Reel america. Saturday at 10 00 p. M. And sunday at 4 00 p. M. Eastern. Here on American History tv. The pantex plant in amarillo texas is the nations primary facility for the final assembly dismaptdle. Of Nuclear Weapons. For approximately 30 years the safest method for the transportation of this material was by rail. We begin our look at the history of pantex with a visit to the Amarillo Railroad Museum where several cars once used by the plant are now on display. Were trying to preserve the rich Rural Heritage of the texas panhandle. It wouldnt be here if it wasnt for the coming of the railroad. The thing was, we realized real quick the railroads were evolving and change. We were seeing newer local motives coming on. We were seeing so many changes, so we said we need to preserve some of that before it disappears so we incorporated as the Amarillo Railroad Museum with that goal to preserve it, and it was after we incorporated that we bought this property here in the northeast part of amarillo, and, they already had the Railroad Track on it. And weve been, you know, keeping our eyes open for opportunities to acquire certain pieces of rolling stock, and we were fortunate to get the cars, formerly called white train, which was used for transporting Nuclear Weapons, and at least here we can display them so people can see these things, that they wouldnt be able to see anywhere else. Right here, this row of cars, i have set up kind of in the way the white train used to operate president on the end is the escort coach with the raise bar facing the cargo and next to it is whats called the buffer car and the deal for the buffer cars is by law people cant ride in a car adjacent to explosives. And in that red car, the third car from the end, thats the sole surviving of the armored plated cargo cars. In 1980 they modified the trains for protecting the Nuclear Weapons, and thats the sole survivor. Up this is an elevated area. We have bullet resistant glass all around us. This is kind of the security perch of where the couriers would be. There would be at least two up here at all times, watching toen sure that there isnt any intruders trying to get on the train while they are hauling the Nuclear Weapons or components throughout the complex. Just in case that there would be any difficulties with anybody trying to get on the train there are these gun portals here and they are blocked off right now, but the couriers could use those if they needed gun portals to. So pantex today is the primary assembly and disassembly facility for Nuclear Weapons in the United States. The story of pantex really begins in 1941 when the japanese attacked pearl harbor. And that really launched the United States into world war ii. Prior to that, we had many lendlease programs with our future allies but pentax pulled shelves, 250pound bombs and 22pound bombs. We built conventional weapons during world war ii, so amarillo makes a great location to build one of these facilities and where pantex exists is no accident. It exists there because of the railroad. The railroad is hugely important for transporting goods during world war ii. Its the most reliable means of transportation. Remember in 1942 we dont have a national highway system. There is no easy way to move goods through the United States. Reliably like that so the railroad becomes the means of transportation. One of the first things they do when move they select the land is they lay spurs off of the Main Railroad line there and so they can direct those to the low lines and they are able to build pantex so quickly because they bring those materials to the railroad and to where they are building. So they lay down spurs. It goes right to where they are putting the load lines, and they would bring in the metal shells and any of the explosives. The explosive materials via the railroad as well into there. Amarillo because were a railroad center, its a great place to build pantex as well as the amarillo arm field, it was constructed in 1941. It existed really where the rarely airport is today, and so because amarillo is an Army Ordnance plant and cross train so its pretty efficient. Amarillo also had a decent size population, and youre going to need workers. Pantex at the height of our employment in 1943, we had over 5,000 employees, and all of those people needed a place to live. And so amarillo being so close provided that. A lot of Housing Options for people to live so that pantex could have you know, the sizable work force that it needed to complete the world war ii mission. Pantex throughout the cold war has a remarkably, you know, consistent mission. Our mission was to build and dismantle Nuclear Weapons. Weve become since 1975 the primary Nuclear Weapons assemblydisassembly site in the United States. The next mission shift for us, i should say, is in 1991, when the first president bush gives his speech on unilateral dismantlement, that the United States would take it upon itself to start dismantling some of its Nuclear Weapons stockpile. We now have an unparalleled opportunity to change the Nuclear Posture of both the United States and the soviet union. If now we and the soviet leaders take the right steps some on our own, some on their own some together we can dramatically shrink the arsenal of the words Nuclear Weapons. We can more effectively discourage the spread of Nuclear Weapons. We can rely more on defensive measures in our strategic relationship. We can enhance stability and actually reduce the risk of nuclear war. Now is the time to seize this opportunity. The soviet union was sort of coming to an end when president bush gives this speech the soviet union still exists, but its just a few months later and then the soviet union falls. But so we remain pretty constant throughout the cold war and then once the cold war is ultimately over we start to shift to dismantlement. So pentax pantex still has a vital function. Furthermore, today, were focused on life extension programs, so that we ensure that we have a safe, reliable stockpile for the future, for the United States to be a credible nuclear deterrent. When we started building Nuclear Weapons back in the 1950s we did not have a highway system. There was not a highway system in this country so almost everyone and everything traveled more by train by rail than by highway. In the meantime to move the goods, these rail cars were especially designed by National Laboratories for carrying Nuclear Weapons safely. Our cities tour staff recently traveled to amarillo, texas to learn about its rich history. To watch more video and other stops on our tour visit cspan. Org citiestour. Irewatching American History tv, all weekend, every weekend we join the program as hugh hewitt talks about renovations to the east room west event space in the museum in yorba linda, california. True to form, with any