Railroad Shippers

[Anonymous]

[:)]Retired after 45 yrs of railroading, I am interested in creating waybills for my model RR of the 50's but would like to have information on what major shippers were on line (located on the RR) during the 50's and 60's. This way, my model RR is accurate right down to the shippers of the period. A good book on
the shippers of the 50's and 60's compare to todays railroad would be of great interest to anyone whose
interested in railroad history and would show how the patterns of transportation has change in 40 some years.
J Heater

[Anonymous]

[:)]Retired after 45 yrs of railroading, I am interested in creating waybills for my model RR of the 50's but would like to have information on what major shippers were on line (located on the RR) during the 50's and 60's. This way, my model RR is accurate right down to the shippers of the period. A good book on
the shippers of the 50's and 60's compare to todays railroad would be of great interest to anyone whose
interested in railroad history and would show how the patterns of transportation has change in 40 some years.
J Heater

[zardoz]

Any particular location you're interested in?

[zardoz]

Any particular location you're interested in?

[Anonymous]

Bob Nimke in NH has written a great series on the Rutland, Central New England, and all the roads of Vermont. Part of Bob's thing is to reproduce some waybills for these roads in appropriate time periods. He also has lists of foreign cars to each station with lading listed...neat for modelrailroaders. Maybe the historical society for your prototype [nearly all roads have an H.S.] can help you.

[Anonymous]

Bob Nimke in NH has written a great series on the Rutland, Central New England, and all the roads of Vermont. Part of Bob's thing is to reproduce some waybills for these roads in appropriate time periods. He also has lists of foreign cars to each station with lading listed...neat for modelrailroaders. Maybe the historical society for your prototype [nearly all roads have an H.S.] can help you.

[coalminer3]

C&O Histprical Society has reprints of "freight arrangement books" for the time period you are talking about. Also George Elwood's Fallen Flags site has lots of scans and/or pdf's of paper from different railroads.

work safe

[coalminer3]

C&O Histprical Society has reprints of "freight arrangement books" for the time period you are talking about. Also George Elwood's Fallen Flags site has lots of scans and/or pdf's of paper from different railroads.

work safe

[dknelson]

reprints of C&NW and Milwaukee Road shippers directories are available commercially although not from the time frame you are interested in. They are called shippers directories but they are shippers and receivers actually.
If you have knowledge of the area and a good local map showing street names it is possible to use street directories to arrive at educated guesses as to what local business shipped by rail.
Using these tools I have tracked the shippers on one local siding back to the turn of the century and it is interesting to see that a business I knew as a tannery (that received hides by rail) had at other times been a soap factory and a ceramic tile factory, presumably also shipping by rail.
Dave Nelson

[dknelson]

reprints of C&NW and Milwaukee Road shippers directories are available commercially although not from the time frame you are interested in. They are called shippers directories but they are shippers and receivers actually.
If you have knowledge of the area and a good local map showing street names it is possible to use street directories to arrive at educated guesses as to what local business shipped by rail.
Using these tools I have tracked the shippers on one local siding back to the turn of the century and it is interesting to see that a business I knew as a tannery (that received hides by rail) had at other times been a soap factory and a ceramic tile factory, presumably also shipping by rail.
Dave Nelson

[CShaveRR]

The C&O Historical Society also put out a book that was basically a snapshot of Pere Marquette operations in 1945. It told how many carloads went to each city, principal industries in these cities, interchange carloads, etc.

One thing you'll find (and I know that this lasted into the 50s and 60s) was that coal was a much more important local commodity...not for power plants, but for local dealers, and sometimes (this is going a little further back) for conversion to gas.

[CShaveRR]

The C&O Historical Society also put out a book that was basically a snapshot of Pere Marquette operations in 1945. It told how many carloads went to each city, principal industries in these cities, interchange carloads, etc.

One thing you'll find (and I know that this lasted into the 50s and 60s) was that coal was a much more important local commodity...not for power plants, but for local dealers, and sometimes (this is going a little further back) for conversion to gas.