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  • Railway Express on the NYC

  • Discussion relating to the NYC and subsidiaries, up to 1968. Visit the NYCS Historical Society for more information.
Discussion relating to the NYC and subsidiaries, up to 1968. Visit the NYCS Historical Society for more information.

Moderator: Otto Vondrak

 #1097954  by NKP1155
 
Hi, the NYC handled huge volumes of Railway Express Agency traffic. Does any of you have what conditions the NYC had to provide to REA employees on NYC trains? If there was no REA employee on a NYC train, did the crew get additional pay for handling REA moves? Were there regulations about the rolling stock that handled REA business? Is there a master agreement between the NYC and REA in anyones possession? WJP
 #1098045  by Noel Weaver
 
Normally trains that handled very much Railway Express had a messenger who was an employee of the Railway Express Agency.
Noel Weaver
 #1098811  by Bigt
 
I have read somewhere that if an REA Messenger was working a railroad baggage express car,
then the car had to be furnished with a desk, chair / stool, and, toilet faciilities.

My Grandfather was an REA agent for 46 years. He told me in his early years, that he used to work
the early morning Sunday trains where the Sunday newspapers were shipped as they moved as express
shipments. Cheaper maybe? He worked these trains from various points along the mainline - Ilion to Rochester.

As an agent, over the years he was assigned to stations at Ilion, Lyons, Newark, Oswego, Canton, Massena. He spent
many of his last years at Lyons, then, retired out of Newark in 1966.

There was a great book published some time ago, maybe 12 years or so, that covered the history and operations of
the REA. It was a soft covered book, dark "REA" green cover with the red "REA" symbol. I don't recall the author.....I read
it a few times, fantastic information!
 #1098933  by Bigt
 
Yes, that is the book I was thinking of. I found it to be an excellent source. If I am correct, Mr. Roseman
is a very fine modeller too.
 #1098941  by Noel Weaver
 
Many times at least during my New Haven Railroad days the railroad itself and not REA carried the newspapers in baggage cars. I don't know if this was the case on other railroads though.
Noel Weaver
 #1099085  by edbear
 
Railway Express was owned by 65 participating railroads. There were 965 shares and PRR held 126 and NYC 96, which was probably in proportion to the business they were doing when Railway Express was incorporated. Newspapers on the Boston & Maine were carried in railroad baggage cars. Weekday morning papers were loaded into the cars from the Boston papers' trucks which drove off Nashua Street to Track 23, North Station where the cars were spotted. Once loaded the cars were moved over to various tracks and coupled up into trains which left for Portsmouth, Portland, Concord, NH and Troy, NY and left 2-3 am. Sunday papers were loaded at 'A' House, near Prison Point Bridge and trains either backed into North Station and departed from there or left directly from 'A' House. If an 'A' House direct departure was advertised to carry passengers, they were taxied from North Station to 'A' House.
 #1099266  by shlustig
 
Large cities often had a separate REA facility.

In CLE, this was located at E. 26th St. on the Lakefront Line. REA loaded and unloaded cars here. NYC spotted and pulled the cars, took them to the old Union Depot, and switched them into the appropriate trains. Also, NYC operated several solid M&E trains (denoted by an X-#) which arrived and departed directly from the REA facility yard.
 #1099498  by Noel Weaver
 
shlustig wrote:Large cities often had a separate REA facility.

In CLE, this was located at E. 26th St. on the Lakefront Line. REA loaded and unloaded cars here. NYC spotted and pulled the cars, took them to the old Union Depot, and switched them into the appropriate trains. Also, NYC operated several solid M&E trains (denoted by an X-#) which arrived and departed directly from the REA facility yard.
In addition to the facilities of the New York Central the Pennsylvania had a big Railway Express operation in Sunnyside for both the PRR and the New Haven. The New Haven also had a good size Railway Express shed at Harlem River with one or two trains in and out every day, we had a yard job that spent much of the last trick switching that facility, sometimes a Penn Job would drop cars for Harlem River at Oak Point on the main at SS-4 (Later Market but after the REA was gone) and the express shed job would run up to get those cars. Harlem River was a busy place in those days (the early 60's). New Haven, Providence and Boston also had separate Railway Express operations and I think Springfield did too.
Noel Weaver
 #1101994  by Tommy Meehan
 
Some of the secondary Central lines had Railway Express business too.

On the Harlem Division there was an REA yard at White Plains, railroad west of the station about where today's transit bus center is located. Back in the late 1950s and early 1960s it was still very active. It was a shed-type building with a track on both sides. Room for four, five cars per side but probably only got a couple cars a day when I saw it. Full length baggage cars is what I remember seeing.

A former Central employee told me there was also an REA loading track right at the White Plains station, on the south side of the building. In the late 1950s an MU train out of North White about 6 PM used to run in there and pick up a car. The former employee said it was usually an MU baggage car being picked up. The same train also used to pickup a car at Scarsdale.

By 1964 or 1965 it was all just about gone.
 #1115352  by wjstix
 
Re the Sunday papers, I think in a lot of places the "big city" papers used to have an early Sunday edition (sometimes called a "blue streak" edition) that they would ship out by rail to smaller towns so they could be sold or distributed on Sunday. I think a lot of people bought a Sunday paper that normally didn't get the weekly paper, so there was more demand for the big Sunday paper. Before the 1960's "football" in most of America meant college football, and people would get the Sunday paper for the scores. Growing up in Minneapolis, the local paper used to publish the Sunday sports section on peach colored paper, since so many guys wanted to find the sports section right away to read about the Minnesota Golden Gophers.