Coal via Potomac Yard

[nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]

Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 07:23:22 -0800 (PST) 
To: "N&amp,W Mailing List" <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> 
From: nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org
Subject: Re: Coal via Potomac Yard

How old is the PE plant in Alexandria?  C&O was
putting 8-12 trains (80 33ft cars each) to PY each day
until the late 40s.  This works out to 32-48K tons a
day assuming 50 tons per car.  I am pretty sure that
PY and the generating plant would not have used all
this coal.  Would domestic and govt building use in DC
taken up the rest of the volume?

Philip Taylor


March 24, 2005

Hello, Phillip:

I'm unsure when the PEPCO power station was built but
assume it was in the 1930s.  It has four units and
even today consumes about 2,500 tons daily depending
upon the load and how many units are running which is
information I don't have.

While the federal buildings and Pentagon also burned
coal, the PRR providing most switching to these
facilities.  I'm uncertain how much coal was sourced
from PRR and B&O mines or from the N&W and VGN.  C&O
did have an advantage that it didn't have to share the
revenue with another carrier and may have had a
reciprocal switching agreement for these Washington,
DC, destinations.  N&W or VGN didn't have those
advantages.  Old tariffs hold the autoritative answer
to that question.

Good night and good morning,

Frank