Pulpwood on the N&W

[NW Mailing List]

The RR's always stated puilpwood rates were too low and the various 
regulatory agencies, under political pressure, kept them that way to 
appease rural voters.

     WJPowers

On 9/2/2020 1:14 AM, NW Mailing List via NW-Mailing-List wrote:
> Dr. J. Brent Greer stated: "I have found some interesting photos and 
> diagrams of cars for pulpwood shipment in the archives, including some 
> innovative designs introduced fairly late in the game (1960's). But I 
> have never seen much if any discussion of this aspect of N&W business. 
> Where were the loading points and who were the ultimate customers of 
> pulpwood traffic in the N&W?"
>
> While others may have factual information about pulpwood shipment 
> origins and destinations for the N&W, I will share observations 
> generally about this commodity based upon my C&O experience on the 
> Richmond Division between 1971 and 1973.
>
> Pulpwood was a low-value commodity loaded on wood-rack cars mostly at 
> smaller rural stations. The shippers were generally small operators 
> who purchased consignments from loggers and loaded the wood --mostly 
> pine-- onto cars on depot house tracks. They rarely had their own spur 
> or wood-yard for spotting and loading cars. Most operators were 
> shipping between one and three cars daily. C&O stations where 
> pulp-wood was loaded included Troy, Columbia, Pemberton, and Mineral; 
> the commonality was that these stations were near tree farms which 
> grow mostly Loblolly Pine because it was fast-growing; usually two 
> feet in height per year.
>
> Aside from being low-revenue, many railroads did not actively invite 
> pulpwood loading for three reasons: 1) specialized cars that could not 
> be used for other commodities; 2) frequent body damage and 
> deterioration to the cars because of rough handling at origins; and 3) 
> pulpwood loads occasionally shifted causing damage to adjoining cars 
> on yard tracks or other close clearances, plus the cost of having to 
> adjust the load en route when shifting occurred.
>
> There were two main consignees for pulpwood. West Virginia Pulp & 
> Paper (now Westrock) at Covington, Virginia, on the C&O, and a company 
> (also now Westrock) at West Point, Virginia on the Southern. If the 
> N&W did not have an on-line paper manufacturer and had to interline 
> shipments, that might also be a reason why the former Virginian and 
> the N&W might not have embraced pulpwood shipments because of the 
> revenue division.
>
> Good morning,
>
> Frank Scheer
> f_scheer at yahoo.com
>
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