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1947 Great Northern Carloads--Commodities Likely Moving in Reefers
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gary laakso
My handy 1947 Great Northern Annual Report shows the following carloads for commodities that I think may have moved in reefers:
originated received from connections 1- apples, fresh 22,474 539 2- other fresh fruits 3,671 8,947 3- potatoes 19,302 3,477 4- vegatables, fresh 1,317 4,408 5- flaxseed 5,281 76 6- sugar beets 9,759 1 7- other products of ag. 8,245 4,464 8- eggs 2,115 84 9- butter 997 57 10- beverages 1,444 3,002 gary laakso south of Mike Brock vasa0vasa@...
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GN and NP originated a lot of potatoes in North Dakota's Red River
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valley region.
-------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "gary laakso" <vasa0vasa@...> My handy 1947 Great Northern Annual Report shows the following carloads for
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Douglas Harding <dharding@...>
Gary not to disputed your assumption that the commodities cited moved in
reefers. But there are exceptions. Sugar beets were loaded in open cars, gons or hoppers, for delivery to the processing plant. And I believe flaxseed was treated like other grains, shipped in boxcars. Flaxseed added an additional dimension as it is a very find and slippery seed. So the boxcars had to be tight, very tight, all holes plugged or coopered. This seed required top quality boxcars. Some fruits and vegatables could be loaded in stockcars or gons, ie melons, tomatoes, and the like. And other products of ag .... Would not this be primarily livestock and grain? Ie stockcars and boxcars? Doug Harding www.iowacentralrr.org No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.472 / Virus Database: 269.9.0/853 - Release Date: 6/18/2007 3:02 PM
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Dave Nelson <muskoka@...>
Douglas Harding wrote:
Some fruits and vegatables could be loaded in stockcars or gons, ieAlso overlooked was canned goods which were often shipped in reefers. No ice of course. What do they call that today... RBL?? And don't forget beer either. Dave Nelson
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George Simmons
--- In STMFC@..., "Douglas Harding" <dharding@...> wrote:
melons, tomatoes, and the like.Growing up, my father a MOP conductor/brakeman wouldn't let me keep cantaloupe in the ice box/refrigerator saying, "after you have ridden behind a train load of cantaloupe for 100 miles you never want to smell the stuff again." His youngest brother, a clerk/switchman, told me that they carried the cantaloupe in stock cars. One of ideas is to find some cantaloupe scented candles and place in stock cars to simulate this. George Simmons Dry Prong, LA
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Anthony Thompson <thompson@...>
George W Simmons wrote:
His youngest brother, a clerk/switchman, told me that they carried the cantaloupe in stock cars. One of ideas is to find some cantaloupe scented candles and place in stock cars to simulate this.Hopefully they only moved that way for fairly short distances. PFE moved something like 30,000 cars of cantaloupes a year from the Imperial Valley of California alone in the steam era (details of the traffic, icing, car reserves,etc. are in the PFE book), but in reefers. Pete Holst's recollections are highlighted by the many local trains a day needed to switch the sheds and move the melons, and the call boys calling brakemen every hour for another job . . . Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA 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
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gary laakso
I agree with you that sugar beets and the flaxseed would not have moved in
reefers. It is unclear what was included in the 1947 "other products of agriculture". The 1926 Annual Report uses the same heading. In the 1947 Report it is the residual category after wheat, corn, oats, barley and rye, flour and meal, mill products, apples-fresh, potatoes, vegetables-fresh, falexseed and sugarbeets. The 1926 list did include "hay, straw and alfalfa" and did not include apples-fresh or vegetables-fresh, rather it used "fresh fruits". [Original Message]Moving in Reefers melons, tomatoes, and the like.
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Philip Dove <philip.dove@...>
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----- Original Message -----
From: George W Simmons To: STMFC@... Sent: 19 June 2007 01:26 Subject: [STMFC] Re:The smell of Melon trains, was1947 Great Northern Carloads--Commodities Likely Moving in Reefers Growing up, my father a MOP conductor/brakeman wouldn't let me keep cantaloupe in the ice box/refrigerator saying, "after you have ridden behind a train load of cantaloupe for 100 miles you never want to smell the stuff again." His youngest brother, a clerk/switchman, told me that they carried the cantaloupe in stock cars. One of ideas is to find some cantaloupe scented candles and place in stock cars to simulate this. George Simmons Dry Prong, LA George wouldn't it be easier to put small pieces of cantaloupe in each car and let it rot? Cattle cars, and W&AG Hide cars could be made with the correct smell if you could keep the apropriate contents stuff moist. I leave it to someone else to try this Philip Dove
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