Here is a message from Tim Gilbert with his analysis of the 1949 UP data. I will note that there appears to be an error under IV., Box cars in the number of cars for Milw, SP, C&NW and CB&Q that their national % calls for. Tim shows 212 while his numbers show 169. This is actually rather important because that means that the box cars for such major connecting RRs to the UP, 340 in the data, are just about exactly twice what is projected if they were to match the national %.
STMFC Message 51085
"Mike Brock generously provided me a copy of his March/April 1949 UP
Conductor Fraley's Wheel Report to parse. My interest was to compare the
data of this 1949 Wheel Report with the data of Fraley's Fall 1947 Wheel
Report. Before parsing the 1949 Fraley, I assumed that the tone of the
1949 data could be different from the 1947 data for two reasons: - one,
the effect upon freight cars of the different seasons (Spring vs. Fall);
and two, the differences upon car utilization between a booming economy
(1947) versus that during a Recession.
I. TRAINS
The March/April 1949 Report had 2,970 freight cars in 34 different
trains (an average of 82.1 cares per train) while the 1947 Report had
1,962 freight cars in 31 trains (an average of 63.3 cars per train).
True, Fraley caught a couple of short westbound Merchandise trains to
Idaho and the Pacific Northwest in 1947, but these short trains only
contributed marginally to the difference in train length. I do not know
whether the UP made an operational decision to include more cars in a
1949 freight train. Another possible cause for the increase in train
length could have been the luck of the trains Fraley drew. The increase
in the number of cars per train is definitely not related to the state
of the economy.
Because of the location of cars for Denver randomly placed in the
consist of eastbound trains, all eastbound had to be classified either
at Laramie or Cheyenne. Westbound, most of the trains had to classified
before the Oregon Short Line left the Wyoming Main Line at Green River
because of random placement of Idaho/Pacific Northwest cars with those
going on to Utah, the SP and northern California, and the LA&SL into
southern California.
II. COMMODITIES AND EMPTIES
The table below compares the 1947 and 1949 eastbound Commodities and
Empties reported by Fraley:
EASTBOUND 1947 1949
Commodity Total % Total Total % Total
Total Loads and Empties 958 100.0% 1,404 100.0%
Boxcar Empties 14 1.5% 131 9.3%
Reefer Empties 9 0.9% 16 1.1%
Hop & Gon Empties 25 2.6% 44 3.1%
Tank Car Empties 20 2.1% 37 2.6%
Stock Car Empties 7 0.7% 37 2.6%
Misc & Unknown 3 0.3% 2 0.1%
Total Loads 881 92.0% 1,126 80.2%
Total Loads 881 100.0% 1,126 100.0%
Fresh Produce 308 32.2% 224 19.0%
Lumber 262 29.2% 459 40.8%
Non-Revenue Company 179 20.3% 100 8.4%
Canned Goods 27 3.1% 49 4.4%
Beverages 12 1.4% 45 4.0%
Petroleum Products 6 0.7% 29 3.3%
Sugar, Sweeteners, etc. 13 1.5% 29 2.6%
Paper Products 7 0.8% 27 2.4%
LCL Merchandise 9 1.0% 26 2.3%
Other Commodities 72 8.2% 141 12.5%
The increase in Eastbound Empty Boxcars from 1.5% of Total Eastbound
Cars in 1947 to 9.3% in 1949 may be attributable to both the different
seasons as well as the 1949 Recession. In the Fall, almost every
possible empty boxcar east of the Rockies is diverted to handle the
annual Grain Rush. To maximize the availability of empty boxcars on the
Prairie, loads in westbound boxcars were transferred to other car types
- most notably reefers carrying LCL Merchandise.
Still, there was the demand in 1947 for empty cars for the Lumber
Industry in Northern California and the Pacific Northwest. Some of this
demand in 1947 was met by using flats, gons and, even, stock cars.
Meanwhile, it is most likely that there were a significant number of
empty boxcars returning from the urban centers on the West Coast.
Traffic in the era was primarily a net rural-to-urban movement. Coal
when consumed goes up in the air. Most food when consumed ends up in the
sewer. Steel mills have slag piles. Dave Nelson has noted that the WP
originated virtually no traffic in the Bay Area. The best example from
the Operating Stats of Large Steam RR's may be the Boston & Albany where
96.0% of the eastbound car miles were loaded while only 34.7% westbound
were loaded. Andy Sperandeo when listening to the banter between Mike
Brock and myself during the viewing the video of the empty SP boxcars
near Buford WY in Cocoa Beach chimed in saying that the ATSF had
eastbound empty boxcars. My quick reply was "No Lumber."
The UP should have had the equivalent situation on the LA&SL. In the
Fall of 1947, these empty boxcars could have been diverted to the
Pacific Northwest to satisfy the demand for boxcars at mills on their
lines. In the Spring of 1949 when there was not that much of a demand
for the Grain Trade plus many boxcars had returned home on account of
fewer reloads available on account of the 1949 Recession, the empty
boxcars were routed eastward over Sherman Hill in order to avoid
unnecessary per diem charges (which had been increased from $1.15 to
$1.75 in late 1948).
The other category which should be commented upon is Fresh Produce. In
the Fall of 1947, there was a lot of lettuce, and other vegetables
shipped east. In the spring of 1949, that traffic was out of season with
most of the fresh produce being apples and potatoes - both of which were
also shipped east during the Fall of 1947.
Note: - Most of the Coal carried was Non-Revenue, and included as such
in the table above.
There were fewer "big items" westbound like the eastbound lumber and
fresh produce while there were more reefer, hopper & gon and stock car
empties westbound per the following table:
WESTBOUND 1947 1949
Commodity Total % Total Total % Total
Total Loads and Empties 1,004 100.0% 1,382 100.0%
Boxcar Empties 23 2.2% 41 3.0%
Reefer Empties 106 10.6% 144 10.4%
Hop & Gon Empties 89 8.9% 107 7.7%
Tank Car Empties 38 3.8% 121 8.8%
Stock Car Empties 5 0.5% 2 0.1%
Misc & Unknown 7 0.7% - -
Total Loads 709 70.6% 967 70.0%
Total Loads 709 100.0% 967 100.0%
LCL Merchandise 145 20.5% 132 13.7%
Non Revenue Company Mat'l 12 1.7% 81 8.4%
Motor Vehicles 54 7.6% 81 8.4%
Cattle 2 0.3% 67 6.9%
Chemicals 13 1.8% 63 6.5%
Vehicle Parts 51 7.2% 56 5.8%
Other Livestock 17 2.4% 48 5.0%
Grain & Milled Products 15 2.1% 40 4.1%
Household Goods & Appl. 58 8.2% 35 3.6%
Machinery 39 5.5% 33 3.4%
Petroleum Products 11 1.6% 32 3.3%
Steel 48 6.8% 29 3.0%
Beverages 32 4.5% 26 2.7%
Fresh Meat 20 2.8% 25 2.6%
Other Commodities 250 35.3% 219 22.6%
The changes in the westbound loaded commodity percentages may be more
linked to the luck of the draw rather than seasonality or changes in the
state of the economy. Likewise, the westbound empties. Indeed, the lack
of a significant increase in the percentage of westbound empty boxcars
was rather surprising having assumed by Mike's video that a massive
amount of SP empties would be there. Instead, only 15 of the westbound
empty boxcars were owned by the SP (25 others by the UP, and one from
the Big Four, a NYC subsidiary).
III. FREIGHT CAR MIX
There were differences in the car type mixes between the Fall 1947 and
Spring 1949 as per the table below:
Percentage of Total Fall 1947 Spring 1949
Boxcars 39.6% 49.3%
Reefers 30.3% 19.7%
Hoppers & Gons 18.6% 12.5%
Tank Cars 4.7% 9.1%
Stock Cars 2.5% 5.7%
Flat Cars 3.7% 3.5%
Others 0.6% 0.3%
Total 100.0% 100.0%
The reason for the decline in the percentage of reefers has been noted
in the eastbound commodity discussion above. For the other car types,
its probably more of a matter of the luck of the cars Fraley drew for
the trains assigned to him somewhat similar to the luck of the draw of
the commodities which were carried.
While the mix of car mixes may vary because of the luck of the draw,
luck of the draw should not be as much of a factor for the distribution
of ownership of individual car types because the "reasons" for that
distribution should hold fast regardless. Starting with boxcars,...
IV. BOXCARS
Boxcars were pretty generic. Empty boxcars could be reloaded with a wide
variety of commodities different from the commodity which had just been
unloaded. Their percent loaded car miles were in the late 1940's was in
the 75-80% range. On top of this, there was a terrific boxcar shortage
which exceeded the the boxcar shortages during WW II through 1947-48.
That shortage, however, evaporated when the 1949 Recession hit.
The table below compares the movements and percent loadeds of the sub
types of boxcars as per the Fall 1947 and Spring 1949 Fraley Wheel Reports:
BOXCARS Eastbound Westbound Percent Loaded
FALL 1947 Loads MT's Loads MT's Total Eastbound Westbound
Automobile 39 2 77 - 118 95.2% 100.0%
Gen'l Service 271 12 353 23 659 96.5% 93.9%
Total 310 14 430 23 777 95.7% 94.9%
SPRING 1949
Automobile 30 77 102 - 209 28.0% 100.0%
Gen'l Service 612 53 456 41 1,162 92.0% 91.8%
Total 640 130 558 41 1,371 83.1% 93.2%
Automobile Cars in 1949 provided the major difference in the directional
percent loaded freight cars. This may be a reflection that the Auto
Companies could flex greater muscle in having cars carrying either
vehicles or parts returned promptly in 1949 than they could in 1947.
Some of this greater muscle was due to the the disappearance of the
boxcar shortage because of the 1949 Recession.
The foreign boxcars in Fraley's Fall 1947 Wheel Report correlated
reasonably well with the percentage which each road owned of the
national Class I RR boxcar fleet. Let's see how his Spring 1949 Wheel
Report correlated with the national boxcar fleet. The table below
compares the amount of boxcars which Fraley reported with the number of
boxcars which would have been reported using the percentages owned by
the roads of the national fleet (Columns titled "@ Nat'l %):
BOXCARS Fall 1947 Spring 1949
Total @ Nat'l % Total @ Nat'l %
Total Boxcars 777 1,325
UP 87 233
Canadian 6 18
Class II and III RR's 1 2
Unknown 30 5
Total Foreign Boxcars 654 654 1,119 1,119
New England Region 9 15 12 27
Great Lakes Region 119 118 212 206
Central East Reg. 112 122 126 191
Pocahontas Region 22 30 23 50
Southern Region 107 102 133 172
Northwest Region 53 59 96 101 (ex C&NW & MILW)
C&NW 27 20 55 37
MILW 30 28 74 52
Central West Region 68 60 82 95 (ex UP, SP & CB&Q)
SP - Pac Lines 34 25 136 45
CB&Q 27 32 75 35
Southwest Region 59 56 81 98
In 1947, the ownership of foreign boxcars aggregated into eight ICC
Geographic Regions correlated pretty well with the percentage those
regions owned of the National Boxcar Fleet. In 1949, that correlation
was blown to hell.
Mike Brock has argued that SP should be given special treatment on
account of it being an interchange partner of the UP. If SP is given
special treatment, then so should be the partners on the East End of the
UP: - the C&NW, MILW and CB&Q. These four roads had 118 of the foreign
boxcars in 1947 (vs. the equivalent of 105 which their percentages of
the national fleet warranted), and 340 of the foreign boxcars (vs. 212
of the percentages).
*****************Note that this number should, I think, be 37+52+45+35=169*************************** Mike Brock
What would happen if these four roads' boxcars were
removed from foreign boxcar mix as were UP's, the home road? Would the
shortfall in the New England, Central East, Pocahontas and Southern
Regions be mitigated? The table below may help answer these questions.
BOXCARS Fall 1947 Spring 1949
Total @ Nat'l % Total @ Nat'l %
Total Boxcars 777 1,325
UP 87 233
C&NW 27 55
MILW 30 74
SP - Pac Lines 34 136
CB&Q 27 75
Canadian 6 18
Class II and III RR's 1 2
Unknown 30 5
Total Foreign Boxcars 533 533 777 777
New England Region 9 14 12 22
Great Lakes Region 119 112 212 167
Central East Reg. 112 116 126 156
Pocahontas Region 22 29 23 41
Southern Region 107 97 133 141
Northwest Region 53 64 96 81 (ex C&NW & MILW)
Central West Region 68 80 82 56 (ex UP, SP & CB&Q)
Southwest Region 59 53 81 80
Removal of the four interchange partners from the foreign boxcar mix
seems to have swung the 1949 deviations in the other way. While the
shortfalls in the New England, Central East, Pocahontas & Southern have
been mitigated, the removal have created or increased overages in the
Great Lakes, Northwest (ex C&NW and MILW) and Central West (ex UP, SP &
CB&Q) Regions. Clearly, the best correlation in 1949 falls somewhere
between including the four interchange partners and excluding them from
the foreign boxcar calculation.
Based upon the boxcar data of other Wheel Reports I have parsed, the
correlations of foreign boxcars' ownership are much closer to Fraley's
1947 Report than his 1949 Report with the exception of a 1949 T&NO Wheel
Report in South Texas. 1949 seemed to be an exceptional year in the way
the Recession and the increase in the per diem rate affected the
geographic distribution of boxcar ownership. I have parsed no 1954 Wheel
Reports so I cannot say that Fraley's 1949 Wheel Report could be a guide
to one - 1954 was the next Recession Year.
V. HOPPERS & GONS
Hoppers & Gons are lumped together because the ICC did not separate
hoppers from gons until 1955. Within this category which were called
"coal cars" by the ICC until 1934, there were quite a few sub types for
the each hoppers and gons. Each of these sub types may have had
different factors governing car distribution than another. The
directional loads & empties and percent loaded cars are presented in the
same way as boxcars were above.
HOPPERS & GONS Eastbound Westbound Percent Loaded
FALL 1947 Loads MT's Loads MT's Total Eastbound Westbound
Gons - Drop Ends 35 2 31 - 64 94.6% 100.0%
Gons - Fixed Ends 33 4 11 - 33 89.2% 100.0%
Gons - Center Drop 8 1 2 - 11 88.9% 100.0%
Gons - Side Drop 47 10 5 - 62 82.5% 100.0%
Total Gons 123 17 49 - 189 87.9% 100.0%
Hop - Side Dump 51 - - - 51 100.0% 100.0%
Hoppers - Twin 18 6 3 - 27 75.0% 100.0%
Hop - Trip or Quad 4 - - - 4 100.0% 100.0%
Total Hoppers 73 6 3 - 82 92.4% 100.0%
H&G - Unknown 4 - - - 4 100.0% 100.0%
H&G - Unspecified - - - 89 89 - 0.0%
Total H&G 200 23 52 89 364 89.7% 36.9%
SPRING 1949
Gons - Drop Ends 18 18 28 3 67 51.3% 90.3%
Gons - Fixed Ends 8 11 13 1 33 42.1% 92.9%
Gons - Center Drop 3 2 5 - 10 60.0% 100.0%
Gons - Side Drop 22 5 14 20 61 91.5% 41.2%
Total Gons 51 36 60 24 171 58.6% 71.4%
Hop - Side Dump 26 1 18 27 72 96.3% 40.0%
Hoppers - Twin 12 5 7 19 43 70.6% 26.9%
Hop - Trip or Quad 27 4 5 37 73 87.1% 11.9%
Total Hop. 65 10 30 83 188 86.7% 26.5%
Covered Hoppers 1 1 - - 2 50.0% -
Total H&G 117 47 90 107 361 71.3% 45.7%
In 1947, all westbound empties were from a block of 89 cars whose
ownership nor car numbers Fraley noted. They were returning after
unloading company material, mostly coal. I assumed that these cars were
owned by the UP.
The percent of Hoppers & Gons which were owned by the UP varied
according to the sub type per the following:
% OF H&G Fall 1947 Spring 1949
THE UP OWNED UP Total % UP UP Total % UP
Gons - Drop Ends 5 64 7.8% 4 67 6.0%
Gons - Fixed Ends 8 33 24.2% - 33 -
Gons - Center Drop 4 11 36.4% 2 10 20.0%
Gons - Side Drop 31 62 50.0% 34 61 55.7%
Total Gons 48 189 25.4% 40 171 23.4%
Hoppers - Side Dump 50 51 98.0% 66 72 91.7%
Hoppers - Twin 9 27 33.3% 27 43 62.8%
Hop. - Trip or Quad - 4 - 64 73 87.7%
Total Hoppers 59 82 72.0% 157 188 83.5%
Covered Hoppers - - - 2 2 100.0%
H&G - Unknown - 4 0.0% - - -
H&G - Unspecified 89 89 100.0% - - -
Total H&G 198 364 52.1% 199 361 55.1%
V-1. HOPPERS
Because of the difficulty of finding reloads on their way home after
unloading, most hoppers were on a tether attached to mines served by
their their home roads. Sometimes that tether was relatively short -
such as UP's hoppers tethered to their company mines in Wyoming carrying
company coal to points on the UP. Sometimes that tether was long - such
as the N&W Hoppers traversing Sherman Hill with loads of high grade coal
whose additional transportation costs could be justified by the
consignee because of the better characteristics than the coal mined
"locally." By Car Service Rule C-411, all N&W, C&O, VGN and L&N empty
hoppers had to be dispatched directly home without reloading which
maintained the tether.
Often however, the tether with the home road mines was broken because
the empties were not routed towards the home rails. This break could
occur in yards when a string of empty hoppers were all dispatched to a
mine without first separating the foreign hoppers from the string. This
created what Tim O'Connor termed a "stray."
So, the task is to determine whether each foreign hopper was on its
tether or was it a stray. The determinant should be whether the coal
originated at mines on the home road was of a high enough, or had a
unique quality which justified their use usually west of the Rockies. If
so, then it was probably on the tether. If not, it was a stray. In the
Fall of 1947, Fraley reported movements of the following hoppers having
70-ton trucks (ERIE, N&W, KCS & MP) and those having 50-ton trucks (NYC,
CIM, B&O, CRR, CG, SOU, NP, MP) - plus an ATSF "50 tonner" carrying Ore.
In the Spring 1949 Fraley Wheel Report, there were the following
"50-tonners" (L&NE, LV, NYC, Montour, SOU, ATSF, SLSF & MP), and the
following "70-tonners" (KCS, L&A, SLBM and IGN).
Fraley's Spring 1949 Report was the first UP one (of five) that I have
parsed that did not have one N&W hopper. The sightings on Sherman Hill
may have been rare, but there were enough customers to the West wanting
high grade southern West Virginia coal which would indicate that the N&W
hopper was on its tether. Accordingly, snide remarks about the
possibility of N&W hoppers on Sherman Hill have become stale jokes.
Indeed, there was a better chance that an N&W hopper would be seen on
Sherman Hill than a Pennsy hopper in my opinion. That opinion is based
upon the better quality of coal mined on the N&W compared to that coal
mined on the Pennsy.
The ERIE, L&NE and LV Hoppers could have been on their tether with the
Anthracite Mines of Northeast PA. I will leave it to the STMFC's
resident metallurgist to weigh in on whether the other foreign hoppers
cited above were on their tether or were strays.
V - 2. GONDOLAS
In terms of variety of loads which Gondolas could carry, gons fell
somewhere in between boxcars and hoppers. They could carry items in bulk
- indeed the bottom dropping gons were almost as good as self-clearing
hoppers - or loads which had to be restrained from shifting en route.
Many a solid bottom gon was loaded with coal requiring a dumper or a
human wielding a shovel to unload a la Ernie Ford's song "Sixteen Tons
of Coal" even though their intended purpose was to carry loads which had
to be restrained.
Gons' distribution of ownership was heavily weighted towards the east as
per the following table gleaned from the April 1949 ORER (Class I US
RR's only):
Solid Side Dump Center Dump
ICC DISTRICT Bottom Drop Bot. Drop Bot. Total
East 142,708 1,849 2,121 146,678
South (*) 36,652 6,610 21,192 64,454
West 31,251 62,488 630 94,369
All Districts 222,201 70,901 23,943 350,301
(*) - Includes Gons in the Pocahontas Region.
In the late 1940's RAILWAY AGES as well as the PROCEEDINGS OF THE 1948
RR SUPERINTENDENT'S CONVENTION, the eastern roads were screaming for
prompt delivery of gondolas back in the east from the west to satisfy
steel loadings - sort of retribution for being on the other end of the
argument over boxcars. Thus, much of the delays in getting those gons
back east when western roads reloaded gons which could, like boxcars,
routed anywhere regardless of Car Service Rules.
As a side note in the 1949 Wheel Report, N&W center dump drop bottom gon
(GA) #91017 carried coal to the Salt Lake City area while N&W battleship
gon (GT) #100350 sent a load of pitch also to the Salt Lake City area. I
do not know whether either gon was covered by Rule C-411. This rule was
quite the envy of roads seeking empty cars of whatever type to protect
their loadings.
VI. REEFERS
Reefers fell into three general categories: - bunkerless, meat with ice
bunkers & others with ice bunkers. PFE, which was effectively UP's home
road mark for reefers, only listed in the April 1949 ORER reefers with
ice bunkers with no distinguishing data between meat or others. In both
of Fraley's Fall 1947 and Spring 1949 Wheel Reports, the overwhelming
majority were ice bunker reefers in service other than meat as per the
table below:
REEFERS Eastbound Westbound Percent Loaded
FALL 1947 Loads MT's Loads MT's Total Eastbound Westbound
Bunkerless 2 1 2 1 6 66.7% 66.7%
Meat 1 4 13 - 18 20.0% 100.0%
Others w/Ice 293 4 142 133 572 98.7% 51.7%
Total 296 9 157 134 596 97.0% 53.4%
PFE 208 - 64 106 378 100.0% 37.6%
"Foreign" 88 9 93 28 218 90.7% 74.4%
REEFERS Eastbound Westbound Percent Loaded
SPRING 1949 Loads MT's Loads MT's Total Eastbound Westbound
Bunkerless 4 1 4 - 9 80.0% 100.0%
Meat 1 10 19 - 30 9.1% 100.0%
Others w/Ice 274 5 88 144 511 98.2% 37.9%
Total 279 16 111 144 550 94.6% 43.5%
PFE 207 1 33 126 367 99.5% 20.8%
"Foreign" 72 15 78 18 183 82.6% 81.3%
The most significant difference between the two reports is the shift in
1949 from westbound loads to westbound empties for PFE. The reason for
this is that PFE reefers were not used as much in 1949 as alternatives
for westbound boxcar loadings as they were in 1947. Whether this was due
to the different seasons or because of the 1949 Recession is impossible
to say given the data.
Despite the WW II Reefer Utilization Orders being lifted in 1948, there
is no indication from the data above that a higher percentage of PFE
reefers were loaded in PFE territory in 1949 than in 1947 as was
indicated in the table on page 450 of Signature Press' 2nd Edition of
PACIFIC FRUIT EXPRESS. This lack of evidence may be more of a matter of
the luck of the draw than anything else.
Ownership of reefers can be broadly classified into groups per the
following:
1) RR Owned & Listed as such in the ORER's - IC, NP and SFRD were the
major RR owners.
2) RR Controlled Private Car Lines & listed as such in the ORER's -
PFE, ART, MDT and the FGEX group major ones in this category.
3) Non-RR Controlled Private Car Lines such as GATC (including SRLX and
URTX), NADX, NWX and NRC being the major ones in the category.
4) Shippers owning reefers - SLRX, ARLX and RPRX were the major ones in
this category.
Below is the ownership distribution of reefers which Fraley recorded for
these categories.
Fall 1947 Spring 1949
REEFER OWNERSHIP Total % Tot Total % Tot
PFE 378 63.5% 367 66.7%
RR - Owned 47 7.9% 36 6.5%
RR - Controlled 91 15.3% 64 11.6% (Ex PFE)
Private Car Line 24 4.0% 37 6.7% (Ex GATC)
Shipper's 6 1.0% 10 1.8%
GATC 24 4.0% 34 6.2%
Canadian & Unknown 2 0.3% 2 0.2%
Unspecified For.(*) 23 3.9% - -
Total 595 100.0% 550 100.0%
(*) - Fraley did not specify who owned and what their car numbers were
on a block of 23 westbound empty "Foreign" (if PFE is considered to be
the "home" road) in his Fall 1947 Report.
VII. TANK CARS
Tank cars were either owned by shippers (or consignees), or leased by
private tank car lines to shippers or consignees. This statement would
include the RR owned (UP & SP) and US Government-owned (USQX) tank cars
which were essentially consignee-owned cars. The table below compares
the tank cars reported by Fraley in the Spring of 1949 with those in the
Fall of 1947 along these lines.
TANK CARS Eastbound Westbound Percent Loaded
FALL 1947 Loads MT's Loads MT's Total Eastbound Westbound
Grand Total 18 20 14 38 90 47.4% 26.9%
UP 1 2 1 - 4 33.3% 100.0%
Sinclair - - - - - - -
Other 2 5 3 6 16 28.6% 33.3%
Tot. Ship. 3 7 4 6 20 30.0% 40.0%
GATC 9 10 7 17 43 47.4% 29.2%
UTLX 4 2 3 2 11 66.7% 60.0%
Other 2 1 - 13 16 66.7% 0.0%
Tot. Priv. 15 13 10 32 70 53.6% 23.8%
TANK CARS Eastbound Westbound Percent Loaded
SPRING 1949 Loads MT's Loads MT's Total Eastbound Westbound
Grand Total 60 37 35 121 253 61.9% 22.4%
UP - 7 17 - 24 0.0% 100.0%
Sinclair 14 10 1 111 136 58.3% 0.9%
Other 6 1 9 3 19 85.7% 75.0%
Tot. Ship. 20 18 27 114 179 52.6% 17.0%
GATC 21 11 7 5 44 65.6% 58.3%
UTLX 4 7 1 1 13 36.4% 50.0%
Other 15 1 - 1 19 93.8% 0.0%
Tot. Priv. 40 19 8 7 74 67.8% 53.3%
The luck of the cars Fraley drew makes any 1947 vs. 1949 comparison of
tank cars difficult. On April 9th, 1949, Fraley drew an eastbound train
with 60 SDRX (Sinclair) empties; four days later, another eastbound had
51 SDRX empties. In the Fall of 1947, he drew trains which carried not
one SDRX tank car. There is no way to know whether Sinclair changed
their distribution patterns between 1947 and 1949 from the data
presented in the two wheel reports. Did a Sinclair refinery come on line
to the west?
From the 1949 data, it would appear that the UP got their fuel oil from
the east. In 1949, McPherson KS either had a refinery, tank farm, or was
an interchange (with the ATSF, MP and RI) for petroleum products'
deliveries used by both UP and UTLX tank cars.
UTLX and GATC owned and controlled well over 50% of the US Tank Car
fleet in the late steam era although the way the two companies operated
their lease fleet was quite different. UTLX leased only tank cars to the
oil companies. They did not enter the chemical tank car business until
the mid-1950's. They demanded that they be the exclusive supplier of
tank cars to a company, but, in most cases, individual cars might not be
assigned long term to that customer. Hence, the paint scheme remained
the simple black with gold data, and no reference to the lessee -
exception, the Skelly Oil cars. The bedrock of their customer base were
the "baby Standards" - the five big ones were Standard of Indiana,
SoCal, Sohio, Socony and Jersey Standard. (Both Socony and Indiana had
tank cars of their own, but these tank cars were owned by companies
either "baby" had acquired after 1920.) Pennzoil (South Penn) was also a
"baby Standard." Starting in the 1920's, they sought other lessees -
Pure Oil and Skelly may have been their most well known catches before
1950.
GATC, on the other hand, had been quite aggressive in buying tank car
fleets for their lease fleet. In any given ORER, there are a number of
different reporting marks representing companies and tank car fleets
GATC acquired. Over the course of years, old marks disappeared as the
fleet was provided GATX marks while new ones appeared. Their most well
known catches besides other tank car lines included Texaco, Proctor &
Gamble, Armour's and Swift's tank car fleets.
Unlike UTLX, the GATC fleet was not restricted just to Oil; they hauled
almost the full gamut of products which a tank car could carry. In both
the 1947 and 1949 Fraleys, they hauled petroleum products, wine and
syrup in different cars; in 1949, there was also a load of tallow while
in 1947, there were tank cars loaded with ketone and molasses.
GATC was capable of spot leases (one trip only), or for longer durations
- monthly, seasonally, annual and long term. For longer term leases,
GATC allowed the lessee being ID'd with the car - even with a
"billboard-type" logo as in the Texaco cars. If a company had a shortage
of their own tank cars, a GATX car could be leased; UTLX would not
handle such business.
Shipper's (SHPX), a distant third in the quantity of cars, appeared to
operate their tank car fleet in much the same manner as GATC.
VIII. STOCK CARS
Richard Hendrickson has argued that stock cars ranged farther than what
had been thought of previously. His handout at Cocoa Beach showed a vast
array of foreign stock cars, mostly Midwestern, which the GB&W carried
to the Green Bay Packers (meat that is; the team was pretty lousy before
the arrival of Lombardi in 1959). Let's see the breakdown of stock car
ownership in the 1947 and 1949 Fraleys.
STOCK CARS Eastbound Westbound Percent Loaded
FALL 1947 Loads MT's Loads MT's Total Eastbound Westbound
Total 17 7 20 5 49 70.8% 80.0%
UP 3 1 2 5 11 75.0% 28.6%
SP,CNW,CBQ,MILW 8 6 14 - 28 57.1% 100.0%
Other For RR's 6 - 4 - 10 100.0% 100.0%
STOCK CARS Eastbound Westbound Percent Loaded
SPRING 1947 Loads MT's Loads MT's Total Eastbound Westbound
Total 3 37 115 2 157 7.5% 98.3%
UP 2 24 108 1 135 7.6% 99.1%
C&NW, CB&Q 1 7 2 - 10 12.5% 100.0%
Other For. RR's - 4 1 - 5 0.0% 100.0%
GATC - Owned - 2 4 1 7 0.0% 80.0%
In the Fall of 1947, Richard may have a case except over 57% (28 of 49)
of the stock cars were owned by interchange partners - indeed, if the
three CMO stock cars were added, the percentage of UP & interchange
partners would be 85% (42 of 49) of all stock cars reported by Farley in
the Fall of 1947.
In Fraley's Spring 1949 Report, UP Stock Cars dominated with a
smattering of cars from two of the interchange partners.
Whether the comparative paucity of UP stock cars in the Fall 1947
compared to the Spring 1949 was due to some seasonal factor, or the luck
of the draw is a matter for others to decide. I would expect that most
ranches would like to ship to feed lots after the cattle came down from
their summer ranges, but what would a suburban klutz know.
Fall 1947 Spring 1949
COMMODITIES East. West. East. West.
Cattle 1 2 - 66
Hogs - 16 - 23
Sheep 1 - 2 23
Other Livestock 1 - - 2
Forest Prod. 12 - 1 -
Other 2 2 - 1
In Spring 1949, 26 of the cattle loads were interchanged with the SP; 24
were destined for the LA&SL; six each to Ogden & "D. Lodge(?);" and four
to the Pacific Northwest. UP Stock Cars carried 65 of the 66 stock car
loads. There was one other westbound cattle movement: - on March 7th, in
B&O Boxcar #275272. The only other time I have noted livestock movements
in boxcars was on B&M XB-2, Bellows Falls-Boston, when on March 2nd,
1936, there was a string of Rutland boxcars loaded with calves. At least
the body heat was kept in the car rather than dissipated through a stock
car's slats.
In the Fall of 1947, 14 of the 16 hog loads were carried in C&NW, CB&Q
and CMO stock cars - the other two were in UP and ATSF cars. The hogs
were destined for the SP and LA&SL. I assume that most of these hogs
were raised in Iowa. In the Spring of 1949, 18 of the 23 cars carrying
hogs were owned by the UP - does this mean the hogs were raised near the
UP? Four of the loads were in the cars owned by Cudahy and Swift while
there was one CGW stock car.
All of the sheep were carried in UP cars: - in 1947, the westbounds were
destined for Ogden and the eastbound for Council Bluffs.
Because of the Fall 1947 boxcar shortage, some empty stock cars were
pressed into lumber service. With a national boxcar surplus in the
spring of 1949, the need to use empty stock cars for lumber loading
evaporated.
Regarding Richard's GB&W handout, I conclude that the wide array of
different stock car owners was due not to "free rolling" as much as
stock being loaded in the home road's cars. The Green Bay Packers just
slaughtered a lot of stock originated on a lot of midwestern roads. That
does mean that there were not exceptions, but they should be treated as
not in the normal course of business.
IX. FLAT CARS
The commodities carried by General Service Flat Cars as reported by
Farley were the following:
Fall 1947 Spring 1949
East. West. East. West.
Forest Products 37 - 12 -
Machinery 1 12 1 18
Vehicles - 4 8 1
Auto Parts - 1 1 4
Tractors & Ag Implements - 5 - 8
Company Mat'l - 8 - 5
Rails - - - 19
Other Products 1 4 2 3
Empties - - 14 -
Total 39 34 38 58
In addition, there was one PRR Well Flat (#425025) proceeding eastbound
empty.
Because of the variety of commodities general service flats could carry,
the reloadability of the type, and the flat car shortage, the ownership
distribution of general service flat cars should be somewhat similar to
boxcars: - namely, there should be a correlation between the owners of
the cars reported and the percentage of the national general service
flat car fleet each owner rostered. (Because the ICC data includes
logging flats, the roster totals below are from the April 1949 ORER.)
FLAT CARS Fall 1947 Spring 1949
Total @ Nat'l % Total @ Nat'l %
Total Reported 73 96
UP 10 24
Canadian 1 2
Total Foreign 62 62 70 70
New England 1 1 - 1
Great Lakes 7 4 4 5
Central East 7 9 3 10
Pocahontas 5 1 - 2
Southern Reg. 11 9 11 10
Northwest 18 19 25 21
Central West 13 14 25 16 (Excl. UP)
Southwest - 4 2 5
Even with a small sample of 62 foreign flat cars in 1947, the
correlation between cars reported and percentage owned was pretty good
with the exceptions of the Pocahontas and Southwest Regions which offset
each other.
In 1949 like boxcars, the correlation blows up. Pulling out the the
interchange partners (SP, C&NW, CB&Q and MILW) yields the following:
FLAT CARS Fall 1947 Spring 1949
Total @ Nat'l % Total @ Nat'l %
Total Reported 73 96
UP 10 24
SP - Pac Lines 7 12
CB&Q 2 6
C&NW 9 13
MILW 3 2
Canadian 1 2
Total Foreign 41 41 37 37
New England 1 1 - 1
Great Lakes 7 3 4 3
Central East 7 9 3 7
Pocahontas 5 1 - 1
Southern Reg. 11 8 11 8
Northwest 6 8 10 8 (excl. C&NW, MILW)
Central West 5 6 7 5 (excl. UP, SP, CB&Q)
Northwest - 4 2 3
The same problem in 1949 existed for general service flat cars as did
for boxcars: - to wit, empty flat cars gravitated home when the 1949
Recession began, and they were available when there were loads. Thus,
there seems to have been a higher proportion of home road flat cars
loaded both on the UP and its interchange partners.
* * * * *
Hopefully, there will be comments, questions and challenges to the
above. If I overlooked something, please let me know. In trying to
respond, I will be learning more about the utilization of the various
car types because I will do a little more homework.
Tim Gilbert"
Mike Brock
