t matter anymore. I did what I thought was right. No one could have asked anything less of me. We didn’t do too bad for a bunch of half-starved gutter rats either.”
Aldona nudges her again and Beata stops talking.
Aldona: “So, what about you Louis? What did you do before danger brought you to the train?”
Stanfeld: “Wish I could tell you I work for a talent marketing agency. Maybe then we could see if I could get you on Broadway. Wouldn’t be so bad, would it?”
Aldona: “What, to give you a performance right here, with my hair looking like this? Yes, that would be bad. Besides, I can’t even dance as I’d like. My legs are still limp. I had a bad fall when I was younger. I can’t really put on the kind of show I’d want to, but I can still steal it in my own little way.”
Stanfeld: “Then why not give it a try right here?”
Aldona blushes for a moment before, with some goading from Beata and a few other instances, putting on a rendition of the La Vie Parisienne operetta, produced by French Composer Jacques Offenbach in 1866. Notably, some of the other instances appear to join in using perfect French, including the elderly, bearded man that Stanfeld noticed earlier. Aldona finishes her performance to a round of applause from everyone, including Stanfeld.
Stanfeld: “Well done. I think we might just hire you.”
Aldona: “Thank you, but you, monsieur, still haven’t answered my question.”
Stanfeld: “Which is?”
Aldona: “What did you do before you came here?”
Stanfeld: “Me? Like I said, I work for the news. We broadcast all the time looking for the best stories to tell. I figured, what better tale is there than getting swept away on a mysterious train with people from all around the world?”
Elderly Man: “Not really all around the world, just Europe. Thankfully that’s about as far as they ever got, for the most part anyway.”
The SCP-7856-1 instance with the appearance of an older, bearded man stands up on a cane to addresses Stanfeld in French, a language he is fully unfamiliar with and still fully understands as it is spoken.
Elderly Man: “I’m Pierre. I think I might be one of the oldest of the folks on this little engine we call home. As you can tell, I am a proud Frenchman…even if not everyone saw it that way at the time. By God, Stanfeld, how you people managed to land me in a trench twice over is a mystery to me, even if it’s one I’d rather not solve. Anyway, I’m just glad it’s over.”
Stanfeld: “What’s over?”
Pierre: “Why, what else my son? I saw Fedorov already prodding you about it. I guess my victory celebration is coming a little bit late, but hey, as the English say, better late than never.”
Pierre dances happily to himself as others goad him on. As he does so, Agent Stanfeld notices a faint scar running across his neck as well as friction marks around his ankles indicative of rope burns. Upon finishing, he extends a hand to Stanfeld.
Pierre: “How about it, friend? Want to dance?”
Stanfeld: “No thanks, I’m not really the dancing type.”
Pierre: “Well, everyone is at some point in life. I just became one afterwards.”
Stanfeld: “I see…”
Stanfeld begins looking around in search of the specific SCP-7856-1 instance he held a conversation with during his first time on the train.
Stanfeld: “I hope this isn’t a problem if I ask this but do any of you know a girl named Katalin? I spoke to her the last time I was here. I was wondering if she was still-”
Beata: “You spoke to Katalin?”
Stanfeld: “Yes, before I-”
Aldona: “Oh wow, that’s so nice. I’m glad she got to have a little chat with someone before she left. She always did like to keep to herself.”
Stanfeld: “Yes, well-…what do you mean left?”
The coach grows quieter as Aldona leans closer.
Aldona: “She left. You know, moved on?”
Stanfeld remains quiet in an attempt to invite further explanations.
Pierre: “Ladies, I don’t think he knows what we are.”
Beata: “He has to. He’s been talking with us this whole time. There’s no way he can be a radio broadcaster and be that aloof.”
Aldona: “Let’s put it this way. She’s no longer on the train. After you were saved that night, she was free to leave.”
Stanfeld: “Why’s that?”
The coach grows quieter.
Pierre: “It just is. We’ll each be here until it’s our turn.”
Stanfeld turns in the direction of the closest door to the next coach and finds it already open. Beyond it are more SCP-7856-1 instances conversing in their seats. At the end of the coach is another door which leads out towards the train cab. The cab itself is dark with no visible light sources.
Stanfeld: “Can I speak with the conductor?”
No response is given from any of the other SCP-7856-1 instances in immediate proximity to Agent Stanfeld. Stanfeld gets up and walks down the passageway towards the cab without any attempts being made to stop him. He reaches the door leading to the cab and looks inside. In the dark, he spots the back of a figure sitting behind the controls. He identifies it as an old man with white hair wearing a conductor’s cap. However, he cannot make out any further details.
As he tries to lean for a closer look, he suddenly loses the desire to do so mid-step. He takes several steps back before he returns to normal. He again tries to walk towards the cab only to lose the desire once more. He keeps pushing on regardless before being suddenly repelled by an invisible barrier which he later describes as possessing a taut, plastic-like consistency.
After further attempts to breach through this barrier and to even make contact with the conductor prove unsuccessful, he takes one last eyeful of what little he can see of the conductor’s appearance before returning to the second coach.
Stanfeld: “Why can't I get to him?”
Pierre: “None of us can. It just is what it is.”
Beata: “It’s been that way ever since we came aboard. It can’t really be helped.”
Stanfeld: “You-…you all chose to come aboard?”
Aldona: “Yes…the second time anyway…but not all of us. Some were just involved in things happening around the train, you know?”
Stanfeld: “…But who is he? The conductor I mean.”
Pierre: “He…is the train.”
Stanfeld: “What?”
Pierre shrugs.
Pierre: “I am me, you are you and he, if you can really call it that, is the train. We can’t really explain it any better than that. We can sense him, and what he is. We assume he can do the same.”
Aldona: “Feels a lot like looking in a mirror to be honest, but the glass is so dark that you can’t really tell if it’s your own reflection or someone else’s. That’s what it’s like whenever one of us decides to take a peek in there.”
Stanfeld looks around to see if anyone else has a better explanation, but none come forward. He then decides to switch topics.
Stanfeld: “Can anyone here at least tell me how old this train is or where it came from? That’s something I need to know before we reach our next stop.”
No answer is provided from the instances present. Whether they are unaware of SCP-7856's origins or simply do not wish to disclose this information remains unknown.
Stanfeld: “Okay, how about you all then? You told me you came aboard, but are you trapped here?”
Beata: “Trapped? No, we wouldn’t call it that.”
Pierre: “If you’re sitting in a hospital waiting to see a doctor, you wouldn’t call yourself ‘trapped’, would you? I’d describe it more like that really.”
Stanfeld: “Alright, so, what’s the plan here then? Why is this ‘train’ carrying you all and why’s it been doing it for so long?”
Pierre: “It carries us until its purpose is complete. Until then, it remains. I wish I could explain it to you better but…it’s not something you can really explain.”
Stanfeld: “…Alright then, next question. If you know this much then tell me.”
Aldona: “What is it, Mr. Broadcaster? Shoot away.”
Stanfeld: “…Where did this train go and what was it doing between the years 1938 to 1945?”
Agent Stanfeld placed the question after having read SS Oberführer Erich Naumann’s report prior to the operation. The report is attached later in this file.
At this point, all conversation throughout the entire coach, and if further extrapolations from the mission audio are to be considered, all conversations throughout the entire train completely cease. In his after-action report, Agent Stanfeld commented on a “heavy atmosphere” taking over the space as the instances of SCP-7856-1 begin staring at him. Then, one by one, they start to look away almost ashamedly, slowly disappearing one after the other until the entire train is empty.
Agent Stanfeld senses a trembling sensation from the locomotive itself and hears a loud groan akin to the sound of metal yielding under stress. He suddenly blacks out before waking up some time later atop the boarding platform of an abandoned train station. The station lies just on the outskirts of his intended destination: Munich.
<End Log>
Note 1: The bitter almond smell noted by Agent Stanfeld just prior to the mass manifestation of the SCP-7856-1 instances is known to match the scent profile of the cyanide-based pesticide, Zyklon B.
Note 2: All named individuals encountered during Operation SIDEBAR were later researched by Foundation personnel assigned to SCP-7856's containment. With access to state records from several countries, as well as cross-references with descriptions provided by Agent Stanfeld, each instance of SCP-7856-1 was linked to a person who was either confirmed killed or reported missing between the years 1939 – 1944.
Note 3: No attempts to identify the ‘conductor’ of SCP-7856 via preserved transportational records were successful despite an in-depth account by Agent Stanfeld regarding identifying features.
Addendum B:
Following Operation SIDEBAR, several theories have been formulated by Foundation researchers as to SCP-7856’s overall nature and objective.
Due to the interactions observed between the SCP-7856-1 instances, it is speculated that each instance is in fact the postmortem intelligence or ‘soul’ of individuals with fully intact recollections of their previous lives. These were once people who, at one time or another, were either taken aboard or died near the train during and even prior to the events of the Second World War. The conditions under which they came to be aboard 7856 remain unknown, but based on their descriptions of what is required for them to leave, it is believed that the train serves as a kind of voluntary, mobile purgatory for the lost souls onboard. Later successful attempts shortly after Operation SIDEBAR to get aboard 7856 add credence to this theory as the agent in question asked to speak to József Balogh, to which he was informed that that particular SCP-7856-1 instance had “already moved on”.
Further anomalous effects were also recorded in the form of reciprocal cross-language comprehension. Not only was Agent Stanfeld able to seamlessly communicate with the other entities onboard the train who spoke languages he was only partly fluent in, but he was also able to do so with those who spoke languages with which he had no familiarity whatsoever. This was despite Stanfeld later reporting that at no time during his encounter did he speak to any of the SCP-7856-1 instances in any language besides German.
As for 7856’s motivations, there are two prevailing theories. The first is that the train will keep manifesting itself to save innocent lives fleeing some sort of peril for as long as it can before it concludes that its “purpose” has been fulfilled and discontinues its manifestations. The second, deemed somewhat more plausible given the conversation captured by Operation SIDEBAR, is that SCP-7856 will continue to manifest itself to those in need until it has saved just as many people as it transported to their deaths or assisted in their demise between October 1938 – February 1945. Foundation research suggests that the anomaly is carrying out a form of soul exchange with a 1 to 1 ratio wherein every innocent life saved is an instance aboard the train that is allowed to “pass on”. Whether the anomaly is an aggregate manifestation of the will of those it carries or if the train itself has a postmortem intelligence of its own is still debated.
As of February 1st, 1968, new containment procedures have been drawn up for SCP-7856. These include the use of newly established security camera networks, motion sensors and speedometers to provide 24/7 surveillance within proximity of all abandoned train stations in mainland Europe. Also in place are rapid reaction teams based within various localities that feature both high numbers of abandoned train stations and high population densities. Any case of a civilian encounter with 7856 will thereby be able to be detected early on in order to enact immediate retrieval, amnestic treatment and effective return to populated areas. Further containment procedures are still under review up to the present date but remain unnecessary for the time being.
Addendum C:
Since 1961, SCP-7856 has saved approximately 8,573 people with over 1,000 more rescues suspected, its activities peaking in the years prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall. As of November 20th, 1991, sightings of the anomaly have been rarer but continue nonetheless.
Report By SS Oberführer Erich Naumann – Einsatzgruppe VI & Einsatzgruppe B:
In his report obtained by the SCP Foundation, Erich Naumann, a senior SS commander, addressed the service history of a particular train, supplementing its use under his detachment of the Einsatzgruppe alongside reports of its concurrent utilization by Death’s Head Units or Sonderkommando. The train in question was nicknamed “Holzhackmaschine” by Schutzstaffel personnel familiar with the transport, translated to English as “Woodchipper”. The exact train number has been redacted.
(WARNING): For those research staff that may not be able to tolerate the dehumanizing perspective presented by Naumann, feel free to continue past this report.
Schutzstaffel Command Staff – For Immediate Release
Einsatzgruppe VI & Einsatzgruppe B – Former SS Oberführer Naumann, Erich
May 24th, 1944
To: Prinz-Albrecht-Straße, Berlin
In the Name of the German People,
I write this report to inform any whom it may concern of the history of both honorable service and potential hazards of the Special Activities Train #[REDACTED] known among our rank and file as ‘Woodchipper’.
Train #[REDACTED] proved to be an exceptional asset at the outset of its construction. Its first service to the will of the people and the Führer occurred prior to the events of October 27th - 30th, 1938. It was prepared and deployed in the Polish Action for the cleansing of the state from 17,000 Polish Jews, assisting in the transport of at least 1,200 of their kind to the border with Poland.
From November 9th - 10th, 1938, Train #[REDACTED] served in the glorious victory over the enemies of the German people that we now remember fondly as the Night of Broken Glass. It assisted with transporting 3,000 of the 10,000 Jews taken to our Dachau installation out of the 30,000 we managed to extract during that outbreak of vindicated vengeance. This marked the beginning of its role as a part of the train circuit assigned to the camps.
In the Fall of 1939, following our invasion of Poland and our repossession of the land stolen by the Poles, Train #[REDACTED] assisted in transporting both 3rd Army Wehrmacht reinforcements and SS personnel of my Einsatzgruppe VI as part of special operation Tannenberg, the liquidation of the Polish Elite. Shortly thereafter, it contributed its transportation services to the removal of the feeble populace infesting Poland’s hospitals.
October 1939 to May 1940 saw it performing admirably in the deportation of Austrian and Czech Jews to Poland where Command authorized the establishment of ghettos Piotrków and Lodz to contain their kind until further liquidation details could be arranged. In mid-June, the Sonderkommando took greater control over the transport to facilitate the first intake of Polish political prisoners at the newly established Auschwitz installation. Later in November, it lent its service to transporting tens of thousands of undesirables to the ghetto at Warsaw.
Following our invasion of Bolshevik Russia, Train #[REDACTED] was used in late September 1941 by Einsatzgruppe C to transport ammunition for SS personnel en route to the special liquidation action at Babi-Yar near Kyiv, resulting in the elimination of 34,000 undesirables.
It was shortly after this operation that the first of a long list of strange occurrences was noted. On September 30th, while on a supply run to a storage depot, the conductor began experiencing difficulties with the controls. The brakes began to intermittently engage without any input on his part or any sign of obstructions on the railway. However, the train still managed to reach the depot and returned to the rails again with its consignment. Again, the conductor experienced difficulties with the brakes and struggled to make his delivery to the designated command post, inadvertently adding an additional three hours to what should have been a one-hour journey.
Later, on October 12th, Train #[REDACTED] was transporting two companies of soldiers being redeployed to France when halfway through the journey its two steam cylinders suddenly shut down and refused to reactivate. The train and those aboard were left stranded in the middle of the Bavarian countryside for two full days until help in the form of an engineering crew arrived at the scene. However, as soon as they did, the cylinders became operational again seemingly of their own accord. Complaints from the divisional commander waiting for his men in Paris were registered with the Community of Greater German Locomotive Manufacturers (GGL) as to how Train #(Redacted) ever made it past inspection. However, due to the need for quick deliveries to our front against the Bolsheviks, it remained in service. The incidents of sudden braking and cylinder failures became a reoccurring trend with the train from this point forward.
Around early November, the incidents seemed to be petering off and ceased altogether in December. This would change almost immediately at the dawn of January 1st, 1942. The train was transporting several companies of our veteran soldiers who were on leave for New Year’s Day back in Berlin. While passing through Poland, however, the train began to accelerate to its maximum speed, and if the related reports are to be believed, managed to surpass the speed of its own design capabilities twice over. Just as the conductor managed to regain control, the brakes were fully engaged without his involvement. What ensued was a chaotic mess of men and material being hurled throughout the passenger coaches, resulting in the minor injuries of 78 personnel, the serious injury of 22 and the deaths of 6, not to mention the damage dealt to internal infrastructure and equipment. This time, the train was fully pulled aside at a railyard to locate the source of its mechanical issues. None were found, and after a few tests, the engineers cleared it to resume service.
Two weeks later, on January 15th, Train #[REDACTED] was carrying 200 of our wounded veterans from our eastern front when one of its issues reared its head once again. The train began to accelerate beyond the conductor's control towards an upcoming junction. At the same time, another supply train of the same class was headed in the opposite direction, heavily laden with explosive materials. Though the conductor was later pulled aside and administered advanced interrogation techniques under suspicion of sabotage, his testimony about what transpired next remained unchanged. Apparently, the train tracks were switched without him ever having pulled the lever. Train #[REDACTED] then proceeded onto the same tracks as the supply train so that the two were now speeding directly towards one another. All attempts were made by both parties to engage their brakes, but this made little difference in their momentum. Ultimately, the conductor of the supply train was able to use another junction and pulled off onto a diverging rail, just barely avoiding a catastrophe.
The conductor of Train #[REDACTED] was then almost immediately able to regain control of the transport and returned it to its original course. He piloted it to another railyard where a second investigation was launched. Again, no issues were discovered within the inner workings of the train. Again, the need to decommission Train #[REDACTED] regardless of their discoveries or lack thereof was ignored for the sake of transportational expediency. Nevertheless, from hereon it was no longer used by Wehrmacht commanders of the 2nd Army who saw it as “a greater danger to their men than the Russians”. Instead, it would be strictly relegated for use by Sonderkommando units for carrying out the ongoing solution to the Jewish question.
Once the decision to begin exterminating the unmentionables crowding our installations was made the previous year at Wannsee, Train #[REDACTED] was used with growing consistency for the transport of Jews. It assisted in the transportation of Jews to Belzec for liquidation in March, made the first special deliveries of Zyklon B to Sobibor in May and facilitated in further resettlement actions of Jews from our holdings in Eastern and Western Europe. Even then, it should be noted that it continued to show signs of sabotage and/or failed maintenance. Though it no longer accelerated out of control, it continued to have its brakes engaged at random or have its cylinders shut down for no discernable reason. This became both far more prevalent and extremely frustrating whenever its consignments were predominantly below the age of 12.
At the turn of 1943 and the ‘events’ at Stalingrad, Train #[REDACTED] was utilized for liquidation actions against ghettos Kraków and Warsaw by delivering SS personnel for the respective operations. This would take up most of its operational use following the June Order by Reichsführer Himmler to liquidate all ghettos in Poland and the Soviet Union. It subsequently took part in the actions at Minsk, Velna and Riga.
In the first quarter of the current year, 1944, its service remained relatively stable up until another very recent incident occurred during the occupation of Hungary. On May 15th, as the train waited at a local station to assist in the deportation of the Jewish population in the countryside, it suddenly began to depart on its own, leaving just before the SS personnel and their waiting consignment could come aboard. The conductor had briefly stepped away from the controls to speak with another conductor across the rails and was therefore deemed unlikely to be the culprit. The train proceeded on its own out of the station at full steam and disappeared into the Hungarian countryside. It was eventually located by search teams three hours later who found it sitting idly along the rails at the center of a clearing over 50 miles away, having run completely out of coal. Though it was ultimately recovered, this latest debacle as well as the rest of the reports I have compiled, should show the very unique problem posed by this transport.
It is both unreliable and unpredictable in every sense of the word. Seemingly whenever it chooses to, it flies off on its own. It provides those aboard with some new challenge completely at random. When it does, it can prove frustrating if not damaging, and under certain circumstances, even lethal. Stranger still is its apparently selective danger, primarily towards us. I am aware of Reichsführer Himmler’s investigations into the roots of our honorable ancestry, but I doubt that even his own esoteric research can yield an answer to this madness.
Our enemies converge on all our territories, first from the east, and now soon from the west. It will not be long now before the British and the Americans make another attempt at landing troops on our soil. But this time it will be different; something tells me it will not be another Dieppe. We will need every capability to quickly address any hostile landing from Calais all the way down south to Brest, and we cannot do so with a malfunctioning mishap like Train #[REDACTED] involved in our operations.
My fellow commanders, my fellow torch bearers in this direst struggle of the German people, I implore you to see reason. We must follow the example of the Wehrmacht in this endeavor and decommission this locomotive permanently. It should be destroyed and used for scrap. Not even a piece of it should remain intact. Put simply, in these uncertain times it is much more of a danger to us than the Allies, and even that is an achievement, however wretched it may be for the vision of the Führer.
[End of Report]
Note 1: Naumann was captured by the Allies and stood before a U.S military court during the Einsatzgruppen Trial where he was found guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity and membership in a criminal organization. He was sentenced to death and hanged in June 1951.
Note 2: Despite Naumann’s protestations to his fellow officers in the SS, Train #[REDACTED] remained in active service to the German military. In the face of the Allied Invasion of France on June 6th, 1944, it was placed back in the hands of the 19th Army who used it to bring badly needed supplies to the newly reopened western front. However, aforementioned problems such as the sudden engagement of its brakes and unintended acceleration persisted.
Train #[REDACTED] continued in this capacity until February 3rd, 1945. Train #[REDACTED] was performing a desperate supply run to German forces attempting to reach 19th Army elements encircled in the Colmar Pocket at the city of Strasbourg in Alsace (Grand Est region). It was given a consignment of explosive munitions as well as four Panzer IV tanks and their crews.
Train #[REDACTED] was still on its way to Strasbourg when it was intercepted along its route by a pair of P-51 Mustangs. The American fighter bombers initially made strafing runs on the target but were unable to disable it. However, if the account of the only surviving Panzer commander as well as the after-action reports of the two pilots is to be believed, Train #[REDACTED] suddenly began to slow down despite the efforts of the conductor.
The P-51s made more passes at the train but were still unable to destroy it. It was at this point that Train #[REDACTED] came to a complete stop, despite not having taken sufficient damage to have done so naturally. This allowed the pilots to continuously strafe it until its consignment of explosive materials ignited. The resulting explosion completely destroyed the transport as well as its cargo, killing most of the German personnel onboard in the process.
The service history of Train #[REDACTED] ends here. However, its theorized connection to SCP-7856 does not.
