Fruit Trains / Refrigerator Trains - separate waybills?

Hey Folks,

Would a Pacific Fruit Express and/or a ATSF refrigerator train assume individual waybills for each car, or would the entire consist be treated as a multi-car block under one waybill?

:Matt

Reply to
Matt & Kathleen Brennan
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M&KB> Hey Folks, M&KB> M&KB> Would a Pacific Fruit Express and/or a ATSF refrigerator train assume M&KB> individual waybills for each car, or would the entire consist be treated M&KB> as a multi-car block under one waybill?

Depends. If all the cars are from one shipper from one origin to one consignee at one destination, then it might be treated as a single shipment with a single waybill (just like a unit coal train going from a mine to a power plant). If there are multiple shippers and/or multiple consignees, then you would have one waybill for each shipper-consignee set. The RR might bundle all of these shipments into a single dedicated train, at least between a major yard pair (such as between San Fransisco and Chicago).

M&KB> M&KB> :Matt M&KB> M&KB>

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Reply to
Robert Heller

In the case of perishables moving east, the loads were frequently sold to a broker who proceeded to find a customer for the load while it was enroute! Hopefully by the time it reached Chicago or St. Louis the broker could tell the RR where to send it. This process kept the produce from going bad while a buyer was found. However, it means that perishables sold to a broker were probably not waybilled in multicar bills as this would prevent the broker from selling single car loads to a customer.

Regards,

Andrew S. Miller

======================================================= Robert Heller wrote:

Reply to
Andrew S. Miller

RR where to send it.

Based on your reply [thanks, BTW], it appears that individual waybills would be the best approach.

I was not aware that the brokering took place while the cars were in route. That's great to know. I had initially assumed that the waybills would have been established at the outset of the trip w/ cars being filled accordingly. This does raise the question as to how the brokering unfolded w/ regards to quantities and/or commodity combinations.

Would a fruit train haul one commodity, only?

Or,

Would several commodities travel on one train as the season dictated?

If one commodity only, that would simplify the re-arranging of car loads to meet brokered deals. It'd merely require the unloading of one train car to meet a total. If several commodities traveled on one train, that would/could entail a bit of time to coordinate the reallocation of goods.

Reply to
Matt & Kathleen Brennan

"Fruit Trains" could carry any mix of commodities that was availible to be shipped. Most (but not all) individual cars were loaded with one commodity.

Back in the days of solid reefer trains, each car would have its own waybill. The multicar waybill (unit trains) would happen later. In most cases the waybills would be filled out prior to the car departing the originating terminal. There are many cases where the cars would get started towards the first diversion point and the waybill would catch up to the car at that point (strawberries and bannanas from New Orleans in one case).

At the first diversion point the broker could then have the car re-routed. There were then other designated point that diversion could take place. In many cases there was no charge for the first diversion, but a charge for a second one.

All this allowed the seller to get the best price for the product as demand and supply changed.

Fruit was not the only product subjcet to dirversion. Pacific Northwest lumber is another case. Since the shipper controlled the routing, he would designate a slow route while he was trying to find a buyer. Then he would divert to car to the more direct route to the buyer.

Howard modeling 1905

Reply to
Howard R Garner

On Thu, 18 Dec 2003 17:58:49 UTC, Matt & Kathleen Brennan wrote: 2000

The shipments depended on the seasons. Where seasons overlapped you would find several commodities in one train. They were not mixed in cars.

Cars would be picked up at each packing house. Normally there would be only one commodity in this group. If sold to a broker the cars would be routed eastward with the final destination to be determined en route. PFE was set up to handle this. Even if going to one location there could be several consignees. Remember that a carload of produce is one heck of a lot of produce. There would be no need to keep individual identities since one carload of lettuce is just like another carload of lettuce. During a campaign the fruit blocks as they were called would travel in solid trains. Think of the confusion if a train of mixed cars arrived at an ice deck. The cars were iced a few times on a trip east.

Different shippers might request different icing techniques, i.e. more or less salt in the ice depending on whether they wanted a lower temperature or not. In this case there would be separate instructions for the cars.

At the beginning of various harvest seasons there would also be shipments of the first harvest, i.e. California strawberries or melons. These would often travel in express reefers to take advantage of the premium price for the first items on a remote market.

Once again let me recommend the PFE book. ALL of this is covered in some detail in the book. It really gives a great picture of the business.

PFE and SFRD (Santa Fe Refrigerator Dept.) were fierce rivals and it is very unlikely that you would find an SFRD car in a PFE (SP/UP) train and vice-versa. Most of the cars in a PFE or SFRD train would be cars of the running company with a few outside cars mixed in.

Reply to
Ernie Fisch

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