Did the N&W Ever Use Ground Storage for Commercial Coal ?

[NW Mailing List]

Most definitely at Sandusky (that would be post-1964 since that’s when N&W acquired the PRR Columbus - Sandusky line (trivia: the interlocking in Bucyrus where that line crossed the PRR Ft. Wayne main was COLSAN - COLumbus - SANdusky).

During the winter when Lake Erie was frozen and closed to navigation, coal was dumped on the ground for storage until spring when ship traffic resumed. Despite working there almost two years as an Asst. Trainmaster, I never actually observed the ground storage part of the operation other than seeing the piles (if they were dumping, there were empties accumulating in the empty yard blocking the view).

-- 
Larry Stone
lstone19 at stonejongleux.com





> On Jan 4, 2024, at 8:10 AM, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
> 
> Running across this circa 1930 photo of a coal storage trimmer on the Lackawanna Railroad in New Jersey, makes me wonder if the N&W ever resorted to ground storage of commercial coal (i.e. in-transit coal for customers, not company coal.)
> 
> Some of the northeastern railroads utilized ground storage and had quite large facilities for it, each storage yard employing several of the big trimmers shown in the photo for distributing the coal from trackside ground-discharge into quite large storage piles in adjavent fields.  Some of the ground storage yards dated back to the 1880s and covered many acres, and some apparently lasted until about 1940.  (Articles on these coal-handling trimmers exist in the engineering trade press periodicals of the era.)
> 
> It appears that coal was ground-stored principally due to market conditions: either the market prices being offered did not suit the sellers, or the markets were over-supplied with coal and the product had to be stored until market demand caught up to production.  
> 
> So the question arises: Did the N&W ever have ground storage facilities for accommodating customer coal in transit ?
> 
>       -- abram burnett
> Buy Turnip Patch Defense Bonds !<DL&W_Trimmer in Coal Storage Yard_East Dover NJ_ca 1930.jpg>________________________________________
> NW-Mailing-List at nwhs.org
> To change your subscription go to
> http://list.nwhs.org/mailman/options/nw-mailing-list
> Browse the NW-Mailing-List archives at
> http://list.nwhs.org/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/