The WM was an active participant in the alphabet route, which might explain
some of its rolling stock being found up in NY during the diesel era.



The alphabet route included: WM, P&WV, Reading, CNJ, NYC&STL, W&LE, L&HR,
NYNH&H and B&M. It did not include the Erie or B&O, however, and was even
considered competitors of those railroads, IIRC.



I know WM had customers in odd places that specifically wanted its coal for
various uses. Most of the WM coal went to Baltimore and out on ships,
however.



The WM coal operations, specifically those in the Chaffee branch in WV, can
make for some really interesting modeling. Shay #6, the largest as-built
Shay ever, was the ruler of those 10% grades up to the coal mines.



Pete



_____________________________________________________
Pete Brown - Gambrills, MD (Near Annapolis)
Visit my personal site : http://www.irritatedVowel.com
(wallpaper, western maryland ry, .net, photography, model rr)



_____

From: ed_mines [mailto:ed_mines@...]
Sent: Saturday, October 02, 2004 5:48 AM
To: STMFC@...
Subject: [STMFC] NH/WM /B&O hoppers on the Erie



There's a photo of a NH USRA hopper behind an Erie steam locomotive
in one of the soft cover Erie steam books from the '70s (I think
it's a Carlton book).

I think the photo was taken near Maybrook, the NH Erie connection
across the Hudson river from Poughkeepsie, NY. AS the crow flies
Maybrook is closer to the anthracite fields by a direct Erie route,
compared to shipping anthracite to the New York City area, moving it
by barge to a NH connection and sending back west to Maybrook in NH
hoppers.

I've noticed more WM hoppers than one would expect in various Erie
steam photos. A John Long (Erie corporate photographer) photo of an
Erie steam train near Binghamton containing 2 WM hoppers (one
fishbelly, one channel side) immediately comes to mind. Maybe they
were loaded with bituminous coal going north and reloaded with
anthracite going south. Apparently anthracite was sold as far south
as Washington, DC if photos in the wales collection are any
indication.

I recall seeing some B&O hoppers in Erie steam photos on the eastern
end of the Erie.

The presence of foreign road hoppers containing bituminous coal was
very location dependent on the Erie which had both bituminous coal
and anthracite mines on line. THe bituminous mines were on the
Bradford branch which is approximately south of Rochester, NY on the
NY/PA state line.

I can remember more than one photo of an all hopper train on the
Erie containing PRR, NYC and a few N&W hoppers. I assume these
contained bituminous coal.

Ed