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[quote user="ericsp"][quote user="greyhounds"][quote user="ericsp"][quote user="greyhounds"]It's being restored.  According to the USDA these are the 107 TOFC loads of FF&V that the railroads rolled out of California on September 14th.  It's about 1/10th of what the trucks hauled, but it's a start. <TABLE style="WIDTH: 164pt; BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=219 border=0 x:str> <COLGROUP> <COL style="WIDTH: 143pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 6985" width=191> <COL style="WIDTH: 21pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 1024" width=28> <TBODY> <TR style="HEIGHT: 12.75pt" height=17> <TD class=xl22 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; WIDTH: 143pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; HEIGHT: 12.75pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width=191 height=17>APPLES</TD> <TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; WIDTH: 21pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" align=right width=28 x:num>1</TD></TR> <TR style="HEIGHT: 12.75pt" height=17> <TD class=xl22 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; HEIGHT: 12.75pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" height=17>BROCCOLI</TD> <TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" align=right x:num>8</TD></TR> <TR style="HEIGHT: 12.75pt" height=17> <TD class=xl22 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; HEIGHT: 12.75pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" height=17>CANTALOUPS</TD> <TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" align=right x:num>8</TD></TR> <TR style="HEIGHT: 12.75pt" height=17> <TD class=xl22 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; HEIGHT: 12.75pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" height=17>CARROTS</TD> <TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" align=right x:num>10</TD></TR> <TR style="HEIGHT: 12.75pt" height=17> <TD class=xl22 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; HEIGHT: 12.75pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" height=17>CAULIFLOWER</TD> <TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" align=right x:num>3</TD></TR> <TR style="HEIGHT: 12.75pt" height=17> <TD class=xl22 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; HEIGHT: 12.75pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" height=17>CELERY</TD> <TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" align=right x:num>9</TD></TR> <TR style="HEIGHT: 12.75pt" height=17> <TD class=xl22 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; HEIGHT: 12.75pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" height=17>GRAPEFRUIT</TD> <TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" align=right x:num>2</TD></TR> <TR style="HEIGHT: 12.75pt" height=17> <TD class=xl22 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; HEIGHT: 12.75pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" height=17>GRAPES</TD> <TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" align=right x:num>7</TD></TR> <TR style="HEIGHT: 12.75pt" height=17> <TD class=xl22 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; HEIGHT: 12.75pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" height=17>GRAPES-MIXED JUICE</TD> <TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" align=right x:num>5</TD></TR> <TR style="HEIGHT: 12.75pt" height=17> <TD class=xl22 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; HEIGHT: 12.75pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" height=17>HONEYDEWS</TD> <TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" align=right x:num>2</TD></TR> <TR style="HEIGHT: 12.75pt" height=17> <TD class=xl22 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; HEIGHT: 12.75pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" height=17>LEMONS</TD> <TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" align=right x:num>3</TD></TR> <TR style="HEIGHT: 12.75pt" height=17> <TD class=xl22 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; HEIGHT: 12.75pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" height=17>LETTUCE-ICEBERG</TD> <TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" align=right x:num>10</TD></TR> <TR style="HEIGHT: 12.75pt" height=17> <TD class=xl22 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; HEIGHT: 12.75pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" height=17>LETTUCE-ROMAINE</TD> <TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" align=right x:num>5</TD></TR> <TR style="HEIGHT: 12.75pt" height=17> <TD class=xl22 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; HEIGHT: 12.75pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" height=17>ONIONS DRY</TD> <TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" align=right x:num>4</TD></TR> <TR style="HEIGHT: 12.75pt" height=17> <TD class=xl22 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; HEIGHT: 12.75pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" height=17>ORANGES</TD> <TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" align=right x:num>16</TD></TR> <TR style="HEIGHT: 12.75pt" height=17> <TD class=xl22 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; HEIGHT: 12.75pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" height=17>PEPPERS</TD> <TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" align=right x:num>3</TD></TR> <TR style="HEIGHT: 12.75pt" height=17> <TD class=xl22 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; HEIGHT: 12.75pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" height=17>SWEET POTATOES</TD> <TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" align=right x:num>4</TD></TR> <TR style="HEIGHT: 12.75pt" height=17> <TD class=xl22 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; HEIGHT: 12.75pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" height=17>TOMATOES</TD> <TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" align=right x:num>5</TD></TR> <TR style="HEIGHT: 12.75pt" height=17> <TD class=xl22 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; HEIGHT: 12.75pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" height=17>WATERMELONS, SEEDLESS</TD> <TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" align=right x:num>2</TD></TR> <TR style="HEIGHT: 12.75pt" height=17> <TD class=xl22 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; HEIGHT: 12.75pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" height=17></TD> <TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" align=right x:num x:fmla="=SUM(B1:B19)">107</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE> <A href="http://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/wa_fv568.txt">http://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/wa_fv568.txt</A> [/quote] I was looking at some of those statistics and noticed that for most commodities, the carloads shipped by rail is down from the same time last year for almost all commodities. The page I bookmarked last night ([url]http://marketnews.usda.gov/gear/docexch/download/FV20060831Ddaily_move.pdf[/url]) has Access Denied when I tried to go to it today. Below is another page I pulled up. [url]http://marketnews.usda.gov/gear/docexch/download/CA_FV400.TXT[/url] [url="http://marketnews.usda.gov/portal/fv/search?paf_gear_id=400002&paf_dm=full&doAutoSearch=true&_DARGS=/portal/usda/templates/html/pagingBox.jsp.9_A&_DAV=2"]Search Results[/url] [/quote] Are the truckoads down too? I think railcar is a non-starter for most fresh fruits and vegeables.  They're very time sensative and TOFC beats carload every time in transit time. But this train is focused on some perishable commodities out of Washington State that aren't that time sensative.  It's primarily apples out of there. (with pears and onions)  Washington State produces over half the apples consumed in the US and, on average, every American eats around 22 pounds of apples a year.  Apples come out of harvest and go into controlled atmosphere storage.  Then they are shipped as needed.  You can store an apple but you can't store a head of lettuce.  So moving a few days of that storage into railcar transit and into an eastern distribution center doesn't loose that much.  And you gain something in return. An apple in that eastern DC can be delivered the next day to a customer.  Can't do that from Washington. This train has a really good shot at working.  But there is no certainty.  The UP fell on its ass trying to haul expidited UPS.  Hopefully, they've learned.  And TOFC works just fine for perishable transport.  Been there, done that, want to do it again. So if you live in the Northeast, go buy some fresh apples and help this whole thing out.  Me, I'm going to wave at the engineer.     [/quote] Some truckloads were down but many commodities that had less railcar shipments this year than at the same time last year had as many or more truckloads than last year. The two exceptions I am excited about are grapefruits and oranges out of Central California. It seems like potatos were also up, but many commodities were down. I was also surprised to see that NM ships railcars of potatos. In one of the threads, I remember someone who works for UP in the Midwest (not Carl, and obviously I cannot verify that the poster does work for UP) saying that the Express Lane trains are being treated like a regular freight. I wonder if that is the cause for the lower shipments this year. Has anyone heard what the Express Lane's on time performance is this year? I hope the UP and BNSF do increase their parishable business. I would really like to see more steel wheeled reefers and less rubber wheeled ones, espicially since California has a different speed limit for trucks than for cars, which makes driving on the highways around here misable. Is this thread making anyone else hungry? [/quote] Luckly Killjoy KAILFORNIA speed limits dont extend to the rest of the USA. There are certain stretches of interstate where you can stretch out a dollar run and make up some lost time. It's the poor company driver stuck with a 63 mph goverened rig and horsewhipped into driving while sleepy to try at getting to the eastern markets. But there are some mountain grades where you can drift it up to a dollar run for a few minutes here and there. Produce is a special kind of hot load. It needs to get from point A to B very rapidly. I think in the days of ice reefers it would cover the USA in less than 12 days. We can get it across the USA in three whole days or less. But we need to really button down and stand on the trains, TOFC and trucking with the same urgency that is given to the East Coast's Tropocania Juice Train. Fresh produce is best enjoyed by John Q Public inside the grocery store or eating out on the town and makes all the effort worth while. Let's not forget the Migrant workers who work the fields so we dont have to.
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