Re: [CBQ] 60' Box Cars Between Mpls/StP and Chicago

["Fred Crissey" <fhc925@frontier.com>]

Tom:

More on 60ft box cars.  The Q had about ten 60ft cars assigned to Kellogg's at Battle Creek.  They were use primarily in a two way move between Battle Creek and their plant on the UP at Omaha which was open to reciprocal switching.  Westbound cars were "knocked down" cereal boxes on pallets and eastbound was cereal.  The Battle Creek plant was/is served by both the GTW and NYC and their successors.  I'm sorry but they did not move via the "Mississippi River Scenic Line".

Appliances tended to move in 40ft DF cars.  Whirlpool which was/is the "big dog" in this business was/is headquartered in Benton Harbor MI and their biggest customer was Sears.  The Q had 40ft DF cars assigned to them at Evansville, IN, Findley and Clyde, OH.  They also had plants in St. Joseph, MI and Fort Smith, AR amongst others.  When Athearn came out with their 40ft "Hi-Cube" DF cars with CBQ marks I checked the cars closely.  They were correctly numbered and even the "When empty return to....." stenciling was correct based on the original assignment of the cars.

The Ford assembly plant in St. Paul was built in the 1920's on the MILW and closed to reciprocal switching.  This plant was one of if not the best plant Ford had.  The quality of their products was outstanding.  That is why it lasted into the 2010s. The MILW protected this business with equipment and service.  They ran a Ford "FAST" train daily out of Chicago although as time passed and the MILW/SOO "faded", the NS with an agreement with the CNW/UP ran a daily "Roadrailer" train from Detroit to St. Paul via Chicago as well.  As an aside some Ford parts traffic from Detroit moved via DT&I-AA-GBW-Winona-MILW.  The MILW could not have been too happy about this but the overall transit time may have been faster or more consistent.  So some axles from Ford at Sterling MI may have moved up the Mississippi in Q 60ft cars they were on the other side of the river.

Fred Crissey

On Saturday, September 4, 2021, 02:55:46 PM CDT, Hudson Leighton <hudsonl@skypoint.com> wrote:

The St. Paul, MN Ford plant was on the Milwaukee Road.

The earlier Ford plant was on the GN in Minneapolis.

The other use of these cars could be Appliances, there was Whirlpool on the NP
and White on the Milw.

-Hudson

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