Domestic coal onesy-twosy

[NW Mailing List]

Question regarding Frank's statement "so I guess the rail car would be parked there for months at a time"

I understand that per diem charges would not apply as long as it was a "home road" car, but wouldn't demurrage be charged after a short time?  Maybe it was cheaper than hauling to an off site location for distribution.  

I grew up on a very large dairy farm in Shelburne VT in the 50s and 60s.  We had a designated spot on the Rutland team track. We got a 30 ton box car load of sawdust from a mill in NH every 10 days for bedding in the pole barns, two box cars of potash fertilizer, two box cars of bran feed, a covered hopper of alfalfa pellets, and two tank cars of nitrogen fertilizer from Allied Chemical in Hopewell VA.  Later the potash and bran was shipped in covered hoppers.  The sawdust was always in box cars. 

My Dad said we had three days (72 hours) to unload each car or we had to pay demurrage for taking too long.  We always had to pay for about 7-10 days of demurrage on the tank cars.  It was cheaper than owning a 6,000 gal storage tank that was used twice a year.  

The only item that Shelburne Farms resold to local farmers was the nitrogen fertilizer; we could not use it all and the smaller farmers could not afford to buy it in small quantities.  There was no coop like Southern States or Agway in that area at the time. 

Jim Stapleton in frigid Purcellville VA 

> On Mar 16, 2017, at 07:04, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
> 
> For what it's worth, my parents ran 'Akers Coal and Feed' business in Rural Retreat in the 1945 to 1954 time frame. Mom would buy a full carload from someone (?) that would then be delivered and parked on the southwest side track between the Depot and Baumgardner Avenue, and there it would sit until all the coal had been delivered to small residential and business customers around the west end of Wythe County. I recall watching them open up the bottom doors sequentially as needed, and letting the coal spill out onto the track. They would then load it on a pickup for deliveries of a hundred pounds or so at a time, so I guess the rail car would be parked there for months at a time.  I don't know who supplied the coal, but would like to know so we can include it in our museum information.
> The attached photo was taken in 1949 and shows the sidetrack at the bottom, leading off to the southwest. That sidetrack was later removed.
> 
> Frank Akers
> THE RURAL RETREAT DEPOT FOUNDATION
> 
> Moderator:
> http://www.nwhs.org/mailinglist/2017/20170316.Depot%20abt%201949%20from%20southwest.jpg
> 
> 
> From: NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
> To: NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> 
> Sent: Wednesday, March 15, 2017 10:05 AM
> Subject: RE: Domestic coal onesy-twosy
> 
> Old Ben Coal Corporation sold coal from mines in Illinois, West Virginia, Eastern Kentucky, Western Kentucky, Arkansas and Oklahoma in 1930. In 1946 it had dropped Western Kentucky, Arkansas and Oklahoma mines, but added two Virginia mines. (Dixiana, Virginia shipping coal from the Taggart No. 5 seam and Patterson, Virginia shipping coal from the Cary Seam on the Dismal Creek Branch.)
>  
> The General Office was in Chicago, but the company had regional sales offices in St. Louis, Minneapolis, Omaha, Kansas City, Detroit, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Norfolk. Many coal brokers also had local offices in Bluefield, WV
>  
> It had its own coal dock at Superior, Wisconsin to serve West Virginia coal destined for the northwest. This appears to have been a major shipping point for Glen Rogers Briquets (Briquettes) shipped from Glen Rogers, WV. It used the N&W, C&O and Virginian Tidewater piers for coast wide shipping.
>  
> Attached is an old photograph from the Eastern Regional Coal Archives in Bluefield, WV showing the Lynchburg Coal & Coke Company at Kyle, WV with an Old Ben Coal Corporation sign. Lynchburg C&C sold its coal under the trade name “F.F.V.”
>  
> In 1946 Old Ben Coal Corporation brokered coal for 17 different mines.
>  
> Alex Schust
>  
> Moderator:
>  http://www.nwhs.org/mailinglist/2017/20170315.Kyle%20Lynchburg%20Coal%20&%20Coke%201%20ERCA.jpg
> 
> From: NW-Mailing-List [mailto:nw-mailing-list- bounces at nwhs.org] On Behalf Of NW Mailing List
> Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2017 12:07 PM
> To: nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org
> Subject: Domestic coal onesy-twosy
>  
> On 3/14/17 11:45 AM, nw-mailing-list-request at nwhs. org wrote:
> Message: 3
> Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2017 08:26:50 -0400
>  
>      Once, nearly every town in the USA and Canada had a dealer or two 
> receiving carloads of coal. Can any of you explain how the coal was 
> handled mine to retailer? Were certain mines oriented to this trade? 
> Were they selling direct to coal yards or did brokers take multi-car 
> lots and re-sell in regional areas? (Did N&W coal make it to places like 
> Newfoundland and deliver on narrow gauge trucks?) Has this been covered 
> in one of the magazine issues?
> I can provide one data point. My grandfather sold coal for Old Ben Coal & Coke, up and down the Valley and into western VA, by the car load to large users (towns, cities, hospitals, universities, industries, etc.) and by the car load and bag to retailers. The coal came from Old Ben mines and he arranged shipping via N&W. It was steam coal to the users specs. 
> 
> Bill McClure
> ______________________________________
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