Car movement

[nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]

Some industries use a trackmobile.  This is a gadget that can travel  on
rail or on road.  By lifting the car, it gains traction and can  move four
or five loaded cars at 5 MPH or so.  
 
Jeff - - my teacher in Agency 101 told me never to fill out the  demurrage
record in anything but pencil.  One of HER customers loaded chip  hoppers
at a blind siding seventeen miles away from the agency.  Ferrells  Siding
opened north and northbound trains spotted the mtys at railroad  convenience.
The southbound local dropped the loads out and left "Miss Camden" the
form that showed the time the loads were pulled.  That's when  she
computed the "time placed" section of the demurrage report.
 
I'm not sure how it plays into demurrage, but there were order/notify
shipments.  The railroad crew could not spot the car until the  customer,
usually one with dubious credit,  had satisfied the bank and the  agent
had been notified that it was OK to make delivery.  One agent I  knew,
made the mistake of trying to do one of his customers a favor.   He
had the crew spot the car before the bill of lading had been  transferred.
 
Don't know how it's calculated now, but back in the 60's, a car  spotted
after 7:00 AM on Friday, didn't start the two free days until 7:00 AM
Monday.  Likewise, a car spotted after 7:00 AM on Thursday, was
charged a free day for Friday, but the second free day didn't start  until
Monday, making Tuesday the first day demurrage was assessed. 
 
Some customers are on the average agreement, i.e. cars get a  credit
if they're released early and the credit is used to offset a debit  created
for each day the car is held beyond the two free days.  It was  not
unusual for Texas Gulf Sulphur's demurrage bill to run $700-800/mo.
While on loan to TGS, there was a regular movement of phosphate
rock to Port Maitland, ONT routed NS-Norfolk-N&W-CN.  One  Friday
morning, there were 40 of 'em ready to go and if they were released  that
day, TGS would be 40 credits toward off-setting that month's debits.
They weren't scheduled to ship until the following Monday, but I  had
a brainstorm.  NO WAY!  NO Way  could the railroad muster up  the two units
required to drag them out of the plant, so I'd release them on Friday  and
the railroad would take all week end to coax a second unit to be  in
place.  Well guess what ?  When I got back to work on Monday,  N&W
had them approaching Portsmouth, Ohio on No. 85.  A call to the
friendly N&W traffic department in Durham did wonders.  The
phosphate cars missed their connection . . . . for several days.   Betcha
the CYO wouldn't bail me out.
                                                                Harry Bundy
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20060408/11fc0c57/attachment.html