jaley wrote:

A few comments:

Regarding train length: did the wheel reports indicate the motive power?
An analysis of the motive power could reveal the increasing dieselization
of this era and therefore explain the difference between the '47 and '49
data. I believe this may also explain the sharp increase in UP-owned tank
cars moving in '49 -- they were used for company diesel fuel.

Jeff,

Of the 65 trains whose cars Fraley reported, only one was powered by diesels - the westbound on April 21st, 1949 by #1454, #1450 and #1419 which I believe were F3's. That train had 81 cars which was about average in 1949. A couple of the trains in 1947 were led by Bull Mooses, but the others were powered by Challengers and Big Boys.

I agree with you on the UP Tank Cars carrying diesel fuel for the stinkpots.

In that same regard, UP served several on-line refineries in McPherson,
KS, as well as refineries and pipeline terminals in Kansas City. (My
Freight Shipper's Guide is not handy at the moment).

Besides many UTLX cars being returned empty to McPherson, there were also some UP tank cars dispatched to McPherson. Your shipper's guide should yield a lot more historical data than the City of McPherson's web site.

I will also note that I have a Wheel Report from circa 1960 for a
conductor that tended to work the train to Sinclair, WY. As might be
expected, the report consists almost entirely of tank cars. My point is
that these kinds of operations (or the lack of them, in Fraley's case)
could serve to skew the statistics.

Solid tank car trains can skew the overall tank car population as those trains consisted of cars from one owner - case in point, the two 50 plus SDRX car empty movements, or in a Winter 1948 SOU wheel report, a solid train of UTLX tank car loads. Given the paucity of ORER information about tank cars, its tough to be able to infer much into the various cars except to note the owner, car number, perhaps the Mechanical Designation, and the Nominal Capacity. So the emphasis is upon the distribution of different owners, perhaps with some insight of the destination - particularly when the car was empty. Hence, my interest in McPherson.

On another tank car matter, over the years, many have suggested that layouts should have generic tank cars. What is a generic tank car - petroleum, wine, chemical, tallow, etc.? Should any consideration be given to whom the shipper and consignee was? Because of the leases, tank cars should be treated differently than boxcars. A boxcar can be generic even among different car owners because of the variety of commodities a boxcar could carry, and the capability to be reloaded without going "home." Thus, an SP boxcar could be loaded with lumber for the east as could a B&M boxcar loaded at the same mill for the east.

For stock cars, did Fraley ever work the DLS (Daylight Live Stock) -- an
essentially all stock train? Or is all of the data from "mixed" freights?

There were loaded stock car blocks at the head end of trains reported by Fraley, but the tail end of each such train had a mix of car types. Sometimes, individual stock cars were in the consist.

Thanks for your input, Tim Gilbert

On Feb 3, 2006, at 12:58 PM, Dave Nelson wrote:

Gregg Mahlkov wrote:

Tim and list,

That is, cars with a bogus
consignee at a far distant point which were to be sold prior to
arrival at that point and diverted to a new destination. For example,
the people of Terre Haute, Indiana, appeared to eat 100 pounds of
bananas a day apiece from the billing records out of New Orleans, but
reconsignment orders awaited all those cars when received from the IC
at Effingham.

Ahh HA! Question: did the ICC get the final destination info or just the
original?

I ask as I wonder if this explains the 1950 ICC data I have on Bananas and
the state of Illinois which, if taken at face value, meant the good people
of Illinois **really** loved their banannas! The Illinois Central must
have used a bogus consignee, say in Chicago, handed over to the ICC every
waybill ending in the digit 1 as required by the ICC's 1% waybill analysis
program, and then as demanded, accepted reconsignments to other
destinations. The ICC, not knowing better (or perhaps not caring) simply
recorded it as yet another LA to IL routing.

Dave Nelson

Gentlemen
The RRs did not control the shipping or cosigning cars of freight. If you had a car of grain to ship, you asked your local agent for an empty car. You loaded that car. Then you filled out a bill of lading. It could be your form or you could have gotten it from the RR but when you filled it out it was yours. You then gave this to your agent and he made a way bill. You are a shipper. There is no such thing as a bogus consignee. It could be any name you want to use and if you were shipping it with the idea of selling it en-route then it would probably be your name because you are the owner. The RR has nothing to do with selling it and nothing to do with diverting it until you notify them it has been sold. And you tell them who the new consignee is and where it is to go to. What happens if the car arrives to the destination you listed before you sold it. The RR does not care. The put it into a storage track, tell you it is here and you have two days to unload it, sell it or what ever. After the two days you start paying good money as long as it sits in the yard. You sell it and tell the RR the new consignee and where it is to go and away it goes. There was a fee for the diversion. So the ICRR does not care hoot about your bananas. They will make money on hauling them for you. The only part the RR plays is they transport freight for a shipper to a consignee.

Thank you
Larry Jackman
ljack70117@...

Gene Green wrote:

I find myself wishing I knew the number series for HO model freight
cars, especially those from F&C, Sunshine and Westerfield. I know
that the Sunshine and Westerfield instructions pretty consistently
have that information but how do I find it without first buying the
kit?

Al Westerfield's web page generally gives roster information and a brief
history for each number series of kit. I don't know anything about F&C,
and of course Sunshine doesn't have a web presence at all.

Do I just need to continue wading through the material from various
RR historical societies, magazine articles, Morning Sun color guides
until I find what I'm looking for?

Yep.

Shawn Beckert

I find myself wishing I knew the number series for HO model freight
cars, especially those from F&C, Sunshine and Westerfield. I know
that the Sunshine and Westerfield instructions pretty consistently
have that information but how do I find it without first buying the
kit?

My starting point for freight cars to populate my model railroad is
the Landmesser hot box list. Next I go to the ORER closest to the
date I model. If a car isn't listed I know they have either all been
withdrawn from service or not yet placed in service. The main piece
of information from the ORER is the number series.

Manufacturer's advertising and discussions here often refer to the
cars class. That is not necessarily nor consistently in the ORER for
most railroads.

Have I missed some obvious or easy way to correlate freight car class
with number series; manufacturer's offering with number series?

Do I just need to continue wading through the material from various
RR historical societies, magazine articles, Morning Sun color guides
until I find what I'm looking for?

Gene Green
Bewildered

The brake wheel is the same as a CGW 92000 series.
Clark Propst

Don't know the colors but the cars are ex MDT standard wood reefers; Accurail is close but not the same
My best guess is an oxide red color


Roger Hinman

Message: 25

Anthony Thompson
Sent: Friday, February 03, 2006 2:12 PM
To: STMFC@...
Subject: Re: [STMFC] Sunshine Bethlehem gons

Ed Mines wrote:

Has anyone contemplated weighing Sunshine's Bethlehem gons?

They weigh less than nothing.


Oh, no!! Not the helium car thread again.

Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA
---------------------------------

Date: Fri, 3 Feb 2006 14:17:07 -0500
From: "Miller, Andrew S." <asmiller@...>
Subject: RE: Sunshine Bethlehem gons

Sunshine cars are held together with helium thread ?? ;-)

regards,

Andy Miller

---------------------------------

C'mon guys. Helium weighs almost nothing and will be very difficult to keep sandwiched in between those gondola floors while the glue dries. Try some uranium from that secret sixties military train with the armed guards. I hear that weighs a lot!
(Oooops, home land security alarm. jus' kiddin'!!)

Seriously, thin sheet lead works wonders for these gondola weight quandaries. I just bought another package of various thicknesses of sheet lead marketed by T & J Rail Services P.O. Box 1965 Rancho Cordova CA 95741-1965. the five sheet variety pack PB-004 contains several thicknesses and is perfect for quite a few HO cars and costs around six bucks a pack. There have been several threads on this site leading to other mail order sources for sheet lead. Also, in a pinch, your local hardware man may have some handy for roof and garden applications.

Various sizes of lead shot glued under the floor and between the center sills is the most versatile solution, though gon undersides are not as easy to hide it under as hoppers. I find epoxy bonds with lead and everything else and makes weights NEVER come loose in action but I sometimes get lazy and just use Goo or Elmers. Shot is a real bargain, and one trip and twenty bucks at the the shooters' supply house will net you enough weigh for a lifetime of models. (Grab me one of them safety orange hats while yer there, my neighbor been shootin' at squirrels again.)

If you add lightweight loads, it is often easy to hide lead inside the loads, but the car will be underweight if you remove your loads like some do for operating realism. Plaster or resin loads can be augmented with a quick drilling out and lead shot insertion. Flat cars are in the same frustration category, especially those sans fish belly side sills. I find sheet lead to be the least obtrusive solution for those times when it is just impossible to hide the extra weight. Blends in better after painting.

Those all metal wheels are by Jay Bee Bennett Enterprises (Walthers vendor #369) and I see them at meets all over. Our friend J.P.Barger and Reboxx make great new wheelsets you could use but any wheels are not nearly heavy enough to compensate for the "resin mass deficiency" problem. (Then there is always the Northwest Short Line wheel empire.) Many trucks are quite heavy, but even the heaviest wheels and trucks won't make up for an underweight body.

Sorry, I know we have been here before, but just a quick refresher course. No what about that helium car...Tony?

peace, owen thorne

-----Original Message-----
From: STMFC@... [mailto:STMFC@...] On Behalf Of

2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705 www.signaturepress.com
(510) 540-6538; fax, (510) 540-1937; e-mail,
thompson@...
Publishers of books on railroad history




Yahoo! Groups Links
--
Owen Thorne
20 Hillwood Road
Glen Farms/Appleton/FairHill
Elkton, Cecil County
Maryland 21921-2031
owen@...
1-410-620-2078

Wait a minute! The car says butane and propane. Somethings not right here!!!!!!!

Pat Wider

Too many to list. So don't ask!

Pat Wider

Greetings I would like to extend an invitation to the 13th East Coast
Santa Fe Convention.

We also would like to invite folks with an interest in Southern Pacific
and/or Union Pacific as many of our group also have interests in these
railroads. I my self belong to both the SFH&MS and SPH&TS along with
several other people. At least three of our group belongs to the UPHS
as well as SFH&MS. So anyone interested in a fun weekend of railroading
activity please join us.

I have placed a Folder called East Coast (13th East Coast Santa Fe
Convention) in the file section of the storage group with PDFs of the
Meet Brochure and a Map to the club.

Bill Jones
mailto:bill.jones.wt@...

Tim,

You are insightful as usual. I also appreciated the bits of humor
sprinkled throughout your analysis in order to prevent the stats from
becoming too dry!

A few comments:

Regarding train length: did the wheel reports indicate the motive power?
An analysis of the motive power could reveal the increasing dieselization
of this era and therefore explain the difference between the '47 and '49
data. I believe this may also explain the sharp increase in UP-owned tank
cars moving in '49 -- they were used for company diesel fuel.

In that same regard, UP served several on-line refineries in McPherson,
KS, as well as refineries and pipeline terminals in Kansas City. (My
Freight Shipper's Guide is not handy at the moment).

I will also note that I have a Wheel Report from circa 1960 for a
conductor that tended to work the train to Sinclair, WY. As might be
expected, the report consists almost entirely of tank cars. My point is
that these kinds of operations (or the lack of them, in Fraley's case)
could serve to skew the statistics.

For stock cars, did Fraley ever work the DLS (Daylight Live Stock) -- an
essentially all stock train? Or is all of the data from "mixed" freights?

Thanks,

-Jeff

--
Jeff Aley jaley@...
DPG Chipsets Product Engineering
Intel Corporation, Folsom, CA
(916) 356-3533

I uploaded a picture of weights I added to an F&C gondola
http://ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/STMFC/photos/view/4222?b=64 I
suspect it would be just as easy to do so with the Sunshine
Bethlehem gons.

Jerry Glow

--- In STMFC@..., "ed_mines" <ed_mines@...> wrote:

Has anyone contemplated weighing Sunshine's Bethlehem gons? They

weigh

less than nothing.

Am I correct that recommended NMRA weight is about 5 oz or 150

grams?

Would placing sheet lead sandwiched between the floor and

underframe

raise the floor or raise the car? There are stops in the car body.

How much weight would be provided by filling in the space between

the

center sill (I'm looking at the LV car) with metal bars or lead

filled

putty?

Are those heavy wheel sets still available form JayBee or KayBee

or

some similar name? How much weight do 4 of them add? They're

little

bar bells.

How about heavy loads? Sunshine offers a couple of them from 50

ft.

gons but they pretty expensive. Anyone seen them? Are they worth

$15?

To change the subject, that Red Caboose SP stock car sure is nice

and

I'm sorry to see "Locomotive Quarterly" go.

On Feb 3, 4:31pm, Ned Carey wrote:

Subject: Helium car photo - was Re: [STMFC] Sunshine Bethlehem gons

Oh, no!! Not the helium car thread again.
Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA

Someone just uploaded a helium car photo to the steam freight cars photo
group. I am sure Tony will want to see it. The link is here.

http://ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/STMFPH/photos/view/e332?b=5

Ducking for cover,

Ned

Obviously a photo of a loaded car. One also presumes that the car was
cleaned of it's normal lading before being loaded with the He.

Regards,

-Jeff




--
Jeff Aley jaley@...
DPG Chipsets Product Engineering
Intel Corporation, Folsom, CA
(916) 356-3533

Oh, no!! Not the helium car thread again.
Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA

Someone just uploaded a helium car photo to the steam freight cars photo group. I am sure Tony will want to see it. The link is here.

http://ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/STMFPH/photos/view/e332?b=5

Ducking for cover,

Ned

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). 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

Patrick,

Nice pics you have there.
Do you have also pics of cars that has been released by Kadee for us?

Arnold van Heyst.


---------------------------------
Yahoo! Mail - Helps protect you from nasty viruses.

Those Canadians had armed trains of their own! http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/mb_history/19/armoredtrain.shtml

Though reading the story and looking at the pictures, perhaps not much of a threat to anyone - least of all the US, which was to supply the diesel engines!

Doug Rhodes

PS There is a yahoo group that discusses this particular variety of steam era freight car: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/railwaygun

I also remember a train that was built and operated on
Vandenberg AFB for the Peacekeeper missle. It
consisted of a copule of power units, a control car, a
material car, and a launch car. Don't know what
happened to it, though. Wish we could have taken
pictures on the base...

Jim Scott
Lompoc, CA.

--- ed_mines <ed_mines@...> wrote:

--- In STMFC@..., <oklacnw@...> wrote:

While it is right on the last year covered by this

group, the USAF
did operate a missile train in 1960-61 with the
Minuteman missile.

test'; ">

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Nice pictures, thanks for sharing. The ends of this CGW car look more
like Pullman ends.
Any chance that you have a picture of the roof of this CGW car ?
Later,
Bill Kelly


from: bkooistra@...

Sunshine cars are held together with helium thread ?? ;-)


regards,

Andy Miller