Freight Commodity Statistics
I recently came across the attached Freight Commodity Statistics from a 1952 C&O annual report. It dawned on my that this data along with an ORER from the year I am modeling will help me to curate a properly balanced freight car fleet for my layout.
I do have a few questions that the wise folk in the group might be able to answer.
How was grain shipped in the early 50's? The C&O didn't have a large fleet of covered hoppers and what they did have seemed to be used more for things like cement. I am guessing that boxcars would have been used. I have read items that have mentioned grain doors. Can someone explain to me what grain doors would have looked like and how were they used?
I also see that chemicals and explosives is a significant category. I would assume that when they speak of chemicals, these would mostly be tank car commodities, but what about the explosives? I am assuming that much of this would be used in the mines and would be delivered by box car. How were these cars marked. I would assume some kind of a placard but I am not finding much that indicates what style would be correct for the early 50's.
Albany NY
I recently came across the attached Freight Commodity Statistics from a 1952 C&O annual report. It dawned on my that this data along with an ORER from the year I am modeling will help me to curate a properly balanced freight car fleet for my layout.
I do have a few questions that the wise folk in the group might be able to answer.
How was grain shipped in the early 50's? The C&O didn't have a large fleet of covered hoppers and what they did have seemed to be used more for things like cement. I am guessing that boxcars would have been used. I have read items that have mentioned grain doors. Can someone explain to me what grain doors would have looked like and how were they used?
I also see that chemicals and explosives is a significant category. I would assume that when they speak of chemicals, these would mostly be tank car commodities, but what about the explosives? I am assuming that much of this would be used in the mines and would be delivered by box car. How were these cars marked. I would assume some kind of a placard but I am not finding much that indicates what style would be correct for the early 50's.
The list breaks out grain that originated on the C&O as well as from connecting railroads.Grain would have likely showed up in cars from roads west of thee C&O's territory.
In 1952, 1,112,084 tons originated on the C&O and 792,268 tons was received from other roads.
I’ve been using this data for decades. I’ve attached a spreadsheet for the Western Pacific in 1948. I merged the ICC data with some seasonality data from the AAR to make some assumptions about what might have been occurring on the WP.
Much harder to find are the quarterly reports of the same data.
FWIW, yours is an abbreviated list; after 1947 there were something on the order of 265 commodity classes.
Several of these reports are available on Google Books, including a couple in the 1950’s. IIRC there is also a business directory from 1950 for West Virginia there.
Dave Nelson
From: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io <main@RealSTMFC.groups.io> On Behalf Of Dave Wetterstroem
Sent: Friday, February 10, 2023 8:38 AM
To: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io
Subject: [RealSTMFC] Freight Commodity Statistics
I recently came across the attached Freight Commodity Statistics from a 1952 C&O annual report. It dawned on my that this data along with an ORER from the year I am modeling will help me to curate a properly balanced freight car fleet for my layout.
I do have a few questions that the wise folk in the group might be able to answer.
How was grain shipped in the early 50's? The C&O didn't have a large fleet of covered hoppers and what they did have seemed to be used more for things like cement. I am guessing that boxcars would have been used. I have read items that have mentioned grain doors. Can someone explain to me what grain doors would have looked like and how were they used?
I also see that chemicals and explosives is a significant category. I would assume that when they speak of chemicals, these would mostly be tank car commodities, but what about the explosives? I am assuming that much of this would be used in the mines and would be delivered by box car. How were these cars marked. I would assume some kind of a placard but I am not finding much that indicates what style would be correct for the early 50's.
There's more info and the actual titles to search with here:
http://bmfreightcars.com/ICC_Freight_Statistics.html
Note the ICC statistics don't have $ values
--
Ken Akerboom
http://bmfreightcars.com/
In the case of California gravel was a very uncommon commodity, at least in the north half of the state. By far the largest deposit was in Livermore (owned by Henry J. Kaiser) and both the WP and SP hauled it’s gravel to the cities along the Bayshore as well as over Altamont Pass to the interior valley.
In the years before WWII it was very common for rural roads on the west coat to only be gravel. Henry Kaiser started his industrial empire building such roads up and down the west coast. His understanding of work break down structure served him quite well later on when helping the Bechtels build large dams. In WWII he took a bet regarding how fast a Liberty Ship could be built. With clever planning they built and launched one in 4 days His methods produced Liberty Ships at just 25% the cost of other shipyards. His 8 shipyards on the west coast were a major destination for steel in WWII.
Dave Nelson
From: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io <main@RealSTMFC.groups.io> On Behalf Of Dave Wetterstroem
Sent: Friday, February 10, 2023 1:53 PM
To: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io
Subject: Re: [RealSTMFC] Freight Commodity Statistics
Dave Nelson,
Interesting that on both railroads, Gravel and Sand are such major commodities. Someone suggested that it might be from all the highway construction, but the Federal Highway Act wasn't till 1956.
The ICC reports are probably available in most "major city" libraries (Buffalo, NY had them)Hathi Trust has them from 1924 to beyond the limits of this list.
I think Google Books has a comparable collection, just not as tidy in terms of a bibliographic summary. Try searching thee with:
"Freight Commodity Statistics, Class I Railroads in the United States" followed by a 4-digit year.
A tremendous resource (=rabbit-hole), especially because there are regional and national summaries to which the individual road data can be compared.
--
Dave Parker
Swall Meadows, CA
One thing you probably need to realize is that these commodity classes were established by the ICC, and not by the C&O. Therefore, even though the category is named “chemicals and explosives”, it does not necessarily mean that there was any significant shipment of explosives on the C&O. Of course there was SOME, but it could have been relatively rare – most of the tonnage might have been just plain chemicals.
Regards,
-Jeff
Sent: Friday, February 10, 2023 8:38 AM
To: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io
Subject: [RealSTMFC] Freight Commodity Statistics
I recently came across the attached Freight Commodity Statistics from a 1952 C&O annual report. It dawned on my that this data along with an ORER from the year I am modeling will help me to curate a properly balanced freight car fleet for my layout.
I do have a few questions that the wise folk in the group might be able to answer.
How was grain shipped in the early 50's? The C&O didn't have a large fleet of covered hoppers and what they did have seemed to be used more for things like cement. I am guessing that boxcars would have been used. I have read items that have mentioned grain doors. Can someone explain to me what grain doors would have looked like and how were they used?
I also see that chemicals and explosives is a significant category. I would assume that when they speak of chemicals, these would mostly be tank car commodities, but what about the explosives? I am assuming that much of this would be used in the mines and would be delivered by box car. How were these cars marked. I would assume some kind of a placard but I am not finding much that indicates what style would be correct for the early 50's.
Back in the 1950s MR published a photo of an exploding boxcar with "Pelligro Dinimita" stenciled on the sides. The interior contained a pinball ball sitting on a short piece of concave track. If the car wasn't switched with extreme care the ball would roll off the end of the track, completing a circuit that triggered a mechanism that caused the sides and roof to pop off. It might have been John Allen.>.........I really love the idea of having a box car or two with an explosives placard on it.
Tom Madden
Scott Haycock
On 02/11/2023 1:24 PM Tom Madden via groups.io <pullmanboss@...> wrote:
On Sat, Feb 11, 2023 at 11:57 AM, Dave Wetterstroem wrote:
Back in the 1950s MR published a photo of an exploding boxcar with "Pelligro Dinimita" stenciled on the sides. The interior contained a pinball ball sitting on a short piece of concave track. If the car wasn't switched with extreme care the ball would roll off the end of the track, completing a circuit that triggered a mechanism that caused the sides and roof to pop off. It might have been John Allen.>.........I really love the idea of having a box car or two with an explosives placard on it.
Tom Madden
Try searching thee with:On my phone, this link came up in that search - for Northwest modelers, a report from the Ninth Federal Reserve District office in Minneapolis for June of 1928: https://www.minneapolisfed.org/~/media/files/research/monthly/1928/2806a.pdf?la=en It includes annual carloadings from the district as well as some monthly datas. I don't know if this was a standard publication of all Federal Reserve Districts or not, but it could be useful, if it was.
"Freight Commodity Statistics, Class I Railroads in the United States" followed by a 4-digit year.
Dave Smith
Per Tony Thompson’s wonderful series of books on Southern Pacific freight cars; 20 or so of the SP express boxcar (passenger service) fleet of 50 were modified with GSC outside swing hanger trucks. Because the cars so equipped rode so well was the reason stated for them to be given a second life assigned specifically to ammunition service in the 1960s. If the C&O had any military bases or munitions/explosives manufacturing online, it’s entirely possible they, like the SP, had boxcars dedicated or modified specifically for that service.
This might be one of those cars -- at Alamogordo NM, no less.
On 2/11/2023 5:07 PM, B.L. Griffith wrote:
Per Tony Thompson’s wonderful series of books on Southern Pacific freight cars; 20 or so of the SP express boxcar (passenger service) fleet of 50 were modified with GSC outside swing hanger trucks. Because the cars so equipped rode so well was the reason stated for them to be given a second life assigned specifically to ammunition service in the 1960s. If the C&O had any military bases or munitions/explosives manufacturing online, it’s entirely possible they, like the SP, had boxcars dedicated or modified specifically for that service.
Tim O'Connor
Sterling, Massachusetts
I built this car for an old train club and placarded it for explosives for delivery to the two mines
on the layout. The club was based on the C&O in West Virginia and Virginia.
Richard Hendrickson supplied the art and information for the Microscale set that includes this decal.
On 2/11/2023 6:00 PM, David Soderblom wrote:
But the C&O was all about coal, and mining is all about explosives. I would think mines received explosive shipments on a regular basis.
Tim O'Connor
Sterling, Massachusetts
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