Well Tony, sort of a combination.? I realized my error after I wrote it but sent it anyway to see the reaction and make the most of it.? You caught it too quick.? Since reefers were involved I expected to get a little more mileage out of it.?

Chalk the whole thing up to inhaling too many fumes from MEK while trying to assemble the bridge from hades.

Rich

Rich Orr wrote:

The discussion about bullion has centered on metals.? What about bullion as a soup base -- liquid, powdered or more likely during our time period cubes?? Vegetable based bullion would be a byproduct of processed vegetable crops since most bullion is made by boiling scraps in water then concentrating the result product.

Unless Rich has tongue violently thrust into cheek, he is confusing "bullion" with "bouillon."

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

The discussion about bullion has centered on metals.? What about bullion as a soup base -- liquid, powdered or more likely during our time period cubes?? Vegetable based bullion would be a byproduct of processed vegetable crops since most bullion is made by boiling scraps in water then concentrating the result product.







Rich Orr

Tim O'Connor and Brian Carlson point out that 1938 ain't 1949.

Everything changed from 38 to 49. Comparisons are almost meaningless,
unless your intention is to contrast the two time periods. Yes Tim has
pointed this out many times, there is no "would" about it.

Tim O'Connor

Also: As Tim Gilbert would point out, the economic conditions in 38 and 49
are different, so comparing representation in the 38 to 49 books is slightly
suspect. Larry does have a nice sample of one region at one point in time,
so it will be interesting to see what falls out after he gets through more
of the data.

Brian J. Carlson, P.E.

All quite true. We even had a different President. And, we had a war in between. Still...SP box cars exceed the national % in both cases. Same is true in 1956. I wouldn't bet against that being true in 1943 either.

Mike Brock

It looks like many of these are auto box cars. Since the auto
industry underwent huge changes between 1938 and 1949, I think
it's safe to assume that distribution patterns changed as well.

Tim O'Connor

Everything changed from 38 to 49. Comparisons are almost meaningless,
unless your intention is to contrast the two time periods. Yes Tim has
pointed this out many times, there is no "would" about it.

Tim O'Connor

Also: As Tim Gilbert would point out, the economic conditions in 38 and 49
are different, so comparing representation in the 38 to 49 books is slightly
suspect. Larry does have a nice sample of one region at one point in time,
so it will be interesting to see what falls out after he gets through more
of the data.

Brian J. Carlson, P.E.
Cheektowaga NY

Mike: PM is Pere' Marquette

Brian J. Carlson, P.E.
Cheektowaga NY

The PM is a puzzle. Could these be PRR?



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

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--- In STMFC@..., "Mike Brock" <brockm@...> wrote:
The PM is a puzzle. Could these be PRR?

Hi Mike

These puzzled me too, so I checked the car numbers against the ORER for January, 1938: All of them are valid PM numbers.

81009 XM
91610 XAR
88098 XM
71108 XAP/XM
86636 XAF/XM
71145 XAP/XM
92328 XAF
71314 XAF/XAP/XM
90701 XAF
91616 XAR
90955 XAR
91719 XAR
90855 XAR
71100 XAP/XM
92290 XAF
89440 XAF/XM

Of course, the numbers could be from other roads as well - I haven't checked whether any of them might have come from the PRR.

Best wishes,
Larry

Quick look observations.

Ferguson's book confirms the relatively larger number of SP box cars and unknown cars that my Fraley shows compared to their % of the national fleet. The WP number is a surprise since my Fraley shows WP as under represented. Many of the others appear to be similar to my Fraley...CB&Q, C&NW and Milw are relatively higher. The PM is a puzzle. Could these be PRR? Also, both PRR and NYC seem to be under represented.

I note also a much higher number of SFRD cars.

Mike Brock

Hi Folks

Here is some more information about Ferguson's Freight Conductors' Train Book, May 13, 1938, to June 21, 1938.

Ferguson listed the railroad and car number for 1,938 cars in his Train Book (of a total of 2,826 cars on the trains he rode). For many of the listed cars he included the type of car and the contents. The converse is also true – for many of the cars he did NOT list the type or contents. However, for some of the cars, such as PFE and SFRD, we can infer the type from the road name. In addition, for a few of the cars I determined the type from the 1938 and 1940 ORERs. Here is the breakdown of car types for the 1,938 listed cars, divided into eastbound and westbound:

Type of car: EB, WB, Total
Reefers: 492, 276, 768
Box & Auto: 212, 159, 371
G/H/B: 124, 35, 159 (gons, hoppers, and ballast cars)
Stock: 58, 37, 95
Tank: 28, 37, 65
Flat: 14, 2, 16
Passenger: 3, 6, 9 (mostly dead headed)
Unknown: 454, 1, 455
Totals: 1385, 553, 1938

Reefers dominated the known car types, followed by box and auto cars. The reefers were mostly PFE, followed by SFRD. Here is a listing of the roads with five or more reefers:

Rairoad: EB, WB, Total
PFE: 408, 208, 616
SFRD: 44, 17, 61
REx: 0, 11, 11 (Railway Express?)
UP: 4, 6, 10
NADX: 7, 2, 9
ART: 2, 6, 8
FGE: 4, 3, 7
MDT: 4, 1, 5
Others: 19, 22, 41
Totals: 492, 276, 768

Box and auto cars were the second most common known car type. Their distribution by railroad (for roads with five or more cars) is as follows:

Railroad: EB, WB, Total
UP: 94, 76, 170
SP: 10, 21, 31
WP: 18, 5, 23
CB&Q: 9, 8, 17
PM: 14, 2, 16
MILW: 7, 4, 11
MP: 3, 6, 9
PRR: 6, 3, 9
CNW: 7, 1, 8
NYC: 4, 3, 7
GN: 1, 5, 6
MC: 5, 1, 6
RI: 4, 2, 6
Others: 31, 22, 53
Totals: 213, 159, 372

Here is a listing of the most common railroads for the unknown car types. Note that all but one of the car types for the westbound trains is known.
Railroad: EB, WB, Total
UP: 201, 1, 202
SP: 66, 0, 66
CB&Q: 31, 0, 31
PRR: 14, 0, 14
CNW: 11, 0, 11
MDT: 10, 0, 10
IC: 9, 0, 9
MILW: 8, 0, 8
NYC: 8, 0, 8
ATSF: 7, 0, 7
RI: 7, 0, 7
B&O: 6, 0, 6
SLSF: 5, 0, 5
SOUTHERN: 5, 0, 5
TNO: 5, 0, 5
Others: 60, 0, 60
Totals: 453, 1, 454

On the assumption that most of the cars of an unknown type are box or auto cars, here is a composite of the most frequently listed box, auto, and unknown car types, by railroad:

Railroad: EB, WB, Total
UP: 295, 77, 372
SP: 76, 21, 97
CB&Q: 40, 8, 48
WP: 20, 5, 25
PRR: 20, 3, 23
CNW: 18, 1, 19
MILW: 15, 4, 19
PM: 14, 2, 16
NYC: 12, 3, 15
RI: 11, 2, 13
IC: 10, 1, 11
MP: 5, 6, 11
MDT: 10, 0, 10
ATSF: 8, 1, 9
B&O: 8, 1, 9
GN: 3, 5, 8
MC: 7, 1, 8
SOO: 6, 1, 7
SOUTHERN: 6, 1, 7
TNO: 6, 1, 7
SLSF: 5, 1, 6
CGW: 5, 0, 5
NP: 3, 2, 5
Others: 63, 13, 76
Totals: 213, 159, 372

Of the 1,932 cars that Ferguson listed, there was only one from the N&W. It was car number 42111, eastbound to Salina on June 12, 1938, with a load of lumber. It was a boxcar. Sorry Mike. On the other hand, there are 127 more Train Books left to analyze . . .

Best wishes,
Larry Ostresh
Laramie, Wyoming