During my first few years on the job, we'd occasionally get gondola loads of "guts" (offal). I can't remember where they went from or to (Cudahy may have had something to do with them). I recall the first time I saw one of these from the tower...I think they are reasonably solid most of the time, but this was during or after a rain. The first warning we got was when the General Yardmaster said, "Here comes lunch!" The top retarder set the contents to sloshing; when the car went by me it didn't feel like a good lunch. I didn't retard them enough with the intermediate retarder, and the student in Tower C couldn't help me much, either...when he grabbed the car with the group retarder, about half of the contents went over the end! I remember months later, when I was back to being a ground-pounder for a while, it was still slightly aromatic in that area. I'm glad it didn't mess up the switches.
Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
Way back when in Trains (late 1960's?) "Professional Iconoclast" John Kneiling wrote a column or two and a short article about using rail to haul garbage. A reader wrote in to the Railway Post Office section about a garbage or sewage sludge train in the Los Angeles area, on the SP as I recall. The 'cargo' was loaded into open gondola cars and was somewhat fluid. Then there was the night when the train went into emergency while passing through downtown, and the load slopped back and forth in the cars until some of it went over the car ends and onto the streets . . .
- PDN.
Murphy Siding In the good old days when railroads were hauling cars of manure, did employees have to bid on those jobs? If they did, what jobs were they doing that were bad enough that a manure gig was an improvement?
In the good old days when railroads were hauling cars of manure, did employees have to bid on those jobs? If they did, what jobs were they doing that were bad enough that a manure gig was an improvement?
Being furloughed.
Besides, handling manure probably wasn't the only thing a switch job did. It would more likely be one of many chores that the job did. It would just be more "fragrant."
Jeff
PC also handled it out of Cincinnati, to the mushroom farms, it always made the first available train out of Undercliffs Yard, especially in the summer.
Internet threads always drift - a comment by one poster generally 'rings a bell' in another poster that correlates to the topic of the thread but offers a differing tangental insight that may be a right or left turn from the original line of the topic.
If the manure job worked daylight, that would be a upgrade for someone that is working nights but prefers to see what they are doing in the light of day.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
I think it's funny the way some threads drift. Usually threads that drift are just as interesting as those that don't, although sometimes they can get a little crappy. In the good old days when railroads were hauling cars of manure, did employees have to bid on those jobs? If they did, what jobs were they doing that were bad enough that a manure gig was an improvement?
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
If you can find a Pennsylvania railroad Publication CT 1000 (listing of facilities, including industrial spurs, at each station) for the New York Division prior to around 1940, you'll see a listing for the "N Y H M Co" at Princeton Junction; HINT: The "H" stands for "horse".
Probably could get quite a deal if you threw in Washington DC with an unlimited growing mountain of the stuff that makes Ski-Bandini look miniscule.
https://youtu.be/HmRbFb5n81A?t=9 (a Johnny Carson monologue reference many times)...Once upon a time at 26th and Ayers in LA/Commerce
Paul_D_North_Jr Unlimited quantity available free at CSX HQ these days! - PDN.
Unlimited quantity available free at CSX HQ these days!
Gotta hand it to Norris( Murphy Siding), there are some days when one has to wonder if he is working at the Lumber Yard, or has escaped from a Therpy Session at the local 'Home".
The one thing I am sure of, (Murphy S.) gave that'salesman' as much 'manure' back, as that 'bird seed', and lumber Salesman tried to feed to him!
Good one Paul!
Greetings from Alberta
-an Articulate Malcontent
BaltACD30K pounds for $8. Not exactly EHH style rates.
Running that through an inflation calculator yields a 2018 equivalent of $215.35
Using Chicago Union Station to Beecher - 41.8 miles by road, that's $5.15 a mile.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
dehusmanHere is an 1895 waybill for a C&EI shipment of 30,000 lbs of Manure from Chicago to Beecher, IL.
Here is an 1895 waybill for a C&EI shipment of 30,000 lbs of Manure from Chicago to Beecher, IL.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
Back when manure was everywhere (before the auto) manure was hauled by RR in open gondolas and even occassionally on flat cars. There is one particular picture in one of my many, many RR books of a short passenger train with a manure car on the rear stopped at a rural station on a hot, sunny summer day around 1900. It might not have been too bad when the train was moving but I imagine when it stopped at the station for awhile (unloading mail & express and picking up milk) the smell must have been something.
The Stockyards Branch of the "L" ran as a shuttle between the Union Stock Yards and the Indiana Avenue station on what is now the Green Line. Much of the line within the Union Stock Yards did not run over streets. The line did not generate a lot of traffic but was rebuilt after the Stock Yards Fire of 1934. It was one of the last lines to operate wood body cars and was abandoned in 1957.
I saw a photo of an El train in Chicago running over the stockyards.Imagine the smell on a hot summer day, especially when the power went out. Here in Toronto I live not far from the former stockyards that were mainly located at St. Clair avenue and Keele street. There was a CPR locomotive shop including a roundhouse and transfer table just south of the stockyards.
I recall the stockyards when I moved to Toronto in 1995- the yards, sheds, corrals and so forth were all in place but unused. There were railroad tracks going ever which way but all connecting to the CPR nearby. A man I know lives near me at the bottom of Roncesvalles avenue and he well recalls the aroma that would waft down on the breeeze from the stockyards. I would think that the CPR would use such cars for manure of which there must have amounts I can't imagine.
Most of the former stockyard area is now big box stores and housing but there is a street with slaughterhouses and that is not a pleasant place to be in July, especially when the large, open-top bone truck comes.
jeffhergert Speaking of manure by rail. The soft cover book "Railroads of Omaha and Council Bluffs" has a picture of the South Omaha Terminal Ry manure cars and loading chute from 1950.
Speaking of manure by rail. The soft cover book "Railroads of Omaha and Council Bluffs" has a picture of the South Omaha Terminal Ry manure cars and loading chute from 1950.
CN and CP used to haul the stuff away from the Winnipeg Union Stockyards. Not sure how long it lasted, but suspect it ended long before the stockyards closed in the late 1980s. Many other large stockyards also likely had manure and other unniceties removed by rail.
When I first saw this thread I thought it would involve cars like this:
http://railpictures.net/photo/475801/
The B&O used to haul horse manure mixed with straw from Kentucky to underground mushroom farms northeast of Pittsburgh, Pa. It was heaped up almost twice as high as the gondola sides. One load caught fire in Glenwood yard and the firemen attacked it with high pressure hoses. That stuff was flung all over the place, including back on them.
Hey Balt I almost forgot about this, I was working on the ground back then, got called about 2 AM one morning guess what my run was that day, yea you are right LOL
Quoting Jeff " One account from a switchman handling such cars in the summertime said the smell was just offal. ." Well, what else would it smell like?
Johnny
jeffhergertOne account from a switchman handling such cars in the summertime said the smell was just offal.
Because there isn't a "groan" emoticon in the choices.
Box car loads of processed hides were rather odiferous!
Murphy Siding Dakguy201 I'm under the impression that for the major railroads, the receiving customer can log on the rail's computer system and determine the status of their shipments -- much like retail parcel customers can do with UPS or Fed-Ex. Does that system not exist, or is it not detailed enough to expose the BS? We have the capability to track our cars on BNSF after they've left the shipper. It allows us to pin down exactly where our cars get parked and forgotten. A couple years back we had a car come from Idaho by way of Nebraska. It forgot to take the left turn at Omaha. We were able to follow it's travels almost to Illinois. It ended up parked for a couple of days at a propane and oil siding north of Canton. But by gosh, with the technology we knew where it was.
Dakguy201 I'm under the impression that for the major railroads, the receiving customer can log on the rail's computer system and determine the status of their shipments -- much like retail parcel customers can do with UPS or Fed-Ex. Does that system not exist, or is it not detailed enough to expose the BS?
I'm under the impression that for the major railroads, the receiving customer can log on the rail's computer system and determine the status of their shipments -- much like retail parcel customers can do with UPS or Fed-Ex. Does that system not exist, or is it not detailed enough to expose the BS?
We have the capability to track our cars on BNSF after they've left the shipper. It allows us to pin down exactly where our cars get parked and forgotten. A couple years back we had a car come from Idaho by way of Nebraska. It forgot to take the left turn at Omaha. We were able to follow it's travels almost to Illinois. It ended up parked for a couple of days at a propane and oil siding north of Canton. But by gosh, with the technology we knew where it was.
If it was on the BNSF, should've made the left at Lincoln. Besides, they were just seasoning the wood for you. I see us doing that for customers a lot. It's a free service the railroads like to provide from time to time.
Speaking of manure by rail. The soft cover book "Railroads of Omaha and Council Bluffs" has a picture of the South Omaha Terminal Ry manure cars and loading chute from 1950. The caption says the cars went to Avery, NE via UP where they were unloaded and cleaned. I seem to recall reading about manure being shipped by rail from other meat packing plants. I know guts, etc went in open gondolas. One account from a switchman handling such cars in the summertime said the smell was just offal.
23 17 46 11
Human manure is a CSX speciality!
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1989/11/21/sludge-train-oozes-backto-baltimores-chagrin/d398d49e-7072-4d93-9b81-33884a5fd2cd/?utm_term=.2576a9425448
If that was a dot-to-dot puzzle, not a single one of the dots would be connected....
54light15How about manure by truck?
My drive route to the railroad takes me past a very large dairy operation. I can always count on seeing at least one manure truck - and it's in liquid form - just that much easier to spread!
How about manure by truck? watch this!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgdEJnsdOOU
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