Excerpt from Border Line by William L. Rohde (in Aug. 1947 Railroad Magazine)
The traffic manager gave his final order, “route these via the CV,” closed his little red book and watched six cartons of fine briar pipes receive an address stencil and waybill to Chicago. A few minutes later a company truck backed up to the loading platform and the cartons were loaded with many others into the one-ton body. The steel doors were secured with a padlock …and six cartons were safely originated on the Central Vermont Railway at New York.
Next stop is Pier 29, East River, almost at the southern tip of Manhattan Island, facing New York harbor.
The pier is a typical wood-shelter dock, with an agent’s office at the landward end and company offices upstairs occupied by the Central Vermont Terminal and the Central Vermont Transportation Company. To the left and right are other piers, where the booms of Liberty ships and several larger cargo vessels are constantly working cargo.
Through the gloomy, musty scented freight shed our little shipment moves with hundreds of others into the belly of a small ship painted funereal black. There is enough LCL and carload freight in break-bulk lots to fill one ship every day, and enough inbound traffic to warrant the arrival of a sister ship each morning.
The Central Vermont Transportation Company operates three of these steamers, one each way to New London, Connecticut, from New York every night. The third vessel is held in reserve and used as an extra or repair substitute.
Now our shipment moves out on Long Island Sound, eastward to Chicago. At 5:30 a.m. it leaves New London on CV train 491, and begins to cross Canada south of Montreal about 8 a.m the following morning. Still not much nearer its destination, it turns west and south until it reaches the United States again. At 2 a.m. on the third day it arrives in Chicago… This is excellent time for a journey which began the wrong way by water from New York, then moved
And, at times a shipment which did not fill a car would still be sent in a boxcar. I once had to help unload a shiment of flour that did not cover the floor at one end of a boxcar. It may have been that the milling company sent shipments to several stores in that car, but would it have been possible to keep them separate? The car did not have a smooth floor, and I had to pick splinters out of one sack (100 pounds) and sew the rip up.
Excerpt from Border Line by William L. Rohde (in Aug. 1947 Railroad Magazine)
The traffic manager gave his final order, “route these via the CV,” closed his little red book and watched six cartons of fine briar pipes receive an address stencil and waybill to Chicago. A few minutes later a company truck backed up to the loading platform and the cartons were loaded with many others into the one-ton body. The steel doors were secured with a padlock …and six cartons were safely originated on the Central Vermont Railway at New York.
Next stop is Pier 29, East River, almost at the southern tip of Manhattan Island, facing New York harbor.
The pier is a typical wood-shelter dock, with an agent’s office at the landward end and company offices upstairs occupied by the Central Vermont Terminal and the Central Vermont Transportation Company. To the left and right are other piers, where the booms of Liberty ships and several larger cargo vessels are constantly working cargo.
Through the gloomy, musty scented freight shed our little shipment moves with hundreds of others into the belly of a small ship painted funereal black. There is enough LCL and carload freight in break-bulk lots to fill one ship every day, and enough inbound traffic to warrant the arrival of a sister ship each morning.
The Central Vermont Transportation Company operates three of these steamers, one each way to New London, Connecticut, from New York every night. The third vessel is held in reserve and used as an extra or repair substitute.
Now our shipment moves out on Long Island Sound, eastward to Chicago. At 5:30 a.m. it leaves New London on CV train 491, and begins to cross Canada south of Montreal about 8 a.m the following morning. Still not much nearer its destination, it turns west and south until it reaches the United States again. At 2 a.m. on the third day it arrives in Chicago… This is excellent time for a journey which began the wrong way b
Which is why, back in the days, that no point in Iowa was more than 8 miles from a railroad track.
The Model T (and trucks) were made possible by the development of relatively lightweight and inexpensive internal combustion engines running on relatively cheap fuel. Steam traction engines have been around longer than steam railroads, Cugnot’s engine dates back to ca 1770, but the cost, weight, limited range and labor involved made them impractical for mass use. The increased use of cars and trucks then led to improved roads.
[quote]
They were doing this quite well, using an intermodal container system that greatly reduced their labor costs (and other costs). This 1920’s container system was successful in greatly reducing the cost of moving LCL by rail. The containers were not the containers of today. They weren’t 53’ long. They were smaller and designed to handle the smaller LCL lots of freight.
Then the government got involved. They ordered the railroads to increase the container rates to a point that made container service non competitive. They did this in 1931. (I’ve got more documentat
New Freight Shipping System by “Container Cars” of New York Central Lines
The new system of freight shipping by “container cars,” just inaugurated regularly after exhaustive tests on the New York Central Lines, was described in an address delivered Oct. 10 by F. S. Gallagher, Engineer of Rolling Stock, before the Society of Terminal Engineers at New York.
The steel “containers” give the shippers of less-than-car-load lots all the advantages of the carload shipment and additional benefits, through carrying shipments under utmost protection against pilferage or damage from the door of the sender clear to the door of the receiver. The “containers” are steel boxes, six to nine of which fit sectionally upon a car behind low steel walls which absolutely prevent their opening in transit. They are hoisted between motor truck and car by means of cranes, thus quickly releasing rolling stock and preventing congestion of platforms or tracks at terminals. The “containers” have been used regularly in carrying United States mail for over a year without any loss or damage whatever to valuable consignments; have reduced necessity of sacking mail and have greatly expedited inter-city deliveries. The “containers” permit a shipper to stow consignments on his own shipping platform and eliminate need of costly boxing and crating.
The successful tests of the “container” cars in carrying express and mail matter have now been followed by the establishment of crane equipment for regular “container” service in carrying less-than-carload freight between 33rd St. Station, New York City, and Carroll St. Station, Buffalo, N. Y., the “container” cars leaving each terminal Tuesdays and Saturdays. Special rates have been established under tarif
Johnny, thanks for commenting. It took longer to get to Chicago but it was cheaper because of a differential rate. Freight lightered from New Jersey and Brooklyn also went aboard the CV steamers. According to the Mayor’s Market Commission Report of 1913, “The Central Vermont Railway receives by boat at its Pier 29… about 19,000 tons of hay annually, 39,000 tons of condensed milk, 3,000 tons of flour, and about 200 tons of maple sugar and syrup.” CV built the New London pier in 1876, long before Grand Trunk control, to receive coal from the Reading.
Some amount of rail freight was going to divert to motor movement no matter what anyone did. The legacy harm of the 1931 regulatory decision comes from the fact that the civilian logistics network of the US was prevented from configuring itself into its most efficient structure.
The resultant sub-optimal configuration increased the costs of doing almost everything. It required greater inputs in terms of economic resources and produced less output. It diverted freight to truck movement that could more efficiently be handled by rail using the new intermodal container system.
The increased costs of this sub-optimal system made the economy smaller than it otherwise would have been. Since we go forward from where we’re at, this smaller economic base point resulted in the economy continuing to be smaller than it would have been absent the regulatory blockage of a more efficient logistics system.
And, the US economy had to grow while being hampered by sub-optimal logistics system imposed by the regulatory system.
The changes the railroads were making were necessary because the word had changed Motor freight was a reality and t
Passenger service had nothing to do with LCL and it demise…the rise of trucks without the need for transloading had more to do with it as did Flying Tiger Airlines and Emery Air Freight. Even though often the passenger agent was also a freight agent in rural areas, the general movement of small lots by truck was more a factor. Even manufactureres with their own truck fleet.
And if Flying Tiger and Emery are hard names to swallow in LCL shipping, try Purolator for small package delivery! It will all filter through.
Fascinating subject for those of us interested in the science and art of moving freight.
Greyhound…about a year ago I came across a copy of the Originating and Traffic of Illinois Central System on line and didnt purchase it. Would you recommend it?
I have a similar type of book called The Station Agent’s Blue Book which is a handbook (hardcover 522 pages) dealing with the responsibilities of a local station agent. Lots of stuff in there about handling shipment, including LCL and head end traffic.
Years ago, the first step of my working career was with a small LTL carrier that delivered freight in and out of Chicago, including to the freight forwarders of the world. I recall Merchants. Will have to dig out some of my old routing guides and Leonards Guides. Clipper is still around, having survived, in fact I have an appointment next week with Clipper in Chicago. Lifschultz did considerable business between Chicago and NYC. Many old photos of passenger trains on the south side of Chicago show the LFF freight house…and others.
Yes, another method for handling shipments that did not use a full railcar was to stop the car for partial unloading (or loading). This is still common in truckload movements today.
Instead of paying for three 10,000 pound LCL shipments the shipper could find that paying the full carload rate on 30,000 to the farthest destination would be less costly. (LCL rates were higher per pound than carload rates.)
The car would be billed out with instructions to stop the car for partial unloading at two intermediate points. The car would leave the shipper with its 30,000 pound load and first move to the closest stop point. There the consignee would remove 10,000 pounds of product. The railroad would then move the car to the second stop where that consignee would remove another 10,000 pounds. Then the railroad would move the car to the “Final” or last consignee who would empty the car.
Such a routing would be said to have had “Two stops and a final.” There could be one or more stops en route and the stops could be for partial loading or unloading.
This was not LCL service. The freight car never saw a railroad freighthouse and carload, not LCL, charges applied.
Yes, I would recommend the book. I wouldn’t pay an exhorbitant amount for a copy, but if it’s in your price range I think you’ll find it very informative and interesting.
The book was produced for use in training the railroad’s sales and traffic (marketing) people. It does not go into how to fire a 2-10-2 or allign track. But there are chapters dealing with the functions of the operating department, the transportation department, perishable services, rate territories, divisions, etc
It has seperate chapters on different traffic groups. i.e. coal, lumber, rates and transit on grain, (I’ll give you a gold star if you know what “Transit” meant in a rail tariff.), rates and transit on cotton, livestock and packing house products, merchandise (LCL), and others. It will tell you how this stuff was moved in 1938.
It has a lot more information, including chapters on intercity passenger service, head end service and the Chicago suburban service. The latter has a fold out map.
“The science and art of moving freight?” I have never thought of it as an art before, but I like the phrase and believe it to be very appropriate.
"Passenger service had nothing to do with LCL and it demise…the rise of trucks without the need for transloading had more to do with it as did Flying Tiger Airlines and Emery Air Freight. Even though often the passenger agent was also a freight agent in rural areas, the general movement of small lots by truck was more a factor. Even manufacturers with their own truck fleet.
And if Flying Tiger and Emery are hard names to swallow in LCL shipping, try Purolator for small package delivery! It will all filter through."
Try again Henry. Air freight could not possibly have done in rail LCL. Even today it cannot compete with trucks on a cost basis. Without military biz neither would have made it even a couple of years.
And Purolator? They came along in 1967. Long after LCL service was a dead loser where it even existed.
Probably going to take me awhile to find it again. I checked Ebay and Abe last night…nothing. Should have pulled the trigger on it, as much as I enjoy both IC and “traffic”.
If you run across a copy, let me know.
Regarding the “science and art” comment. Partly tongue in cheek, but as we both know there is a system involved in moving LTL or LCL freight. Developing that system is not rocket science, but simply considerable work and revisions. No doubt considerably easier today with the vast IT infrastructure available. However, at some point in time, human interaction should be able to overrule the system. That would be the “art” aspect.
Not sure if that “art” aspect still applies, I have been long gone from the industry (20 years)…enjoyed it, but it was a brutal industry during the 80’s as companies left the areana.
Flying Tiger of course became Fed Ex…I’m not sure what happened to Emery…but, yes, air freight was more LCL than car or trailer load…rarely was ther full plane load. And yes, Puralator came later as they were, as I was told around the EL, that since these guys were running along the same routes as EL needed payrolls and other company mail, an agreement was struck. I don’t know if it was only because of the lack of passenger trains with somewhat reliable schedules or it was cheaper than the US Postal Service or both. But, you’re right. it was never involved in LCL but just a name I thought I’d throw in the pot in talking parcel delivery…another name was, of course, Grayhound Bus, which did a lot of small town hopping with their parcel service.
I won’t repeat in full this marvelous document posted by wanswheel. You may read it for youself in his post. I’ll only note two observations. The first observation is about this part of the document:
[quote user=“wanswheel”]
May Be Handled on Ships. - An important feature of the container system is its adaptability to water