The August 1952 issue of "Trains" had a lengthy article on the beer line in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It stated that the MILW switched three of the six breweries in Milwaukee. Are any of the three breweries still operating? If so, which ones? The article has excellent photographs and a lengthy story by Wallace Abbey.
Yes, the three large breweries on the Beer Line were Pabst, Blatz and Schlitz. Schlitz was by far the largest shipper. At it's peak the line would generate 270 boxcars a day filled with kegs of beer. Miller Brewing (now Miller-Coors) used and still uses another former Milwaukee Road line and is the only brewer in Milwaukee that still ships by rail. Pabst still exists but uses all trucks now and it's a shadow of it's former self traffic wise.
Beer Line is abandoned.
https://www.ble-t.org/pr/news/headline.asp?id=19849
That would be Blatz, Schlitz, and Pabst. Not certain, but I think some craft beer is brewed at Pabst. Otherwise it is all gone.
An addition to my first post. The NP switched Grain Belt Brewery in Northeast Minneapolis. It was rumored that there was more beer on the engine than was in the warehouse!
In the early years of the BN merger, a General Yardmaster and a Trainmaster went looking for the northeast Minneapolis switch job. They could not find the crew or the engine. It seems the crew put their engine in the Grain Belt warehouse, shut the door, and shut the switch engine down to avoid the GYM and TM!
Ed Burns
CMStPnPPabst still exists but uses all trucks now and it's a shadow of it's former self traffic wise.
Pabst is a virtual brewer. They don't do their own brewing, like Bud or Yuengling, and instead rely Miller the way Apple relys on Foxconn for manufacturing. Pabst is realy nothing more than a marketing organization.
By the 90's, Pabst had lost so much market share that they exited the manufacturing side of the business and signed 20 year brewing agreement with Miller. Today, Pabst market share has grown to the point where they are grabbing sales from Miller. The kicker is that the agreement calls for automatic renewal as long as Miller has excess capacity.
Talk about creating your own enemy.
Miller is planning to shut down the Irwindale CA brewery, but is offering to sell it to Pabst
azrailMiller is planning to shut down the Irwindale CA brewery, but is offering to sell it to Pabst
Hasn't Pabst advertised in the past that it was 'The Beer that made Milwaukee famous'. If they were to take the Irwindale brewery ????????
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Schlitz is the beer that made Milwaukee famous. The company provided its beer to Chicago residents for free in the emergency following the great Chicago fire. Pabst is Pabst blue ribbon beer. Pabst regained its recent popularity by dumb luck. It became the choice of young anti-consumerist types. It had no marketing budget, which they identified with. Just a shelf item that dwindling oldsters still drank.
GrampSchlitz is the beer that made Milwaukee famous.
The very large Milwaukee Road Freight House across the tracks from Kansas City Union Station is now a complex of 3-4 restaurants. The plaque on the side of the Freight House states it was used almost exclusively by the Milwaukee Road as a distribution point for Schlitz Beer for the entire city. Which explains the location as well as the number of tracks that used to be there. Makes you wonder what other locations Schlitz and Milwaukee Road were working together.
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