As we all know, in the earlier days of railroading before specialized freight cars, many items were shipped in boxcars. And before the common use of steel drums, bags and cardboard containers, many items, I'm told, were shipped in wooden barrels. I can think of items like wine, cement, nails and other hardware being shipped in barrels but I'm wondering what else was commonly shipped by rail in barrels?
Bob Chaparro
Hemet, CA
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Today we have inexpensive mass-produced cardboard boxes, but lots of
small items used to be packed with excelsior in barrels. General
household goods like plates, cookware, and hardware, tools,
mechanical parts, widgets...

Rob Simpson

----- Original Message -----
From: Bob Chaparro

As we all know, in the earlier days of railroading before specialized
freight cars, many items were shipped in boxcars. And before the
common use of steel drums, bags and cardboard containers, many items,
I'm told, were shipped in wooden barrels.

I can think of items like wine, cement, nails and other hardware being
shipped in barrels but I'm wondering what else was commonly shipped by
rail in barrels?

----- Original Message -----

Any kind of breakable item like glassware, pottery, and china was packed
into barrels with excelsior and sawdust.

KL




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Bob Chaparro wrote:

As we all know, in the earlier days of railroading before specialized freight cars, many items
were shipped in boxcars. And before the common use of steel drums, bags and cardboard
containers, many items, I'm told, were shipped in wooden barrels.

I can think of items like wine, cement, nails and other hardware being shipped in barrels but
I'm wondering what else was commonly shipped by rail in barrels?

==============================================


Many glass products were also shipped in wooden barrels and boxes.

In researching the West Virginia glass industry, I find many plants had a box factory as part
of their operation or located very close by. These box factories made products of the wooden
variety in the pre-WWII period. Many of the larger plants converted to corrugated cardboard box
plants after WWII. I have seen several Grief Brothers box factories noted on fire insurance
maps and in shippers guides. While there were some window glass plants in West Virginia, many
tableware factories dotted the industrial landscape here. Some of the final product may have
also been shipped in wooden barrels.

Another small factory is seen in a few instances. The Sanborn Fire Insurance maps for
Moundsville, WV, illustrates the Fostoria Glass factory operation quite well. Just up the short
B&O branch was an excelsior plant. Excelsior was a shredded wood product used as packing
material in many boxes and barrels.

Eric Hansmann
Morgantown, W. Va.





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--- Larry Jackman wrote:

What did these box factories make their boxes out of????

================================


I'm kind of shocked that you had not worked in a box factory, Larry.
Come to think of it, that seems to be one job you haven't mentioned
here over the last few years. <grin>

As I noted in my post:

Many glass products were also shipped in wooden barrels and boxes.

In researching the West Virginia glass industry, I find many

plants had a box factory as part of their operation or located very
close by. These box factories made products of the wooden variety in
the pre-WWII period. Many of the larger plants converted to
corrugated cardboard box plants after WWII. < <

Wood for boxes often was shipped from saw mills. It was not #1
material, but rough cut smaller dimensional material shipped in
boxcars. Smaller stock would not be shipped using gondolas or flats.
Box factories often had additional saws to cut the lumber to the
necessary sizes. I would suspect the wood came from the closest
source.

Corrugated cardboard box plants would receive rolls of heavy kraft
paper stock to manufacture the cardboard. Larger plants would receive
the paper rolls in boxcars.

Eric Hansmann
Morgantown, W. Va.




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