Jeff,
Part of the original concept was that freight from Council
Bluffs was "Pooled". This was an early agreement that split
the revenue on that traffic equally between the C&NW, CB&Q,
CRI&P, and CMStP&P. With the revenue automatically split it
was only logical that the volume would have to be split. If
it was not the expenses incurred by one carrier would reduce
their margin and vice versa.
One of the problems with this arrangement was the congestion
at Council Bluffs. Another was the UP's "Bridge Fees" which
is still an issue today. (Coal trains to the IC are now
interchanged at Sioux City because of the Bridge Fee problem.)
The C&NW was able to get the majority of it's traffic
interchanged at Fremont. The CB&Q was able to work out a
connection at Grand Island although the physical layout did
not make it an easy one. (This would not even be possible
now as the BN built a bridge over "The Big Road".) This
also allowed CB&Q/BN to get that traffic into the yard at
Lincoln for classification if that was felt to be better
than waiting until Galesburg. Usually that was the plan.
During the 60's and 70's the UP would make up about ten
trains at North Platte and run them out right in a row.
That would cover all their Eastbound interchange at Kansas
City, Grand Island, Fremont, & Council Bluffs for the day.
As far as the UP's blocking was concerned they were done
with any switching on a car when it was humped at North
Platte. Their advantage with this setup is obvious.
What happened? Many things, not necessarily in priority
order.
1. Coal traffic.
2. Deregulation.
3. The disintegration of the CRI&P and the CMStP&P.
4. The long downturn in Pacific Northwest lumber and
California perishable traffic.
Even during the 60's there were cracks in the plan. By
that period PFE had decided that it wanted it's empties
in solid trains. These were made up at Elkhart or Conway,
(yes, and at Meadville, Battle Creek, and Bellevue also
but not in trainload blocks), and handled by the C&NW to
Fremont or the CRI&P to Santa Rosa. It's easy to see that
those two roads were working harder for the same revenue.
CB&Q/BN moved virtually no PFE empties West. Not a bad
deal if you can arrange it. I can recall waiting at a
crossing in La Grange for 140 mechanicals moving from
Elkhart to Proviso around 1973. These were run just about
every day. If the NYC/PC/CR had been really nice they
would have a C&NW leader and would just be a crew change.
Now BNSF and UP interchange a great deal of traffic at
both Hastings and Omaha but it is almost all AG business
that originates in Eastern Nebraska. You keep the long
haul traffic for yourself.
Russ
----- Original Message -----
From: jworones
To: CBQ@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, 05 March, 2004 16:24
Subject: [CBQ] Q-UP Chicago Grand Island train
Does any one know how the Q and the UP teamed up on joint freight
service?
The UP's passenger service from Chicago was already joined with the
CNW (and later MILW), making that the logical choice. Why didn't they
go with them?
Just curious...
Thanks!
Jeff Worones
Las Vegas, NV
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