Ed and Ted and all:

Another reason open top cars were not placed in high
priority trains is that the loads in these cars were
more likely to shift and cause delays. This much was
explained to us by that endless font of knowledge, Bob
Schultz, regarding the Monon's highest priority
freight # 71. In blocking trains southbound from
Chicago (S. Hammond) open cars were held for the next
#73 or #75. The one exception he remembered was the
day that the transfer from the BRC was late. Since
#71 left at 9:45PM everyday without fail, they put 16
empty LN hoppers on it and that was the train!

Mike Aufderheide
Good weather to build freight cars

--- Ted Culotta <tculotta@speedwitch.com> wrote:

On Jul 15, 2005, at 12:20 PM, ed_mines wrote:

--- In STMFC@yahoogroups.com, Anthony Thompson

<thompson@s...> wrote:

Ed, you are confusing "easy" with "possible." I

have talked to

trainmen who DID dislike traversing gondolas full

of loose steel beams

or flat cars of lumber. But "dislike" is a

different issue.

The reason I am harping on this so much is I

believe that the

railroads purposely kept open top cars out of

certain trains. As a

result some trains had many or all open top cars.
I'm hoping someone will come forward with an

explanation of this.

Open top cars never show up in Erie fast freight

trains which contain

many reefers.

Probably for the same reason that FedEx doesn't move
Ground packages
with Express packages. The network is set to move
specific amounts of
premium freight and the secondary freight moves via
secondary
(non-expedited) services at reduced rates. Every
road had its "name"
fast freight train (like FedEx Express) that was
primarily hauling
perishables and expedited merchandise (generally
finished goods), the
majority of which moved via refrigerator cars and
box cars. I am sure
that there were occasions where raw materials moved
via expedited
means, but even in these instances it was usually
just enough to keep
manufacturing lines, plants, etc. functioning rather
than a very large
quantity. Hence, you may see a gon in a fast
freight train, but
probably not a large group of them. Bulk
commodities like coal, sand,
limestone, petroleum, etc., are not specialized
(usually), contain
generally very little value added to them and
therefore can be
substituted for easily. Would someone pay a high
premium to expedite
coal from the fields to Boston, or would they pay a
slight premium to
buy a small amount of coal in Boston to carry them
until they received
a new shipment of coal shipped via a slow means?

Regards,
Ted Culotta

Speedwitch Media
645 Tanner Marsh Road, Guilford, CT 06437
info@speedwitch.com
www.speedwitch.com
(650) 787-1912

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