(erielack) RE: LCL Traffic

["JG at graytrainpix" <graytrainpix_@_hotmail.com>]

Paul B and all other operations enthusiasts,

I’m not an expert on freight forwarders, but some previous posts on this 
List from Artie Erdman, Bob Bahrs and others give a general picture.  Bob 
outlines Acme operations on the DL&W in the 50s, with consolidation 
facilities in Manhattan, Hoboken, Newark and Athenia (Clifton on the Boonton 
Line).  Artie discusses the forwarder boxcar block on NY-99 from the late 
60s up to about ‘72.  He remembers the boxcar block at the rear of the 
train, just ahead of the caboose; in ‘71 and ‘72, I recall seeing it on the 
head end.  We’re probably both right, given the frequent shifts in EL 
operating patterns.  Artie also recalled Acme shipments out of Orange St. 
Yard in Newark on the Morris & Essex; the Pusher crew would take them down 
to Croxton for NY99 sometime around 7 or 8 PM.  In EL in Color 4, Canfield 
discusses forwarder traffic out of Lifshultz at 28th Street in Manhattan, 
even provides a picture.  Canfield also discusses the evening carfloat out 
of 28th Street to allow Lifshultz cars to make NY99 (and how NY Division 
management would have to get VP Ops Gary White in Cleveland involved if it 
got delayed; classic micromanagement).

I’m not sure about where the forwarders were located in the Hoboken / Jersey 
City complex.  I vaguely remember an Acme Fast Freight building somewhere in 
Hoboken, remember the distinctive circle and arrow emblem.  This is also 
more of a question than an answer, but I recall occasionally being at 
Hoboken Terminal around 8pm during the summers of 69 and 70, walking out to 
the end of the platforms and watching a 300 or 400 switcher come down to the 
freighthouse on the north side of the engine area.  The crew would switch it 
out, then leave for Grove Street and the float yard with a small cut of 
boxcars.  Could those also have been headed for NY99 with traffic from a 
consolidator using the freight house?  The Hoboken freight house was a big 
facility with lots of truck bays out on Observer Highway, so it would seem 
possible.

I’m gonna guess that by the late 60s, practically all boxcar forwarder 
traffic was for Chicago (unless one of the companies still had a siding and 
dock in Akron or Youngstown).  I remember in 1971 and 72 sometimes going to 
the Williamson Library at Grand Central for the Friday night RRE slideshow 
with some railfan brethren, and we’d stop in at the Hoboken Dispatcher’s 
Office while waiting for a train home (we hardly had any credentials, but as 
J. David Ingles said in an article about railfanning in the 60s and early 
70s, “they don’t call these the glory days without reason”).  That would be 
around 10PM, and I would sometimes watch the teletype outside of the chief’s 
cubicle start up and spew out the consist of NY-99.  I recall seeing boxcar 
numbers come out first (almost always EL), and they were all listed as 
Chicago cars.

Forwarder traffic did appear to be mostly westbound; my vague recollections 
of seeing NY-100 in the early 70s (either running late, or while I was 
working a 3rd trick during the summer) is that it sometimes had a few 
boxcars, but often didn’t; whereas the boxcar block on NY-99 was a regular 
feature until after 1972.  Another guess here, but I’ve read that the 
eastern carriers preferred westbound forwarder traffic over eastbound, as 
most eastern roads (including the EL) had an imbalance of eastbound loads.  
Westbound forwarder traffic was a good use for some of the accumulated empty 
boxcars in Croxton, that otherwise had to go west empty on an Ordinary (or 
X-1, back in the mid-60s). I’m not sure if the ICC and Rate Bureaus allowed 
it, but the EL and other carriers might have offered boxcar forwarders lower 
rates (or better service) for westbound shipments, thus explaining why 
NY-100 often ran all-TOFC while the 99 regularly had forwarder boxcars.

This is a bit sketchy and not 100% accurate, but that’s part of the 
back-and-forth dialectic process by which we seek historical accuracy 
(recall the great debate about the MoTown bumping block, and how the truth 
was eventually reached – all part of the process).  Awaiting further 
clarifications / corrections.

Jim G.

>
>I have some questions about LCL for Jim and the group, but first a little
>background.
>
>In the 1950's, RR's began shifting this unprofitable traffic to third
>parties, ie the freight forwarders and consolidators, who had less costly
>labor arrangements. These included companies like Acme and Clipper; Erie 
>and
>then EL used Lifschultz Fast Freight and Clipper Carloading (and possibly
>others). In the 1960's this traffic largely shifted from boxcars to TOFC. 
>By
>the 1970's EL was one of very few roads that still handled LCL in boxcars.
>
>Here are my questions concerning this traffic in the 1970's:
>
>1. Were other cities served besides NY and Chicago?
>2. Was there an LCL station on the Jersey side, and if so, where?
>     (Perhaps Pavonia?)
>3. Westbound traffic was handled by NY-99; photos generally show a
>     headend block of forwarder boxcars. Eastbound traffic supposedly
>     went on NY-100; why do you not see these boxcars on photos of this
>train?
>     (handled on the rear, perhaps?)
>4. Finally, why did EL continue to handle some LCL this way long after 
>other
>     roads had shifted to TOFC?
>
>Paul Brezicki
>



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