RE: (erielack) gasoline and distribution

["JKB" <mail_@_joshuakblay.com>]

Got a photo to share Schuyler?  Thanks very much for sharing!

Joshua
http://www.joshuakblay.com

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- -----Original Message-----
From: Schuyler Larrabee [mailto:schuyler.larrabee_@_verizon.net] 
Sent: Thursday, August 18, 2005 12:12 AM
To: 'Joshua'; 'Tupaczewski, Paul R (Paul)'; 'Edward Mines';
erielack_@_Lists.Railfan.net
Subject: RE: (erielack) gasoline and distribution

> Subject: RE: (erielack) gasoline and distribution
> 
> Yes!  I know the 2 or 3 I am thinking of had sidings.
> 
> Joshua
> 
> > > How about fuel dealers in individual towns?  I think of 
> at least 2 
> > > or 3 in Cortland, NY during the DL&W era.
> > 
> > Thanks to Ed Mines for bringing up this interesting topic. 
> I guess my
> mindset is in "today" terms, where when you have a product, 
> you ship it to a large regional distribution center and then 
> truck it out to local dealers. It works for gas this way, as 
> well as a host of other things, from appliances to clothes. 
> Everything seems to work on a macrodistribution level.
> > 
> > In the steam era, I would assume that things worked more on a
> microdistribution level, where instead of consolidating 
> product in one spot and then shipping from that point, it 
> would appear that the manufacturer (or refinery, in this 
> case) would ship product out in tank cars destined for 
> individual customers. Am I making a correct assumption?
> > 
> > If that's the case, then in Joshua's scenario above, the 
> fuel dealers
> would be the ones getting the tank cars?
> > 
> > 	- Paul

I actually have some family connection with a gasoline delivery on the ERIE.

My mom's uncle owned a gasoline station (two, actually) in Binghamton.  It
was called Blitzen
Supercharged Gasoline.  One of the two stations was on Upper Court Street,
next to the east end of
the coal trestle for the Binghamton State Hospital.  The building is still
there, a mildly
interesting cobblestone building, two stories.  There was a small station
across the street, built
into a cobblestone retaining wall at the base of the hill.  Behind the main
station were a series of
silver-painted tanks, horizontal, maybe 12' in diameter, up on angle iron
supports.  The spur was
separate from the Hospital spur, and went behind the tanks.  If you go there
now, it takes some
imagination to see it but if you KNOW there was a spur there . . .

They had two tank cars painted 'specially for them.  These were 8,000 gallon
cars, perfectly modeled
by the Life-Like model.  They were painted silver, black bottom and frame,
and had a three or four
color logo on them for the Blitzen trade name.  This was in the late
20's/early 30's.  They tell me
that the cars ran between Syracuse and Binghamton (Hi Joshua!), so there was
a transfer between the
DL&W and the ERIE.

One of my projects (#4,759) is to have these heralds done so I can decorate
a couple of these
models.  I plan on utilizing the timestretcher machine so they can be run
with ERIE diesels, too . .
.

They also sold bagged coal, which they bagged on site.  I have tried to get
the cousins in my mom's
generation (still alive) to say that the coal came in hoppers on the spur,
but they say no, it came
in trucks.  Apparently, bagging coal was, at times, a punishment for bad
behavior on the part of
said cousins.  It was a DIRTY job.

One more point, yes, gasoline was in fact delivered over the road in trucks
as well as by tank car.
My dad used to tell of an exCITing trip he took with a guy who worked for
the Blitzen gang, driving
up to Syracuse.  The man chainsmoked all the way in a truck >>reeking<< of
gasoline . . .

SGL






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