Early in its history, Dairy Shippers actually shipped dairy products...
By the post-WW-II period, however, DSDX traffic was mostly, if not entirely, beer...

Three DSDX cars showed up in the 1929-30 B&M Wheel report I am working with. Two, 1427 & 1455, were carrying unspecified 'beverages' destined for Grand Island, NE, and Grand Forks, ND, respectively, while a third, 7030, was being moved empty to White River Jct, VT. That seems like a long way to move beer, but it surely isn't milk!

Earl Tuson

NONE was I believe the New Orleans Northeastern and a subsidary of
either the Sou or the L&N, most likely the L&N.

NONE was indeed the New Orleans & Northeastern, and it was (at least later
on) affiliated with the Southern Railway.

Frank Valoczy
Vancouver, BC

-----
http://hydrorail.hostwq.net/index.html - Rails along the Fraser
http://hydrorail.rrpicturearchives.net/ - Rail Photos

--- In STMFC@..., "railsnw1" <railsnw@...> wrote:

Warning: this might be long for some and I hope the formatting

stays

together.

Beginning in mid 2007 I started researching the corporate files of
the Yakima Valley Transportation Company which are held by the

Yakima

Valley Museum in Yakima, Washington. These files cover almost all
aspects of the YVT from 1907 to the early 1980's. One of the main
components of this collection are the letter files, which as the

name

implies, contain copies of letters arranged by different file
numbers. One of these Letter File's is 15-10, Car Rentals. Before
delving into this file a little history of the YVT is probably in
order for those not aware of it.

...

So here is where I could use your help. Some of these reporting

marks

are from railroads I'm not aware of such as A&V, CH&D, CI&W, DC,
DH&C, DS, FRL, FS&W, H&TC, NODM, NONE, and so on. I have faithfully
transcribed this data so I know some might be typos from the

original

lists. So if you have a chance to visit the list and check things

out

it is appreciated.

I looked at the list before reading this message and was wondering if
NODM might not be a typo for the NOTM or New Orleans, Texas and
Mexico which was a one time SLSF then MP subsidary running between
New Orleans via Baton Rouge the Opelousas to Kinder, De Quincy,
Beaumont and then Houston. Texas law at the time required roads that
operated in Texas to be a Texas charter company.

NONE was I believe the New Orleans Northeastern and a subsidary of
either the Sou or the L&N, most likely the L&N.

George Simmons
Dry Prong, LA

Warning: this might be long for some and I hope the formatting stays
together.

Beginning in mid 2007 I started researching the corporate files of
the Yakima Valley Transportation Company which are held by the Yakima
Valley Museum in Yakima, Washington. These files cover almost all
aspects of the YVT from 1907 to the early 1980's. One of the main
components of this collection are the letter files, which as the name
implies, contain copies of letters arranged by different file
numbers. One of these Letter File's is 15-10, Car Rentals. Before
delving into this file a little history of the YVT is probably in
order for those not aware of it.

Located in the fertile Yakima Valley of Washington State, the Yakima
Valley Transportation Co. was an electric railroad that operated from
1907 until 1985. Initially built as a streetcar and interurban
railroad it was taken over by the Union Pacific in 1909 with a view
towards tapping the freight from the rich orchards and farmlands. By
1912 the YVT had been built westward to areas such as Wiley City and
Ahtanum and was also building northward from Yakima to Selah. Besides
the agricultural traffic their was also a large amount of freight
traffic to be had from the Cascade Lumber Co. so a line was built up
8th Street off Yakima Avenue to the mill.

At this time the freight cars on the YVT consisted of boxcar #400
which had been purchased used from a dealer and previously had been
on the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Co. and fourteen wooden flatcars,
#1000 & #1013. The first two cars appear to have been purchased in
1909 from the Spokane & Inland Railway and the rest of the cars were
built new for the YVT by Seattle Car & Foundry in 1910.

The connecting railroad to the YVT was Union Pacific's Oregon-
Washington Railroad and Navigation Company. Connection to the OWR&N
was made at a transfer track near South 2nd Ave. & Pine Street at the
South end of Yakima. Also in Yakima was the Northern Pacific Railway
but it did not connect directly with the YVT and shipments were
handled through the OWR&N. By the Spring of 1912 online merchandise
traffic had grown so great that the YVT's equipment could not handle
it all and in June 1912 an agreement was reached where the OWR&N
would rent cars at the rate of 40 cents per day. In September 1913
the YVT was in need of more box cars mostly to handle box shook from
the Cascade sawmill to the various fruit packing warehouses. Box
Shook is the term for the broken down crates that would be assembled
at the packing houses in to fruit crates.

By 1916 things were getting complicated on the handling of cars
between the YVT & OWR&N so a new agreement was worked out as follows:

1.Cars delivered to or received from the YVT Co., on which the OWR&N
receive a line haul to be handled on a demurrage basis.

2.Cars loaded on the YVT Co's tracks and move to industries on the
OWR&N Co's tracks, at North Yakima, or cars loaded on industry tracks
on the OWR&N Company at North Yakima and move to line points on the
YVT Co's tracks to be considered as in local service and paid for on
rental basis of 45 cents per car per day. "Except PFE Refrigerators,
which will be settled for on a demurrage basis."

3.Cars delivered to the YVT Company by the OWR&N for placement on
various sidings for prospective loading, to be charged for on
demurrage basis, 72 hours from time cars are actually ordered by
shippers, or if no order given, when loading actually commences.

4.Cars delivered the YVT Company for Prospective business and
subsequently used locally on the YVT Company's Line, to be on a
rental basis from day preceding movement, until returned to industry,
or transfer track,

5.The number of days used in local service under Item 2, to be
arrived at by deducting date of receipt from date of delivery.

A note should be made that this agreement covered non refrigerator
cars, refrigerator cars were mostly provided by the Pacific Fruit
Express.

So back to our Letter File 15-10. Part of this file contains memo's
of the cars rented by month for the years 1917 to 1920. These give
the reporting marks, when the car was dropped off to the YVT and when
it was returned to the OWR&N. I have entered a list of these cars in
an excel spread sheet and it can be found in the file section
titled "YVT Car rentals 1917 to 1920".

In 1917 and early 1918 the cars that were rented either had UP
reporting marks or were from subsidiaries such as OWR&N or Oregon
Short Line. Beginning in 1918 the bulk of the cars rented were from
non UP railroads. While some were from western railroads quite a few
were from such far flung eastern lines like the Rutland.

So here is where I could use your help. Some of these reporting marks
are from railroads I'm not aware of such as A&V, CH&D, CI&W, DC,
DH&C, DS, FRL, FS&W, H&TC, NODM, NONE, and so on. I have faithfully
transcribed this data so I know some might be typos from the original
lists. So if you have a chance to visit the list and check things out
it is appreciated.

Thanks,

Richard Wilkens

Hello,

This email message is a notification to let you know that
a file has been uploaded to the Files area of the STMFC
group.

File : /YVT Car Rentals 1917 to 1920.xls
Uploaded by : railsnw1 <railsnw@...>
Description : Yakima Valley Transportation Car Rentals

You can access this file at the URL:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/STMFC/files/YVT%20Car%20Rentals%201917%20to%201920.xls

To learn more about file sharing for your group, please visit:
http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/groups/original/members/web/index.htmlfiles

Regards,

railsnw1 <railsnw@...>

Hello All,

I am looking for information that will help me determine how the Santa
Fe would have located the dimensional and weight data on the RH
(non-fan) side of the fan-equipped (37365-37389) Rr-30's. If it
matters, I plan to paint my model as an early '53 repaint with
yellow-orange hardware and Ship & Travel slogan.

I realize the fan-equipped Rr-30's were somewhat unusual in that both
fan drives were on the LH side of the car (like the fan-equipped USRA
rebuild Rr-27's) thus displacing both the dimensional and weight data
on that side. So, my question is, was there any pattern to how the
dimensional and weight data were applied to the other (RH) side of the
cars? Were they typically in their "normal" non-fan locations?

I have a picture of the RH side of a fan-equipped Rr-27 in 1940 paint
showing the weight data in the "normal" location, yet the dimensional
data is shifted mid-car similar to the fan-side of the car.

Any help with this puzzle is greatly appreciated.

John Hile
Blacksburg, VA

I buy from HF often and their sets are nowhere near the small metric sizes. Smallest I have from HF is 2.4mm.

and 1.2mm is #0000 ??????????????????

I'm not sure the conversion is correct but I believe a 1.2mm for example is for a 1.2mm screw. I'm not sure what a #00 or #000 matches as our screw size are usually 0-80 or 00-90 for small ones.
Anyway I have ordered and unless I get something different than I think I am getting I'm happy.

I do have a question for Tony however. As these screwdrivers usually have a cheap steel blade is there any way to harden them?

Jon Miller
AT&SF
For me time has stopped in 1941
Digitrax, Chief/Zephyr systems, JMRI user
NMRA Life member #2623
Member SFRH&MS

I've used McMasters for over 25 years, mostly for my employers but
i've had some home deliveries too.

They are expensive but you can expect delivery quickly.

They have a lot of items and multiple warehouses but they are not all
inclusive. I found items not included in the McMasters catalog (I
remember small hose clamps but there were others) in an industrial
supplier in Ridgefield, NJ.

A couple of items you should consider if you put in an order with
McMasters -

* machine screws for attaching trucks. I got boxes of 100 for about
$2.50/box (more now). They are not self cutting like the screws
Athearn traditionally provided but I never had any thouble in casting
resin if I drilled a pilot hole.
* Soft iron wire (smallest size which was .014 inches {14 mils}.1
roll has been a life time supply. The roll I have is uniformerly flat
black but larger sizes aren't. This makes nice grab irons. It was
perfect for Intermountain SFRD reefers
* mold release in aerosol cans for casting

Ed

Checking my latest Harbor Freght catalog and sale flyer you can buy a complete set or just under 3 bucks. And thanks to Dennis' quick conversion you will find these in this set as well as others. Harbor Freight is online as well as local here in the west.



Greg Martin

I got a set of Radio Shack Kronus brand screwdrivers. It has three normal
flat blade and three Phillips with IIRC, #0, #00 and #000 for around $10.



Doug Brown

Al,

I don't know if eggs were ever shipped in ventilators, or not, but they frequently were shipped in reefers. Pacific Egg Producers, for example, had a modest fleet of these cars, and there certainly were others. PFE had a small group (50) of R-40-6 cars with special racks set aside for egg service.

Kind regards,


Garth G. Groff

water.kresse@... wrote:

Would they ship fresh eggs in reefers or house cars or ventilated boxes?

Al Kresse

--- In STMFC@..., Richard Dermody <ddermody@...> wrote:

Jon,

I don't believe such a beast exists. To my knowledge, the Philips
spec defines the head only, while the thread can be US or metric, so
what you really need is the Phillips size that fits the head on the
screws you're using. McMaster-Carr lists both sets and individual
drivers down to #000 size.

Dick

Here's a conversion table, from Wikipedia:

American Metric
#000 1.4mm
#00 2.0mm
#0 2.5mm
#1 3.2mm

Hope the formatting holds up.

Dennis

Thanks to all.
I ordered some 2.0mm, 1.4mm, and 1.2mm.

Jon Miller
AT&SF
For me time has stopped in 1941
Digitrax, Chief/Zephyr systems, JMRI user
NMRA Life member #2623
Member SFRH&MS

What era?

Today nitrogen is pumped into LPG cars to force the contents out.? Once empty, the cars are then depressured for transport.
?
Mike Del Vecchio

I'll take it a step further and say that McMaster-Carr sells pretty much every tool you could think of.

Carl J. Marsico

Jack Burgess <jack@...> wrote:
I'm not sure about metric, but McMaster-Carr has phillips screw drivers down
to 000

http://www.mcmaster.com/

on catalog page 2779

Jack Burgess
www.yosemitevalleyrr.com

Jon,

I don't believe such a beast exists. To my knowledge, the Philips spec defines the head only, while the thread can be US or metric, so what you really need is the Phillips size that fits the head on the screws you're using. McMaster-Carr lists both sets and individual drivers down to #000 size.

Dick

Back before we had styrofoam peanuts, Excelsior was a commonly-used
packing material for glassware and other fragile items.

A google search shows excelsior is still readily available. The bulk
form seems to be bales, but no matter how much it's compressed, it's
still a relatively low density cargo. I have no idea whether, in the
steam era, excelsior bales would have any wrapping other than for
containment. Seems to me any house car capable of keeping the bales
clean and dry would work.

Tom Madden

Folks,

I really appreciate the feedback so far but . . . . . and this may seem a little picky but . . . I was looking for information on the particulars of their original primary usage (as to why did they buy them?) and not their usage as backup "house" box cars (more than fruit or veggy movement . . . what fruits or veggies, at what times of the year, say back in the 1920s and 1930s, other commodities that needed ventilation, etc.).

Also, did ventilator box cars have a special tariff for special handling?

Thanks again,

Al Kresse

I just spoke by telephone with a gentleman who worked with my late
father at a propane terminal. (I just happened to be on the phone with
him for another reason when the message below popped up.)

Propane tank cars (currently, at least) are unloaded by pumping propane
vapors from an empty tank (fixed location tank, not tank car) into the
top of the tank car. The pressure forces the liquid propane up a
siphon, out the top of the car and into a pipe that connects to the
aforementioned tank where the vacuum created by pumping vapor into the
tank car sucks the liquid propane into the tank.

I dare not say, "This is the way it was always done" even though I
believe that to be the case.

By the way, Dad wrecked three propane tank cars about 10 years ago. He
was letting them roll down-grade to spot one for unloading. He was
relying on one hand brake to stop all three. It didn't. Dad's version
of the story included a hand brake that failed to work. This was
regular practice at this terminal - letting the cars roll down hill to
be spotted for unloading - except that it was supposed to be done one
car at a time, not three at a time with only one person present.

Gene Green
Out in the west Texas town of El Paso

--- In STMFC@..., "boyds1949" <E27ca@...> wrote:

I was looking at a recent model railroad publication on building a
propane dealership and it said that the liquid propane was unloaded

by

pumping air in the tank car to force the liquid propane out. Is that
correct? I would think that forcing air in a propane tank car would

be

creating the perfect mix for a violent explosion. It would make

sense

to pump propane gas into the tank. Does anyone know what they really
did?

John King