Hercules Chemicals products used to be moved by Railroads

[wjstix]

I can't imagine what PC would have to do with it? Seems to me Hercules Pro-Fax or whatever the name was had cars at least into the 1980's? 

[Andrew Falconer]

In Kalamazoo, MI the Hercules Chemicals plant products were used by Paper and Pharmacutical production. One of the Hercules customers was Upjohn. A Hercules leased 8,000 Gallon ACF Tank Car from the 1920's was somehow left alone at the Upjohn plant for decades. Upjohn was taken over by Pfizer. The Hercules leased Tank Car is now at the Vicksburg Historical Society.

Andrew Falconer

[henry6]

They had a major explosion sometime in the late 30's I believe, in Kenvil.  Rocked most of Morris County, NJ.  My father said he was delivering LP gas to a customer some 20 miles away and was knocked out of his truck.  Even today, the property has a high security fence with a great forest barrier between in and surrounding roads.  NJT's Mt. Arlington Station is just west of the property and also runs along it's northern perimater.

[Deggesty]

henry6

Thanks, deg,  I remember Hurcules as a ammunition, powder, and explosives manufacturer in Kenvil area of NJ.  Also in the Wilkes  Barre area of PA, I recall.  Product used in coal, iron, zinc, talc, cement, slate, and stone mining in North Jersey, Northeastern PA, across NY and the Hudson into CT. 

Yes, Hercules used to make explosives out west from where I live. We were not here when they were really bigtime in that business. I have a memory of an article in Reader's Digest many years ago, which describes an explosives manufacturer which had housed the process in many small buildings so that there would be less damage overall if one process had an undesirable event, and I think the article was about Hercules. Hercules used to be a large-scale employer in Utah, but does not employ as people as it used to.

Johnny

[henry6]

Thanks, deg,  I remember Hurcules as a ammunition, powder, and explosives manufacturer in Kenvil area of NJ.  Also in the Wilkes  Barre area of PA, I recall.  Product used in coal, iron, zinc, talc, cement, slate, and stone mining in North Jersey, Northeastern PA, across NY and the Hudson into CT. 

[erikem]

Johnny,

 Appears that you're just east of what used to be the Hercules Bacchus works, which is now mostly Alliant Techsystems with the carbon fiber plant run by Hexcel.

- Erik 

[Deggesty]

henry6

UMMMM...is Hercules still a business name...or has it been rolled into one of the other chemical companies?

Try this site: http://www.herchem.com/

Johnny

[henry6]

UMMMM...is Hercules still a business name...or has it been rolled into one of the other chemical companies?

[Andrew Falconer]

Hercules Chemicals products used to be moved by the Railroads.

The February 2000 issue of Trains Magazine had a photo of the Hercules leased ACF Center Flow Hoppers when they were being rolled out of the ACF plant in the 1960's.

What events caused Hercules to no longer move their products by Rail Transportation? 

Did the end of railroad usage have something to do with the events of the Penn Central?

Andrew Falconer