(erielack) Re: "Human Remains" in Consist

["J.McEachen" <jmcea_@_sbcglobal.net>]

When I worked for REA Express in their NYC E. 38th St. computer center 
c. 1963, I came across ICC regulations for shipping remains. It detailed 
the construction of an outer shipping container of wood, even as to the 
sizes of wood to be used and specifically the sizes of nails in various 
locations. And I may be mistaken on the detail here, but the regulation 
specified that the remains were to be carried head first, but positioned 
in the baggage or express car feet first (I may have the direction 
wrong, but the carrying direction and the travel direction were detailed 
in the reg.) I uysed this regulation in later MBA courses for papers on 
government regulation of business. I also gave the example to later 
classes that railroad management under the ICC was usually not very 
creative - they simply had to follow the pertinent ICC directives, and 
if none existed, petition the ICC to write a new directive. However, 
railroad management in my estimation became extremely creative in 
interpreting how to apply the often conflicting directives and get the 
trains running on time and the passengers and freight delivered to their 
destinations.

It never ceased to amaze me that the ICC would concern itself with the 
construction of outer shipping containers for caskets and remains, even 
down to the size of the various nails used.

REA shipped a lot of remains as they could most expeditiously deliver 
the containers to a funeral parlor. Rail shipped remains, like air 
shipped remains today, must be picked up by a mortuary at the station or 
airport, and I doubt if interline "baggage" agreements would have 
allowed transfer to another railroad. REA offered "one carrier service" 
anywhere. Every so often now you can see an obvious shipping container 
going up the conveyor belt into an airplane cargo hold.
Joel McEachen

EL List Daily wrote:

>EL List Daily         Tuesday, March 7 2006         Volume 03 : Number 1947
>>From Archives_@_Railfan.net
>Message-ID: <1f1.4c72c9e2.313d69d0_@_aol.com>
>Date: Mon, 6 Mar 2006 05:32:48 EST
>From: VSX9000_@_aol.com
>Subject: Re: (erielack) "Human Remains" in Consist 
>
>In a message dated 3/5/2006 9:14:16 PM Eastern Standard Time,  
>MOEL_@_paonline.com writes:
>>Were  most stations equipped
>>to handle human remains.  Just  wondering!
>
>I think the DL&W station in Scranton had a morgue.......I think it is  the 
>bakery room now.
>Lou
>
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