Do dispatchers sheets, wheel reports, etc exist for these extra north trains ?
I ask because I’m wondering if it wasn’t so much an accumulation of empty
boxcars at Cicero(where extra tracks were scarce and interchanges were rapidly
switched to make room for the next) than it was seasonal moves of grain empty’s
going back to the northern plains. Keep in mind much grain still moved by rail
back then before river transportation took the lions share of the business.
Leo Phillipp
> On Apr 10, 2021, at 9:26 AM, William Hirt <whirt@fastmail.com> wrote:
>
> From what I've read and seen, the GN and NP liked to spread their eastward
> traffic around from the Twin Cities. It was pretty evenly split among the
> railroads for the eastern haul. It wasn't until the BN merger that the bulk
> of this was switched to Q line to Chicago (no reason to short haul yourself).
> The merger changed a lot of the traffic patterns.
>
> The 1968 GN wheel reports that have been posted by some GN folks show this
> distribution. There was as much or more going CNW and SOO as the Q got. The
> CGW and RI also got their share. There was not an insignificant number of
> cars handed off to the Q by the GN that made the trip east via the Q to East
> Winona and then on the GBW to cross Lake Michigan on the ferry to the Ann
> Arbor.
>
> Since these NP P-S cars were Class A boxcars (clean commodities), the local
> agent at the location were the car was emptied would attempt to get a Class A
> load to put in the car for it's return west. The railroad prefers a load
> rather than shipping one back empty to get the revenue. And since there was a
> boxcar shortage in the 1960s due to the financial condition of the eastern
> railroads, finding a load was probably not very difficult. This was a common
> complaint of the western carriers. If you have BRHS CD of the railroad issued
> Burlington Bulletins, you'll see this topic was discussed again and again.
> Also at this time, the primary flow of freight was still east to west across
> the country, so a relatively new nice boxcar with a relatively clean interior
> would be a strong candidate for a return load. The flow of empties was much
> more west to east at that time (with the exception of produce reefers).
>
> I've converted those GN text consists into Excel files. So I've attached them
> so you can see for yourself.
>
> Bill Hirt
>
>> On 4/10/2021 6:14 AM, Tom Mack via groups.io wrote:
>> I just picked up a couple of Tangent's new double door 40' NP box cars (one
>> plug, one sliding). These cars, mostly loaded with lumber, were very common
>> on Q trains heading east from Mpls/StP. If you haven't ordered one (or two,
>> or whatever), they look to be superb cars of a unique design!
>>
>> Now to the topic. I got to thinking about an earlier thread about empty NP
>> and GN box cars being collected at Cicero and then moved to Mpls/StP in
>> extras once a certain number accumulated - basically a unit train of empty
>> box cars. But then I got to thinking about reverse routing of empties and
>> per diem rates and began to wonder how this would have worked. The cars
>> coming eastbound would have been loaded, and anything going east of Chicago
>> would have come through Chicago. Reverse routing would have brought the cars
>> back to Chicago. But then it seems that the empty box cars would have
>> immediately headed back westbound on the next train so the Q could avoid the
>> per diem charges. Why keep the GN and NP box cars in the yard longer than
>> you have to? On the other hand, it might have been more economical to let
>> them accumulate and send them out on an single extra. So I am wondering if
>> anyone knows the reasoning behind the box car extras.
>>
>> Can anyone explain how this might have worked on the Q? I have accumulated a
>> lot of GN and NP boxcars simply because there were so many of them and a
>> great variety that moved eastbound across my line (Mpls/StP to Chicago). I
>> suddenly realized I can run an empty westbound box car extra of pure NP and
>> GN boxes of all types, which would be pretty cool, and a great way to put
>> all those GN and NP box cars to better and more frequent use!
>>
>>
>
>
>
>
>
> <GN_82_Wheel_Reports.xls>
> <GN_88_Wheel_Reports.xls>
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