Pennsylvania Railroad riches

[henry6]

[quote user=“Paul_D_North_Jr”]

On another website and regional group forum for the NS between Altoona and Johnstown, PA - http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/nsaltoonajohnstown/ , a college student - Josh Holland - has compiled and posted “train logs” from time to time. Most recently - this past Friday, 15 April 2011, from 0630 AM to 6:50 PM - he did one at CP COVE = MP 116 on the NS Pittsburgh Division, which is a few miles northwest of Harrisburg, PA, Enola yard, Rockville Bridge, etc. Over the weekend I compiled a summary of it, which is repeated below. Even though it’s 'today" and not 100 years ago, I still think it’s instructive on the volume - 33 trains in just over 12 hours ! - and mix of traffic that the PRR, then PC, ConRail, and now NS see on this core segment of that system. Note that with regard to traffic balance and direction, of the 5 trains that could be identified as loads, 4 were EB and only 1 was WB - a work train of rail at that; and of the 7 trains that were identified as empties, 5 were WB and only 2 were EB.

• Paul North.

Summary of Josh’s train log for 12 hrs. 20 mins. = 12.33 hrs.:

33 trains - 16 WB, 17 EB
Locomotives - 76, 37 WB, 39 EB

Intermodal - 13, 7 WB, 6 EB
Coal - 4, 3 empty WB, 1 loaded EB
RoadRailer - 1, 0 WB, 1 EB
Ethanol - 2, 1 empty WB, 1 loaded EB
Automobiles - 2, 1 empty WB, 1 loaded EB
Manifest - 5, 2 WB, 3 EB
Steel Slabs - 1, 0 WB, 1 empty EB
Work Train - 1, 1 loaded WB, 0 EB
Passenger - 2, 1 WB, 1 EB
Grain - 1, 0 WB, 1 loaded EB
Trash - 1, 0 WB, 1 empty EB

To the extent we can tell loads vs. empties for 12 of these trains, note that
the loads are predominantly EB - 1 Coal, 1 Ethanol, 1 Automobiles, 1 Grain = 4
total EB loads, plus 1 Work train loaded WB; whereas the empties are
predominan

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

In the PRR Triumph I: book that I referenced above, Chapter 9 - Operations is about 10 pages, mostly written around a study of traffic volumes and delays to trains over the Pittsburgh Division main line on April 6, 1945 - certainly not a typical or representative day, though, as that was just a month before the end of WW II in Europe, and 4 months before the surrrender of Japan. But it also includes some traffic density information from 1941 and 1947, which is more typical, and can be summed up by saying “A heckuva lot !”.

• Paul North.

[MP173]

Back in the late 70’s I visited the Conrail tower at Wanatah, In. The operator crawled up in the attic and started throwing dusty bundles of paper down to me. He grinned and said something to the effect that I would like them.

Turned out these were station sheets for Wanatah for months during the 1940’s. Each bundle = 1 month including train order copies. Wow. I gave away most of them to my railfan buddies, but kept one bundle.

The amazing thing was the volume of traffic moving on the line. Wanatah is about 60 miles east of Chicago on the Ft Wayne line. Routinely the line would see 80-100 trains daily.

Granted, it was during the war years and volume was high, but the volume of freight and passengers being moved was exceptional. Sadly, the line is now single track and sees 1 - 2 trains daily (Chicago, Fort Wayne, and Eastern). NS has trackage rights and runs another train or two.

During the late 70’s train volume was about 20-25 per day. I worked adjacent to the tracks at a trucking terminal and the trains would rumble by maybe 100 ft from my office. One day in the early 80’s I noticed there were no trains. All traffic was shifted to the former NYC line via Elkhart.

Amtrak continued to run the Broadway Limited and Capital Limited, plus two “dummies” daily to and from Chicago, but the freight was gone. Then the “dummies” went away and soon afterwards so did the Amtraks.

NS was able to gain the line in the mid 90’s and brought it back, using it as a backup line to the NKP line, with several trains daily.

It is a pretty decent stretch of track, with 40mph running on jointed rail…just no train traffic to speak of.

Ed

[oltmannd]

[quote user=“Paul_D_North_Jr”]

Murphy Siding:
At one time, the PRR was THE railroad in the US. What was the ace in the hole for The Pennsylvania? Was it the trunk line to Chicago? Hauling minerals, such as eastern coal? Hauling farm produce and factory goods? Hauling passengers (in the early days)? Or was did the PRR just have what a stock broker would call a well rounded portfolio of traffic?

I’d say the latter - and all of the above - plus a generous helping of good luck. In addition to some of the preceding comments, I offer the following:

• Charles S. Roberts (died last year) in his PRR Triumph I book advances the thesis that the early PRR officials - John Edgar Thomson and associates, circa 1850 - anticipated the major flow of traffic would be eastbound, down the Horse Shoe Curve grade - not westbound/ up it, which gets all the attention and drama. He points to the ruling EB grade of only about 1.0%, as compared to the 1.8% ruling grade WB as evidence of that thought. I haven’t accepted that proposition yet - I think it’s more a result of just what was reasonably achievable with the terrain they were confronted with and the construction methods of the day, than a planned balance or trade-off of those grades - but there may be some merit to it;
• Again per Roberts, the PRR was very conservative in managing its finances - typically paying out as dividends only 1/2 of what was earned, and investing the rest back into the business. Likewise, its capital structure was conservative - no more than $1 of debt for each $1 of equity. For a little more on that - and other characteristics of the early PRR - see this essay on Thom