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Examination of M&NJ Freight Bills For
December, 1955
by John Deserto
While, at first, an examination of freight bills might not seem
like the most exciting thing to write or read about, there is a method to my
madness. Freight bills show (among many other things) car numbers, what they
were loaded with, who the consignee was, who the shipper was and the route the
car took between shipper and consignee. My thought was that if I could
reliably account for all the M&NJ freight bills for a fixed period of time we
would be able to get a good picture of the M&NJ for that period.
We could answer
questions about what customers were receiving, how much and from where and who
was bringing it to the M&NJ? Taken all together this snapshot could form a
base for an examination of other periods to show the evolution of the M&NJ
from what it was to what it is. While sorting the boxes of records that Ray
Brown had saved and his sister Audrey had donated to the Society, I found the
December 1955 bills for cars from the Erie, O&W, S&W and M&NJ. This way cars
could be traced to the interchanging roads and cross checked to make sure none
fell between the cracks. This article represents the first step in this
process, not the culmination.
As this piece was in the
formulating stage I thought I could use these bills to show the operations on
a typical day, week and maybe the whole month of December, 1955 on the M&NJ,
including interchange. While the bills don't show the through interchange cars
or empty returns I hoped that these gaps would be filled in by using the
information from the train lists for the month.
Unfortunately, after Peter Brill hand scribed the train lists for
December, 1955, it became obvious that this wasn't possible with the bills and trainlists for one month alone. A quick comparison of the cars in the bills
and the lists showed that the bills were made 2-3 days to 2 weeks after the
car moved. A car that actually moved on December 2 according to the train list
was dated mid-December on the freight bill. Therefore to do a comprehensive
picture of the M&NJ in December, 1955 I would need all the bills for November,
1955, as well as December, 1955. We have the M&NJ, Erie and S&W bills, but the
archives have yet to reveal the O&W bills, if they are even there. We do
currently have the bills for all four railroads for November and December,
1954, which with the December, 1954 train lists would allow an operational
examination of the M&NJ. So, this will happen at a future date.
Ray Brown took this picture of the M&NJ's 44 tonner #1 sitting on the
"Loop Track" in 1968. The Erie's DW yard and the M&NJ's only connection with
the rest of the nations rail network starts on the far side of East Main St.
which can be seen behind the engine. In 1955 the M&NJ still had all 3
interchanges with the other Middletown railroads but by 1968 all but the
Erie (Lackawanna ) were gone.
In contrast to the M&U and MU&WG,
when hauling milk was the financial bread and butter, the M&NJ of 1955 was very
much an animal feed oriented line. This is likely due to several factors. The
evolution away from the smaller self-sufficient farm towards the larger, more
specialized dairy farm was underway. Another factor was that the owners of the
M&NJ in 1955 were also the owners of several feed mills and stores along the
line. The last vestige of this business on the line today is Agway fertilizer
(since this article was written this Agway has closed). Today the M&NJ's major
commodities are chemicals and plastics. This evolution from milk to feed to
chemicals is more a reflection of the changes in agriculture in Orange County
than any organized plan by railroad management.
I've summarized what
each of the carload customers was billed for in December, 1955. While I included
what commodity each customer received and from where, I did not include car
numbers and individual routing information as this would have been cumbersome
and greatly increased the length of the article. I did try to mention the more
common routings and anything exceptionally interesting about a car.
The M&NJ billed 11 carload customers at various stations along the line in
December, 1955. Clark and Manning both had more than one location along the
railroad.
Pounds / Middletown
A run down the line from Middletown south/east to Unionville brings
us to the first and largest customer on the M&NJ, the Middletown Grange League
Federation (GLF) at Pounds/Middletown. This station was for billing purposes
only and the bills alternated labeling it Middletown or Pounds. The GLF plant
generally received bulk shipments of animal and poultry feed (which was
abbreviated to AP feed on the bills) and other assorted commodities that were
either taken as is or custom mixed into feed orders for local member farmers.
For a detailed look at switching the plant in the 1960's see Carl Detwylers
article "Railroading on the M&NJ in the late Sixties", Vol. 4 #1 Unionville
Flyer. This operation was loads in, empties out. Of the loads, the most common
was AP feed. 30 of the 41 carloads to GLF Middletown were of this commodity,
all of which were shipped from GLF's mill in Bordentown, NJ where mid-western
grain would be shipped and milled. The basic ground feed would now be shipped
to mixing plants to be custom mixed for member farmers. In the case of the
Middletown plant, cars were shipped off the PRR's branch where the GLF mill
was located and interchanged with the S&W, who then took them up to
Hanford/M&NJ Junction to interchange with the M&NJ. The M&NJ then brought the
cars north to the Middletown plant. For a more detailed look at this aspect of
the traffic see page 13 of "Susquehanna Operations and Facilities at Hanford
NJ, Part II" Vol. 5 #1 of the Unionville Flyer. All but one of these 30
carloads of AP feed were in bulk form as were most of these loads for the
plant because it was equipped with several conveyors, one for the bulk depot
and one for the custom mix plant.
M&NJ #1, still in M&U colors with just the initials redone on the cab,
is on the mainlin with the switch heading down to the Dolson Ave. GLF plant in
the foreground.
This water damaged NYS&W bill from November 15, 1954 shows CB&Q car
#18417 was a typical carload off the S&W for the M&NJ. It was a bulk load of
animal and poultry feed for the Middletown GLF from the GLF's mill in
Bordentown, NJ. The routing was PRR to the S&W at the Marion interchange.
The S&W then ran it up to the M&NJ at Hanford Junction. M&NJRHS Archives
While the basic AP feed made up the majority of the traffic to the
Middletown GLF, it was by no means the only commodity delivered to the plant
and the S&W wasn't the only line interchanging cars bound for the plant. The
Erie brought a car of bagged beet pulp from Michigan and a car of bulk corn
from Toledo, Ohio. The S&W brought a car of crushed oyster shells from
Atlantic Shells, Jacksonville, Florida, a car of bulk wheat from Philadelphia
and a car of bulk linseed oil meal from Edgewater, N.J.. The O&W brought a car
of oats from Buffalo Jct., a car of bagged mixed wheat feed from Pillsbury in
Buffalo (both via LV's Coxton Yard), a car of baled dehydrated sugar cane from
Iberia Sugar Corp. New Iberia, Louisiana and a car of spent dry grain from
Continental Distillery, Philadelphia.
Slate Hill
Slate Hill Feed and Coal in Slate Hill was billed for a total of
six loads in December of 1955. Four of these six cars were of some kind of
bagged animal feed (grain, hominy, brewers grain and linseed meal). Of these
only the hominy from Wilkes-Barre was routed off the O&W, the Erie delivered
the rest. The Erie also brought the M&NJ both of the bulk loads. One car of
bulk corn gluten was shipped from National Starch in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The other car was bulk dry grain mash from Seagrams in Lawrenceburg, Indiana.
Middletown Milk & Cream in Slate Hill was the second largest
customer on the M&NJ in December, 1955, receiving nine cars. This is far
behind the 41 cars the Middletown GLF received but represented the last
vestige of the once dominant milk/dairy traffic that the M&NJ's predecessor
lines enjoyed. All of their nine car loads were bagged fiber cans from
American Can Co. in Croxton, NY. MM&C was the largest LCL customer on the line
and a loyal customer of the Erie Railroad as all their freight (LCL and car
load) was shipped to the M&NJ by the Erie. No other M&NJ customer that had
more than one commodity or shipper showed more loyalty than MM&C to the Erie.
The feed dealers seemed to shop around a great deal for shippers and in
routing over the rails.
This bill is a good example of the freight bills used for this article.
This Erie bill shows that Erie car # 81250 was billed from American Can Co.
in Croxton, NJ on December 29, 1954 (a year before the period examined) to
Middletown Milk and Cream. The route was simply Erie to M&NJ for this car
due to the on-line location of the shipper, most bills showed a much more
complicated routing. The load was 463 bags of fiber cans without tops or
bottoms. MM&C paid $55.43 for the car, of which the M&NJ received $27.37.
M&NJ Archives
This wonderful shot of Johnson NY shows the 2 major customers in 1955.
Mannings lumber and coal facility is on the left, Clark Feed (later owned by
Ford, Weld and Cox) is on the right. The following shots of the #1 drilling
these customers was taken from a spot in the top center of this picture.
Johnson
Clark Feed in Johnson received a total of 4 cars. Three of these
cars were bagged AP feed from Park and Pollard in Buffalo which were shipped
via the O&W. The fourth car was a load of baled dehydrated sugar cane from Godehaux Sugars in Raceland, Louisiana which came to the M&NJ via the Erie.
The Manning's feed and lumber store in Johnson was busier and
received a larger variety of commodities in December, 1955 than their
Unionville store. Of the 8 cars they took in Johnson, 3 of the cars were
building materials ranging from wallboard and plaster from US Gypsum to oak
flooring from Myscogee, Georgia. The third car was dimensional lumber which
was sold enroute by an agent in Buffalo, NY. This means that when the car was
loaded it had no destination but was shipped east in hopes of finding a buyer.
The other five cars were either feed or ingredients for animal feed. These
loads included linseed oil meal, soybean meal, bags of beet pulp and spent
grain mash from Carlings Brewery in Cleveland, Ohio. The soybean meal traveled
the farthest, from Cargill in Chicago, Illinois and was the only commodity to
arrive via the O&W. The Erie and S&W split the other four cars.
This shot shows the #1 working Johnson, NY sometime in the 1960's. The
engine is spotting two boxcars of hay bales on Mannings siding. The NYC
boxcar on the left is on the Ford, Weld, Cox Feed "Hill Track". Today the
Manning's siding is home to a shipping container that hold the VRA's
trackcar. This group does a great deal of brush clearing along the line
today. Photo by Ray Brown, M&NJRHS Collection
In this view, taken just after the #1 had spotted the loads of hay, we
see the #1 on the main close to a boxcar on the "Farm Track" next to the
Ford, Weld, Cox feed store. The photographer Ray Brown has climbed up the
NYC boxcar for this brakeman's view of Johnson, NY. M&NJRHS Collection.
Kostic and Usyenski received a car in Johnson. This single load of
bagged poultry feed was shipped from Delaware Mills in Deposit, NY and
delivered to the M&NJ by the Erie. If anyone has any information about this
customer please contact me so we can share it with members.
In this shot we can clearly see Clark's operation behind the Westtown
station.
Westtown
Clark's operation in Westtown was the more
active of his two on-line operations in December, 1955 receiving a total of 6
cars. Unlike the Johnson store, the Westtown outlet could handle bulk loads in
its large elevator. Of the six cars received in December, two were loads of
bagged AP feed, one from the O&W and the other from the Erie. Of the bulk cars,
one car of hominy feed came from Patent Cereals in Geneva, NY and was delivered
via the O&W. Another car of bulk corn came in from National Starch Indianapolis
Indiana via the Erie. Another carload of feed came from Ralston Purina in
Buffalo, NY via the O&W. The sixth car was soybean meal from Glidden Soy in
Hammond, Indiana via the Erie. Ford also received one car of bagged poultry
feed from Ralston Purina in Buffalo, NY which was delivered by the Erie to the
M&NJ.
Seward Farm Machine took a car of castings, conveyors, shields and
parts from New Idea Farm Equipment in Coldwater, Ohio. It was delivered by the
O&W to the M&NJ which in turn took it to Westtown for them to unload. (This is
another customer that I've never heard of.) In addition to the large
Middletown operation, the GLF also had an outlet in Westtown, in the former
Borden's Creamery. This customer received only bagged feed (3 cars in this
billing cycle) from the GLF mill in Bordentown, NJ which was routed in the
exact same manner as the Middletown GLF cars, via the NYS&W to Hanford.
Unionville
Delford Rubber in Unionville received two cars of paper bags filled
with clay from J.M. Huber Co. Langley, South Carolina via the O&W. This
customer operated out of the old "condensery" building south of Unionville.
The Manning family
had several stores in the area, two of which were on the M&NJ. The Unionville
location received a total of 3 loads. Two of these were hopper cars of
anthracite coal from Lehigh Navigation Coal in Greenwood, Pennsylvania which
were brought to the M&NJ by the S&W. These were unloaded into the still
visible under-track pit and a conveyor brought it up into the coal bins. The
other car was a bulk load of corn gluten from National Starch, Indianapolis,
Indiana via the Erie. Since this outlet was not equipped with a grain elevator
(it is assumed the coal elevator was not used) the bulk corn was probably
bagged in the car by the local farmer/farmers that had ordered it and taken by
truck to their farm.
The fact that a feed dealer didn't have an elevator doesn't mean
that a bulk load wouldn't be shipped to that dealer. At times, a few farmers
and a feed dealer might order a bulk load, which was cheaper than a bagged
load, and when the car arrived the farmer or group of farmers would come with
their own shovels and bags to unload the car themselves. Grain consigned a car of bagged
beet pulp from Monitor Sugar in Bay City, Michigan which was brought by the
Erie to the M&NJ which then delivered it to Unionville. "<
And so ends our tour of the M&NJ's customers billed in December,
1955. Please remember that these were not the only customers the M&NJ served,
but they were the major ones. Also note the steady decrease in the number of
cars delivered in each town south of Middletown (Slate Hill 17, Johnson 13,
Westtown 11, Unionville 6)
Major Type of Load
As can be seen in the individual examinations of the carload
customers the hands down most common loads on the M&NJ in December 1955 were
some kind of animal feed. Of the 88 carload bills issued during December 1955,
83% of these were for animal feed or some commodity used in making animal
feed. While this feed traffic created an impressive number of total carloadings for this billing cycle, the railroads didn't make much money on
these cars. The typical 40 foot boxcar of bulk or bagged feed weighed
somewhere between 20-25 tons and yielded the M&NJ about $50-$60 each and
required a lot of switching. For comparison the most common load the M&NJ
currently handles are covered hoppers loaded with 95 tons of plastic for
Polytherm/Genpak. These cars net the railroad anywhere from $360-$740 per car
according to where it is shipped from. This means that every $360 car of
plastic the M&NJ delivers in 1999 equals six $60 cars of feed in 1955, with
less switching and many fewer miles on the engine.
Of the 15 car loads (17% of this month's total) of non-feed related
items the largest commodity was the bags of fiber cans that Middletown Milk
and Cream received. Coal, lumber and building supplies to the feed dealers
rounded out the loads to the M&NJ.
Interchange Partners
The M&NJ in December, 1955 still enjoyed being connected to three
class one railroads. The Erie which connected to the M&NJ in Middletown, NY
was the biggest of these connections and while on shaky financial footings was
still the strongest of the interchanging roads. The other Middletown
connection and second largest was the O&W, whose poor financial status was
well known to all at this time. This road had less than two years of life left
at this point. The third connection to the M&NJ was the NYS&W a mile below
Unionville at M&U Junction (Hanford) on the New Jersey border. While the S&W
was the smallest of the M&NJ's connections it carried the greatest number of
interchange cars to them. This is due to the GLF traffic from Bordentown, NJ
being routed over the S&W and up their Hanford Branch. Like the O&W, this
connection only had a few years left as the S&W abandoned and scrapped the
Hanford Branch in 1958. This abandonment would have a tremendous impact on the
operations of the M&NJ. All of the Bordentown GLF traffic would have to be
rerouted over the Erie to Middletown with only a short hop on the first mile
of the M&NJ to the Dolson Ave. GLF plant. This coupled with the dwindling
loadings on the southernmost portions of the line would soon force a series of
service cutbacks to the point where today only the northern third of the
railroad is operational.
This bill from the O&W shows one of the many cars the Middletown GLF
received in December, 1954. The bill shows that Black Creek R.R. car #1790
was loaded with edible flour by Pillsbury Mills Inc. in Buffalo, NY and
routed via the B&O to the DL&W. The DL&W handed it off to the O&W at
Norwich, NY. The O&W then shipped it to the M&NJ which received $30.67 to
move it a little over a mile from DG to Pounds. M&NJRHS Archives.
This is the M&NJ bill for the BCK car #1790 in the above bill. M&NJRHS
Archives.
Breakdown of Major Railroad Interchange Cars
Standing trackside watching an M&NJ train in December, 1955 you
would not be able to tell that this was a small 15 mile line from the vast
distances some of these freight cars traveled to get here. In this era when
most cars were owned by railroads (unlike today's dominant car leasing
companies) you could get an impressive geography lesson from the sides of the
41 different railroads cars that appeared on the M&NJ during this month. Of
these 41 railroads only 12 had 3 or more different cars on the M&NJ. The New
York Central had 8 different cars on the line, the B&O, CB&Q, and PRR all had
6 each, MP and UP had 4, and the ATSF, C&O, GM&O, LN, MILW and SP all came in
3 a piece. Of the eastern roads the DL&W, Erie, LV and Reading all had 2 cars
each. The lone New Haven car delivered bags of crushed oyster shells from
Florida to the Middletown GLF, which was likely the return loading from a NH
delivery to Florida.
In this view we see the #1 and a 50' outside braced wooden boxcar with a
load of hay passing an abandoned house in Unionville. How much would you
have paid for this house with our favorite railroad passing through the
front yard? Photo Ray Brown M&NJRHS Collection.
The S&W and O&W didn't have any cars show up at all. I don't think
at this point the O&W had many cars fit for interchange service and of these I
doubt they had many (if any) boxcars, which is what most of the feed came in.
I think the S&W had those PS-1 boxcars at this time (Little help) but none
appeared on the M&NJ's bills for December, 1955. A modeler would be forgiven
if they slipped in one of those beautiful S&W PS-1's that Kadee makes. The
preponderance of midwestern and western cars makes sense due to the large
number of feed loads the M&NJ received. The surprising thing was the small
number of eastern railroads cars. Of those 9 cars, most were in GLF Bordentown
to Middletown service.
Less Than Car Load Service
While not the big business that it was in the early days of the
century before the personal automobile, trucks and improved roads, the M&NJ
did handle a surprising amount of Less than Car Load (LCL) shipments. While
three boxcars and a truck load doesn't seem like a great deal, remember the
size of the M&NJ and its proximity to Route 6 and Route 284. The small amount
of LCL off the O&W was handled by the O&W's truck but the consignee (customer)
was billed by the M&NJ. I'm sure the O&W and M&NJ had some kind of
compensation system set-up for this arrangement. The O&W's truck delivered 4
bags of animal feed to Howard Angeloni and dropped off a TV set to Chicks
Electric Service, both in Slate Hill. The truck then traveled down to
Unionville to deliver 200 lbs. of stock tonic to Charles Bailey (I thought he
was having a "wonderful life" in Bedford Falls).
The largest portion of LCL traffic to the M&NJ came from the Erie.
They generated three full boxcars during this billing month. The most heavily
loaded was Missouri Pacific car #32935. It carried cartons of bottle caps and
cleaning supplies for Middletown Milk and Cream in Slate Hill and TV tables
for Chicks Electric Service. It then continued down to Unionville with a
bicycle from Montgomery Ward for George Sparling, winding cores for Standard
Insulation, a fire plug for the village of Unionville and a mystery
(unreadable) container for Albert Sutton. This car was passed on to the S&W
when empty because it arrived later in the month with a load of bulk AP feed
for the Middletown GLF. It was "deja vu all over again" when another Missouri
Pacific car, 46832, came in off the Erie full of LCL for the M&NJ. It even
contained a very similar load for the same customers. This time Chick in Slate
Hill received a TV and Middletown Milk and Cream received cartons of disks,
presumably for the milk bottle caps. This car then went to the Westtown GLF
with filter press cloths. After unloading in Westtown #46832 emptied out in
Unionville. Thomas Horler received a tub and pail and Standard Insulation
received more winding cores. This car also was pressed into Bordentown to
Middletown GLF service and was billed at the end of the month. The other LCL
car from the Erie was Erie car #82148. This car contained several hundred
containers of bottle caps for the Middletown Milk and Cream creamery in Slate
Hill and one drum of flavor compound for Mannings in Johnson.
The M&NJ #1 is gliding through this wintry scene with a lone boxcar
somewhere along the line. This and all the other photo's in this article are
available for sale from the Society. M&NJRHS Collection.
Biggest Customer
The biggest customer on the M&NJ during December, 1955 was the
Middletown GLF. The M&NJ issued 88 bills to on-line carload customers for
carload traffic. This plant on Dolson Ave. in Middletown received 46.4% of all
carloads billed in December, 1955. This represents a vast majority of the cars
billed, as the second largest customer, Middletown Milk and Cream in Slate
Hill came in at 9.1% of all cars billed.
Summary
December, 1955 on the M&NJ was really the end of an operational
era. Soon the O&W would be gone and the S&W's Hanford Branch would be
abandoned. The Bordentown to Middletown GLF traffic would be rerouted over the
less desirable Erie route and the feed traffic on the southern end of the line
would start to wither away as the small family farms gave way either to larger
farms that relied more heavily on trucks or real estate development. A
retrenchment in the railroad's length and customers would begin. As mentioned
in the introduction it would be instructive to continue this process with
other months and years to see what kinds of interesting things could be
learned.
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