Freight operations just before the merger

[Greg Thomas]

I’m new to the BB so bare with me if I do things wrong here guys but here goes.

I guess I should introduce myself and explain what I’m trying to do. I plan to loosely model the MOPAC in the late 70s early 80s just before the merger. I will have one large subdivision yard and eventually a couple of smaller yards as I have a fairly large area I can utilize.

Right now, I’m researching freight operations between St. Louis and Pueblo Co. I’d like to include / represent some of the MOP’s busier and/or more interesting customers at the time, so here’s my questions and I’m sure I’ll have more to come.

1. Can anyone provide me with some pics, type, and names of business fitting the description above?
2. Are there any track layout drawings (I know there’s a name for them) for those sidings?
3. How were the local’s scheduled to pick up and drop off cars for those businesses?
4. Where were some of the busier interchanges, how many cars, and with what roads?
5. What was the usual locomotive lashup to pull the Hotshot KC Auto train from St. Louis (or where ever it originated) to Pueblo?
6. What locomotives usually pulled the “Cowboy Coal” trains?
7. Lastly, for now, what was the last year the first generation GP’s (GP9, GP18) were use on the MOP, even if just yard service?

Thank you guys,

Steve Cummings

[peggyrothschild]

Steve.

3. The locals were built in a computer DB that scheduled a railcar to a particular local based on a cut off time. Customers were suppose to know the cutoff times so they would have their empty releases or loaded billing transmitted or called into the railroad by that time. If they did the car would be scheduled for a pull from industry. This DB also scheduled cars to a local in a class yard for set outs.
4. Largest interchange points between St. Louis and Pueblo were St. Louis, Kansas City and Pueblo.
5. SD40-2’s
6. SD40-2c these were equipped with dynamic brakes and multi-channel radios

[Dennis Faircloth]

Steve,

St Louis to Pueblo is a large stretch of railroad, encompassing 7 crew districts in the late ’70’s. Rough count about 10-11 locals and roadswitchers covering this territory. Most of the traffic was overhead, moving between Pueblo, KC and StL. I hope you are trying to select a portion or one subdivision to focus on, otherwise it is close to “boiling the ocean”.

1. For on-line industries, and guessing what “more interesting” translates to, here are the more significant traffic generators for the time period you are looking at…..Starting on the east end at St Louis, and going west:
a. Lime plant at Pacific, MO – switched by the St Louis-Jeff CIty local, probably spent the most time at this location during tour of duty
b. Union Electric coal-fired power plant Labadie, MO – received unit trains of Illinois coal from the east, and Utah and Wyoming coal from the west
c. Central Electric Co-op coal-fired power plant Chamois, MO – a small plant, received blocks of cars set out by the local and/or a through train
d. Jeff City had a fascinating group of industries along the remnant of the Bagnell Branch.
West of Jeff City, we have two mainlines, Sedalia Sub and River Sub, that were mostly directional running with some exceptions.
e. Sedalia featured the MP shop complex, and a Kelsey-Hayes steel-wheel plant (opened 1978).
f. General Motors auto distribution ramp at Lee’s Summit
g. Allis-Chalmers equipment plant on the Pixley Spur in Independence.
h. Over on the River Sub, Lake City Army Ammunition Plant at Lake City
In Kansas City proper, after turning the corner at Southwest Jct from the Sedalia/River Subs onto the Kansas City Sub…
i. Armco Steel plant. Not a large integrated plant with blast furnaces, but shipped many cars/day of grinding balls, grinding rods, wire rod, railroad spikes, and bar stock.
j. General Motors Assembly Plant at Leeds, Missouri. Large enough to have its own support yard and multiple switch jobs per shift.

In Kansas, MP served a salt mine on a branch out of Geneseo, but otherwise it was all about grain gathering in terms of volume. A lot of grain trains originated in Salina, directly on the MP from a local elevator, and also interchanged from UP.

Crossing the border into Colorado, MP served the Transportation Technology Center and the Pueblo Army Depot near Avondale. The TTCI featured large loops of track for testing rail equipment, and MP often moved locomotives and rolling stock to/from TTCI as railroads would loan equipment to the facility for testing.

2. Industry track diagrams were assembled into ZTS books (Zone-Track-Spot). These diagrams were mostly hand-drawn and not to scale, but showed track arrangements and often gave track capacity or number of spots. They show up from time to time on Ebay, and the MPHS archives crew is working to digitize these books. If you narrow your search down to a certain area, I am sure we can come up with diagrams among the forum group.

5. The hotshot auto train between St Louis and Pueblo was the CSP (Chicago-St Louis-Pueblo). During certain months of the year, MP also hosted the FFT (Ford Fast Train) between Kansas City and Pueblo. After 1981, MP originated the FFT at St Louis in its waning years. There were several trains handling auto traffic between St Louis and KC.

[clemmie_doris12]

Steve,

The questions you ask are very broad in nature and I like Ted’s analogy of boiling the ocean. I think you have a couple of good answers, so far, but I think narrowing down areas and time frames will get you more answers. I’m quite familiar with the KC area, but not so much with St. Louis or Pueblo. Railroad operations are very fluid and can change drastically over a period of time. Pinning down an era to a span of a few years makes answering a question much easier.

Motive power is a moving target. The SD40 and SD40-2 were the main work horses of the through freight fleet in the late ’70s and early ’80s, but other models were used as necessary. The Ewing Ave. shop in St. Louis was the main location for maintenance of GE locomotives, so GE models were rather prevalent with St. Louis trains.

I think modeling the general KC area will give you the most opportunities to capture the spirit of the territory you mentioned.

[Author]

Posts