While I have no specific information about tank cars I do
have some brief corporate history background. At the moment I am doing a World
War I history project that deals with Spencer Kellogg And Sons Inc. -albeit
rather tangentially- and as such I have been looking into the early years of
the firm. One of the nations’ leaders in linseed oil production, the firm had a
number of mills built especially for the bulk production of linseed oil and the
company dates in one form or another to 1824 although really begins in April of
1894. The first plant in Buffalo, which dates to the mid-1890s was the largest
flaxseed-crushing plant in the country at the time of construction and was
joined by another facility in Minneapolis in 1907 and in Edgewater NJ in 1909.
The New Jersey plant was built in part to receive flaxseed and castor bean
shipments from overseas, especially India and Brazil. The overall corporate
history is really quite intriguing especially as it became more of an
international player.
In seems that in 1949 the Minneapolis plant could produce
approximately 7 tank cars per day which might be a useful ball park figure for
those interested in fleet building or planning op sessions. I do not have data
on any of the other plants.
In addition…One of the earlier posting mentioned possible
links or over lap with the Spencer Chemical Co.. While I am not familiar with
every chemical company in the United States there was a Spencer Chemical Co out
in Kansas City area, which was NOT related in any way to Spencer Kellogg as far as I
can ascertain. Spencer Chemical Co was involved in part with the analysis of
the coatings of ammonium nitrate crystals and was looking into various
approaches for fertilizer production and explosives conversion. Spencer
Chemical Co grew out of an earlier concern, the Military Chemical Works, Inc,
which apparently was looking into both explosives and fertilizers. These latter
two firms date back to the early postwar period say 1946/47.
Best,
Gerard
Gerard J. Fitzgerald
Charlottesville, Virginia
