Despatch Shops, Inc?

Does anyone have any information about this company? They sold all of their rail property to Conrail (Consolidated Rail Corporation) in 1978. I know that they were owned by Penn Central but I'm just not sure how they acquired this property that they sold to Conrail. Does anyone know exactly what property it is that they sold to Conrail in 1978. The legal description on the deed is so vague Could it be any part of the Metro North Harlem or Hudson lines?

Thanks for any help!

DSI was a subsidiary of New York Central located in East Rochester, NY. The company was passed on to Penn Central, and ceased freight car production in 1970.

Merchants Despatch Transport operated a reefer leasing company, with the stock ownership of the company split across the Big Four, the Lake Shore, and the NYC (all part of the NYC empire).

I don't know what became of MDT after 1970, but I think they still have an office in Utica, and you still see "MDT" on various freight cars they continue to lease and operate. Perhaps they were spun off sometime prior to Conrail.

What info do you have that makes you think MDT has anything to do with Metro-North or the MTA? I only ask because I'm curious as to where you're finding this info.

-otto-

Despatch shops is the NYC/PC car repair/builder shop in East Rochester, NY. I know that they are known for building refers and transfer cabooses. The property is all in East Rochester, NY.

Chris

Please don't confuse "Rochester" with "Westchester" as a former schoolmate of mine did once! They are some distance apart in different parts of the State of New York.

With respect to the MDT, there were Official Railway Equipment Register citations for them beyond the formation of Conrail. I believe that the last location listed was in Southeastern Pennsylvania-- Plymouth Meeting, perhaps.

If anyone is interested I will try to dig out the exact address.

There's not much left of the original Despatch Shops but a few buildings survive. "Despatch" was the previous name of "East Rochester."

umtrr-author wrote:Please don't confuse "Rochester" with "Westchester" as a former schoolmate of mine did once! They are some distance apart in different parts of the State of New York.

I went to College at SUNY New Paltz, in the Mid-Hudson Valley..
the majority of the kids I went to college with were from Long Island,
There were three of us in my group of friends who were *not* from Long Island.

myself from Waverly, (southern tier, west of Binghamton)
a guy from Albany.
and a guy from Buffalo.

Quote from a friend of ours who was from Long Island:
"oh cool, you guys all live upstate? you can hang out together all summer!"

yes..yes we can..because all the cities "upstate" are only a few miles apart..

Another friend from Long Island once complained, in total seriousness, that her hometown Long Island town really sucked because the nearest mall was 5 miles away..and that was REALLY far...she was serious.

ok, back to your regularly scheduled on-topic discussion!


Scot

This guy's research is questionable at best. When I confronted him and asked what the nature of his inquiries were, he disappeared from the list. Do a search and find all his random questions all over this list. I have a feeling he's a lawyer doing some back-channel research regarding air rights and property ownership along the Metro-North lines.

No back to your regularly scheduled madness.

-otto-

For what it's worth here, it seems to me that MDT was the outfit that
serviced mechanical reefers years ago in Selkirk and probably other
major terminals as well. This was correct years ago, I do not know if it is
still correct today.
Noel Weaver

I found an interesting article on Wikipedia, but no info provided after 1985.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merchants_Despatch

-otto-