Re: [WPList] Express Service LCL freigjt
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Nick and friends, Long story. About a year before he passed away, Jeff Moreau gave me a packet of papers he said he didn't understand. They are carbon copies of correspondence setting up the WP/SN Merchandise Service. I have always wanted to write this story for the WPHS HEADLIGHT, but have almost no information on when the service?ended, and no photos of the express boxcars on a passenger train (I have ?a single shot in my collection of one in an SN freight, see attached). So here is a summary: During the mid-to-late 1930s the WP was concerned about the amount of freight house business they were losing to truckers operating over newly paved state highways, both licensed operators and pirates. The cream of this business was in merchandise moving from manufacturers and large wholesalers in the San Francisco/Oakland area to retail merchants in Sacramento and the smaller upper valley cities. So the railroad kicked around various schemes to counter the loss.? One idea was to use WP baggage cars cut into and out of passenger trains to speed up deliveries. One important consideration was moving the 60-foot cars around tight curves at the SN's downtown freight stations?(150-foot radius in Sacramento). During a test in mid-1937 a WP baggage car was switched into the SN's 2nd & M Street freight house, or at least they tried. The car derailed on the curve. Then the WP officers realized that they only owned 20 baggage cars, and nearly all were needed for regular service. So tight curves and a lack of equipment scuppered the project temporarily. By early 1941 the WP and SN had worked out an alternate plan and was ready to go. Fifteen of their recently-purchased 20001-series steel boxcars were chosen at random and renumbered with?"2" added at the front of their numbers. They were given steam and signal lines, upgraded steel wheels, and painted Pullman green with yellow lettering and a snappy yellow stripe along the floor line. The cars were 220071, 220084, 22085, 220086, 220089, 220092, 220105, 220106, 220108, 220136, 220146, 220149, 220159, 220176 and 220194. Service began on Friday 28 March 1941. Only 12 cars were needed to keep the service moving, but three extras were on hand in case of repairs, missed return connections, and perhaps optimistically heavy Christmas service. The latter did not come to pass and lean times?were soon upon the whole country. The cars were homed in San Francisco. Merchants who wanted the expedited service had to wire or call in their orders so the suppliers could deliver the goods by the close of their business day to the WP freight station. Then four cars were pulled and given priority loading. Next they were moved across the bay on the first available car float to the Oakland freight house for topping up. The next morning the four cars were cut into Train 12, the eastbound Feather River Express, behind the locomotive for a noon departure. The first boxcar was dropped at the WP station in Sacramento where a switcher would hustle it over to SN tracks for unloading at the 2nd and M Street freight house. Any shipments for Woodland would be delivered by truck the next day. The second and third cars were dropped at Marysville. One went to the SN's downtown Marysville freight station, and the second was added to the SN night freight at Yuba City for Chico the next morning. The last car was dropped at the WP depot in Oroville, and was moved via the SN to their downtown freight station. By this time the SN bridge over the Feather River had been washed out, and the SN tracks were operated as an isolated island. The Merchandise cars were supposed to get priority unloading, and the empties were sent back to Oakland via freight train 53. They were then shuttled back across the Bay for cleaning to be ready for the next loading. Cars were loaded in San Francisco Monday through Friday. Cars were not loaded on Saturdays, Sundays or legal holidays. This basically provided 48-hour delivery (except on Sundays and holidays) to downtown freight houses in the target cities, so retailers could pick up their goods at the freight house on the second day after calling in their order. This still couldn't match the truckers, who could pick up directly from the Bay Area suppliers, and if they drove all night, deliver directly to the merchant's store the next morning.? How the service fared during WWII is unknown. There were a lot less consumer goods available to sell, but on the other hand gasoline was rationed even for truckers, and this may have balanced out some lost business. I seriously doubt that the railroad made a profit from their Merchandise Service, but probably were required to keep it running during the war years. Note that this service did not include the WP's regular LCL business, nor Railway Express Agency shipments. When the decision to drop the service was made, and under what conditions, I don't know. As with most tariff changes, an?announcement was probably made in TRAFFIC WORLD, but I do not have access to relevant issues of that magazine. The answer is probably buried in the still uncataloged (AFAIK) WP papers held at the CSRM Library in Sacrament. Certainly when rationing ended after the?war, the trucking business boomed and rail shipments fell. I do know that the cars were stripped of their passenger fittings and returned to general service on AFE C-24-48. One car was still unconverted in the July 1949 ORER, perhaps having escaped off line in general service. None of the 15 boxcars are known to survive today. The WPRM has the sole example of the 200-car class, 20094, but it is not one of the former express cars. Yours Aye, Garth Groff ???????? (Scotland forever!) On Sun, Nov 24, 2024 at 12:51?PM Nick Lorusso via <nalorusso1978=[email protected]> wrote:
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