Potato originating railroads in New England

Good call. Edited accordingly.

>We know Penn Central didn't haul potatoes

They did just not all the way to their destination

wally wrote: ↑Wed Mar 29, 2023 8:02 pm perhaps the New Haven hauled some? albeit originating from maine. didn't they have some reefers with "state of maine / products"? assume they were potatoes.

The only ones of those I know of were BAR; the NH could have had them but I never saw one. (Just search State of Maine Boxcar for photos)

markhb wrote: ↑Fri Mar 31, 2023 2:08 pm The only ones of those I know of were BAR; the NH could have had them but I never saw one. (Just search State of Maine Boxcar for photos)

indeed, you could have searched.

I have done an internet search and cannot find a photo of a BAR red, white, and blue reefer labeled "Maine Potatoes". Plenty of photos of "Maine Products" both BAR and NH (shown in post above) and of models reading "Maine Potatoes" but no prototype photos. Any help appreciated.

BAR
Williamsburg, VA

I think I heard --- or read --- years ago that it was the poorly-run operation of the Penn Central that was largely responsible for the demise of potato shipping on the Bangor & Aroostook. Once the cars got transferred via the MEC and B&M to the Penn Central, they would often sit on the PC's tracks until the spuds rotted. Is this accurate history?

Yes, accurate. But the demise of potato shipments by rail was also impacted by the completion of I-95 to Houlton which made for easier, more flexible, and speedier truck shipment of potatoes south to the big markets of New York, Boston, etc.

BAR
Williamsburg, VA

And as far as the potato farmers are concerned, Thank God I-95 finally went that far north, because even though the Penn Central situation eventually improved when Conrail took over, Maine Central and Boston & Maine — under the leadership of former Penn Central employee David Fink — eventually became the equivalent of Penn Central in terms of how they operated, and would've ruined just as many loads of spuds as PC did.

Wikipedia makes that claim with a citation, but the citation is not an online book that I can see.

in reading the fine print from the upper photo of the 4 i posted, it appears the NH had these "state of maine" reefers before the BAR got theirs.

Another factor in the decline of potato shipments by rail was that railroad rates on everything including potatoes were regulated by the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) and had to be published in tariffs available to the public while agricultural products, including potatoes, were exempt by law from ICC regulation when moving by truck. The intent of the law was that movements by truck from farm to railhead should not be subject to federal regulation (it was 1935 after all, when trucks were still thought of as feeders to rail), but the law said nothing about railheads or distances. The result was that a trucker could look up the rate in the rail tariff -- or under ICC Tariff Circular 20, require the railroad to look it up for him -- and then offer a shipper something a little lower.

A Penn Central-era 1974 news report titled "Probable Shift to More Rail in Maine" detailed that 627 carloads of potatoes originated during the first 2 months of the season beginning in mid-October with a 12/1-effective 15% truck rate increase and new BAR rebating of 10-cents per hundredweight to potato buyers for unloading.

By the end of the decade, a 1979 Conrail-era news article titled "Railroad Ready to Spurn Spuds" reported that BAR was seeking a 115% rate increase from the Interstate Commerce Commission for traffic moving into the New York City metropolitan area.

wally wrote: ↑Fri Mar 31, 2023 3:49 pm

markhb wrote: ↑Fri Mar 31, 2023 2:08 pm The only ones of those I know of were BAR; the NH could have had them but I never saw one. (Just search State of Maine Boxcar for photos)

indeed, you could have searched.

Fair enough.