Stock Cars

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Mr. Shawn Hartley -

A big factor in the killing of livestock movements by rail was the development of small, high-efficiency refrigeration units, powered by small internal combustion engines, and used to cool/refrigerate 40 foot highway trailers.

By the refrigerated method of shipment, the East Coast comsumers of Mid-Western beef were not paying for the shipment of bones, entrals and hides. Only the marketable meats were shipped to the East Coast - the rest (the offal) was left at the point of origin. And the railroads were relieved of the onerous FWR (feed-water-rest) restrictions which attended cattle on-the-hoof.

When I hired in 1964, most of the depots still had cattle pens and chutes for loading stock cars, and Roanoke (Shaffers Crossing) still had its stock yard which received cattle occasionally. But I never remember setting off empty stock cars for loading, or picking up any loads of stock at the way stations. But I do recall handling an occasional shipment of livestock (usually two car loads) on the head end of No. 84 from Bluefield to Roanoke. They were always carried on the head end of the train, right behind the engine. Man, did those things STINK ! Even on a 120 car train, you could smell them all the way back on the caboose. Don't hold me to this date, but I think the last I saw this traffic on the N&W was about 1966 or 1967.

When I came to work for Conrail, I found there was still a livestock move three days a week, arriving at Harrisburg from the west. No. 12 was a hot truck-train (i.e. TTX) for New York, with no work en route and a main line relay, and came into Harrisburg around 6 PM with two 89-foot stock cars of cows on the head end. The inbound road crew from Pittsburgh would set the stock cars off on the North Street Delivery Track and re-couple the engine, then turn the train over to the outbound crew which would take it to New York (North Jersey.) I was Night Trainmaster at Harrisburg in 1982 and had to meet No. 12 every time it carried livestock, so that gives you a ballpark on dates. I think the livestock traffic ceased in 1983, and that was the end of livestock moves on the PRR/NYC territory.

-- abram burnett
..........Nitro-Turnips.........
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