In the Orange Hall today, Rich Yoder was talking about research he was doing on Mather stock cars, as used by the
B&O and Northern Pacific. What we can't answer is why the B&O, and the C&O (which had a stock rest and watering
facility at Hinton, W. Va., in the middle of coal country), both coal hauling roads, had so many stock cars....the B&O leased
thousands of Mather cars? From where came all the cows, and to where did they go?
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Could it be before extensive refrigeration, they shipped the cattle live to big city stockyards and then butchered them?
Well, they did that, but why were the B&O, and C&O, coal haulers, involved to such
a great extent? Where were they getting loads of livestock, and to where were they
shipping them?
Colorado Hirailer,
Don't forget the B&O ran from Baltimore to Chicago. There are a lot of farms in Ohio and Indiana.
Also Livestock cars don't always carry cattle like they do out west. There are also a lot of pigs taken to market.
George
And Cincinnati (on both B&O and C&O) was know as "Porkopolis" at one time.
Baltimore had (has) kosher meat houses. Philly and and NYC both had stock pens for their cities. And besides Cincinnati, both the C&O and B&O went to Chicago. I think you can still get a pretty good steak there. Livestock couldn't travel very far without stopping to exercise them and give them a break from their travel. So there were livestock pens about every 100 miles or so. Their rails go through the heartland of PA, OH, IN, and IL. That's where the livestock came from.
bandofan:
Minneapolis, Omaha, and Sioux City were among the largest stockyards in the country. I don't know anything about Mather cars, but I can tell you a great deal about Sioux City. We have the honor of being one of the top 3 livestock markets in the US. At one time Sioux City led the US in hogs, the number one market. Minneapolis usually led. We had Armour, Cudahy, Swift, Needham, Sioux City Dressed Beef, Raskin pack. The Illinois Central hauled the most carcass to Chicago. We had 5 major railroads, one of the smallest cities with 5 feeds, IC, GN, CB&Q, GN, and Milwaukee. We also had the Sioux City Transfer Railroad to haul cars across the stockyards area.
I realize that Illinois, Ohio and Indiana produced a lot of carcass beef and hogs. In the mid 1960s a small beef packer in Denison, Iowa started processing boxed beef, that is cut into meat market ready steaks, etc. Across the river in Dakota City, NE is now the largest packing plant. That company was called Iowa Beef Packers, the Iowa Beef Producers, and then Tyson.
Just a brief history on meat packing.
Dick
Speaking of coal country, I doubt that it applied to the Mather cars, but many of the ATSF
stock cars were configured so that they could haul coke...it was clean and provided revenue on the return trip.
Allan
Here is a link to B&O specific information from a B&O Modeler in 2008.
In the 1960s, Esskay Meats in Baltimore was still receiving hogs on the hoof in B&O stockcars. They were delivered by a switcher out of Bayview yard to the Highlandtown yard where Esskay was located. The Highlandtown yard is gone and Esskay closed their Highlandown plant many years ago.
Joe
bandofan: Thanks for that link...I hope Rich Yoder is on here...I mentioned OGRforum to him. I knew about "Porkopolis" and that Cincinnati was a long time meat packing
center. Interesting photo of that Willard, Ohio railroad stock yards. I wonder if there
are any of those stock rest and watering yards still standing in the midwest? I think
the C&O's at Hinton is gone. Fall "stock rushes" were important revenue sources for
railroads.
Baltimore had (has) kosher meat houses. Philly and and NYC both had stock pens for their cities. And besides Cincinnati, both the C&O and B&O went to Chicago. I think you can still get a pretty good steak there. Livestock couldn't travel very far without stopping to exercise them and give them a break from their travel. So there were livestock pens about every 100 miles or so. Their rails go through the heartland of PA, OH, IN, and IL. That's where the livestock came from.
What he said.
In the PRR Color Guide to Freight and Passenger Equipment, there's a 1968 picture of PRR K9 (Nee X32 box cars) stock cars bracketing a chartreuse Food Fair car on Horseshoe Curve. From what I read online (can't recall where) these were often destined for Cross Brothers, a Kosher slaughter house in Philly.
On Grays Ferry Ave. in South Philly next to the Schuylkill river there was a Oscar Meyer packing plant(huffs in Bacon out) where they butchered and smoked the meat, I still remember the smell, I also remember the stock cars lined up beside the plant which was a big building at the time, now it is part of a hiking trail. I also remember both the B&O and the PRR railroads pulling cars into the yard there, I wish there where photos.
For those that are interested, there is a lengthy article in the Summer 1996 issue of "The Sentinel", the B&ORRHS magazine. It includes a list of stock pens located on the B&O arranged by Divisions and a list of showering facilities. There are also plenty of photos and drawings of the Mather cars in the article. I'll get the info to Rich tomorrow.
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