Freight House Industry Expertise Needed

[ndbprr]

So now that we have a specific railroad and a specific time period and no responses it is becoming obvious that none of us know the answers to your questions.  I would repost on the prototype information board in the model railroading group with a title like Southern RR informatioon needed.  That way people with knowledge will jump right in.  In the meantime you may want to look for some pictures in books about the Southern or try some websites about the Southern for answers

[wcu boy]

I would be modeling the Southern Railway in the 1970's. Do any of you know any of the practices of freight forwarding in the 1970's by the Southern Railway. Most of the examples by ones on this thread have been from the ATSF and the northern railroads. Would the practices by Southern Railway be any different from the northern railroads? Or is there a tremendous differences? I would value your thoughts.

 

[grizlump9]

"I started my railroad career as a freight handler in the ATSF freight house in Chicago in 1977, so yes, a freight house is appropriate in the 70's era"

. 

 in 1977 lcl business had been gone from the former NYC, then PC at E. St. Louis for over 10 years. by then most of the lcl out of St Louis area was in trailers loaded by Springmeier or Acme or some other forwader like that.

i am curious to know how the ATSF held on to this business for so long.  did most of your freight originate and terminate on the west coast?  was there a dedicated train that it was forwarded on? what was the ratio of I/B vs O/B?

grizlump

[ds137]

I started my railroad career as a freight handler in the ATSF freight house in Chicago in 1977, so yes, a freight house is appropriate in the 70's era.  As info, half of the building was leased to freight forwarding companies. Each side had 80 doors for trucks to load and unload, with 4 tracks into the building that could handle 12 cars each.  Access to the cars on the inside most tracks were through the boxcar on the outside track (closest to the dock ) and across a steel bridge ramp about 6 feet long into the next car that was spotted to align the doors with those on the outside track. 

[ndbprr]

 

The freight houses you are talking about were primarily owned by the railroads.  Their demise was a result of trucking, interstate highways and railroads attempting to get out of LCL and individual car service.  Truckers were more then willing to take it over.  The type of building and their locations is going to vary widely.  PRR freight houses could be brick or wood and enclosed with covered walkways like a passenger shed in many locations. the one at North philadelphia station had at least six tracks and I have seen a picture with more than 20 cars there.  the one one mile up the corridor was much smaller with two tracks.  The one 1/2 mile to the west had four tracks.  So three freight houses in less than one mile and a half and several others in Philadelphia and its environs!  A small town may only have one track and a much smaller structure. Wetern (read Arizona, New Mexico, California, etc.) may be more open air and may not even have had walls due to the climate.  Definitely a roof and fence.  Some research into the area you model or railroad you model is definitely called for

[wcu boy]

 Thank you so much dehusman, Brakie, Cuyama and Grizlump 9 for your wonderful suggestions. I really appreciate you taking some time to answer this newbie's questions. I think I will go with the freight house concept and use the suggestions of Cuyama to name the structure so that it fits the 1970's era. Thank you everyone for your wonderful help.

[grizlump9]

 two companies that come to mind from the 1960's-1970's are Universal Carloading and Springmeier Shipping co.

grizlump

[cuyama]

It would be the name of the freight car forwarding company. This might be descriptive, such as "Pacific Freight Forwarding", "Triangle Trucking", "Imperial Drayage", "Motor Transport", or include an owner or founder's name, such as "Gray Trucking", or be just names.

This was going on as far back as 1894, when the nearly defunt Candeleria, NV freight station on the Carson & Colorado railroad sported a sign reading "D.W. Earl & Co. Forwarding". Much more common in the 1960s and 1970s and beyond, of course.

[wcu boy]

 Cuyama, Thanks for the great help. If they become private freight forwarding companies, what kind of sign would be out front that you are alluding to instead of freight house signage.

I really appreciate your help. Thanks for taking some time to help me.

[cuyama]

In the 1970s, many freight houses were taken over by private freight forwarding companies. They received and shipped boxcars of merchandise, but typically not LCL. So they could still be in operation, with a different sign out front.

[wcu boy]

 DeHusman,

Would I be better off with a appliance warehouse, printing company or lumber yard with the 50' single door and double door PS1 boxcars.

The reason that I am using 50' PS-1 boxcars is because I love the detail work of the Kadee cars and I have a nice balanced small layout roster for them to be used on my future layout.

Do you have a better suggestion for a structure for these types of cars. I would value your expertise very much. Please help. I want my 50' Ps-1 ones (both singles and double doors) to work and make operational sense.

 

[BRAKIE]

Actually freight houses handle more then LCL..Then would unload fully loaded cars for off line customers.

Note the NYC freight house in the picture..Item #16..Also note the B&O freight house item  #13.

 http://www.columbusrailroads.com/pom-mar2008.htm

 

As you can see both was a very busy freight house.

 

Also freight houses still exsist..They are called "distribution centers" today.

[dehusman]

wcu boy

On my new layout, I was planning a freight house model structure using the new Walthers Modular series. I wanted to use 50' PS1 boxcars, both single and double door cars with the freight house. The era that I wanted to model was the 1970's.

Did the freight house industries die in the 1950's and early 1960's?

Pretty much yes.

 Would displaying a freight house and 50' PS1 boxcars in the 1970's be prototypical or should I look for another structure idea besides the freight house?

Yes it would be prototypical, the buildings remained until today, its just they weren't used for LCL very much.

50 ft cars wouldn't be that prototypical.  The door spacing wouldn't match the cars since they were spaced for 40 ft cars.  Double door cars wouldn't be used because they were mostly for autos and larger shipments that required a large opening to load, and they wouldn't be handled at an LCL dock. 

I am curious why you will be using just PS-1 boxcars?  LCL would be in pretty much any make of any road's boxcar.

[wcu boy]

 I was doing some reading in the book, MR Guide to Industries Along the Track 2 by Kalmbach. I was reading in the LCL freight article in the book that alluded that more freight house operations ended in the 1950's and at the latest the early 1960's. 

On my new layout, I was planning a freight house model structure using the new Walthers Modular series. I wanted to use 50' PS1 boxcars, both single and double door cars with the freight house. The era that I wanted to model was the 1970's.

Did the freight house industries die in the 1950's and early 1960's? Would displaying a freight house and 50' PS1 boxcars in the 1970's be prototypical or should I look for another structure idea besides the freight house?

This newbie needs some help from those who know a lot more than he does. I would appreciate a quick response.