As it was explained to me on many occasions by the guys who did it;.local
(w/f) car distribution worked as follows at least for grain service: your
train would have many 40 footers and it was up to the Conductor to allocate
them to the elevators on his run. Besides the official distribution system
that filled car orders there was an unofficial system that I have been led to
believe overruled any official allocations.We'll use the Fox River wayfrt as
an example of how the real system worked.Lets say you had 20 mty 40 footers
for spotting on your run between Eola and Wedron. So you start out at Oswego
and set out 2 for this elevator and when you catch the waycar as it goes by
there's a couple cartons of cigarettes on the back platform. So these cars
were worth a carton apiece. Now its off to Yorkville and each of the 2
elevators in town want 5 cars(or for that matter as many as they can get).
Here the cars are worth a 5th of Canadian club. So you drop off a
corresponding number of cars. Then at Fox its a few cigars. So on and so
forth. The problem w/the system is the guy at the last town (or the one who
isn't quite as generous) ends up on the short end. Elmer Fick has told me
that the elevator at Wedron had one(XXXX) of time getting mtys! I'm not
making this up I've heard the examples from so many guys so many times that
there's no doubt of its authenticity. Of course the booty was shared among
the crew members. But sometimes the arrangement would change while enroute as
the story goes that the brkmn would from time to time cut their own deals
from the headend that weren't necessarily what the "brains" in the w/c had
planned on so his deal for farther down the line would go unfilled!
Now the part I'd like more info on is did the crew then have to share the
spoils w/the ydmstr and switchmen who made up their train? My bet is yes.
Lets just say I know from experience on a somewhat similar arrangement that I
am familiar with. Leo
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