Guz Intas and Guz Outas: 1942-3 Carloadings and Commodities on the North Bay Lines

I recently obtained a PDF copy of the History of the Santa Fe Railroad from Barstow to San Francisco from the Western Archives of the Santa Fe Railway Historical and Modeling Society.  They can be ordered from the Society website at: http://www.atsfrr.org/store/DigiHist.htm  I will post a review in the future, but for me, the file has been a gold mine of contemporaneous operational data.  Among other valuable historical documentation, in the appendix was a table of cars originated and received at the various stations along the line for 1942 and 1943.  I copied the data for my modeling area, Stockton to San Francisco, into an Excel spread sheet to help me gain a better understanding of what the traffic.  This information is more granular but less comprehensive than the commodity carloadings contained in the annual reports to the ICC and the California Railroad Commision.  (More on those in the future.) 

I had some preconceived notions as to what the traffic sources and commodities might be during the war years based on the San Francisco Port of Embarkation in Oakland, the Kaiser Shipyards and Standard Oil refinery in Richmond, Hercules Powder in Herpoco, the Naval Ordnance Depot at Port Chicago, and the Columbia Steel, Dow Chemical, and Fibreboard Plants in the Pittsburg/Antioch area.  A look at the newly discovered data confirmed some and shattered other assumptions.

 

Principal Commodities Stockton – San Francisco

Principal Commodities			Principal Commodities
Forwarded	1943	1942	Received	1943	1942
Alcohol	370	207	Alcoholic Liquors	266	512
Almonds	18	27	Asbestos	245	174
Asbestos	231	494	Autos & Trucks	1766	1178
Autos & Trucks	142	364	Autos & Trucks & Parts	383	898
Autos & Trucks & Parts	44	1662	Barrels	929	1247
Barrels	250	193	Box Board	134	219
Beer	357	706	Canned Goods	1819	1555
Box Board	1222	1458	Coal	92	93
Canned Goods	3300	5944	Explosives	13	12
Cement, Lime, Plaster	129	303	Flour & Feed	24	6
Chemical Spray	238	242	Fruits & Vegetables	683	564
Crushed Rock	286	56	Iron & Steel	1738	3130
Enamal Ware	58	0	Lumber	1076	1468
Explosives	364	383	Oil & Gasoline	3200	3658
Fish Products	206	280	Paper	307	306
Fruits & Vegetables	175	156	Pig Iron	334	477
Furniture	1	14	Potatoes	1160	1380
Grapes	131	300	Sand & Gravel	3084	2726
Iron & Steel	323	343	Steel	840	647
Oil & Gasoline	7727	10859	Structural Steel	91	0
Onions	59	48	Waste Paper	2765	2724
Paper	1702	2269
Potatoes	1136	1761
Salt Products	1382	1578
Sand & Gravel	2551	2521
Steel	1391	1677
Structural Steel	42	0
Sugar	2867	3873
Sulphate Ammonia	496	599
Tea & Coffee	307	396
Tomatoes	73	137
Waste Paper	497	473
Wine	192	231

As expected, oil and gasoline shipments led the originating freight commodities with 18.5 thousand outbound car loads over the two years.  Surprisingly, it was the second most received commodity with 6858 cars loads.  What was surprising about the oil and gasoline shipments was the origin.  Standard Oil in Richmond only accounted for 58% of the shipments, Port Chicago the other 42%.  How can that be?  Santa Fe only directly served one of the Bay Area refineries and that was in Richmond.  How did Port Chicago originate 42% of the petroleum traffic?  SP served the Shell and Tidewater refineries at Martinez and interchanged traffic to the Santa Fe at Port Chicago.  I discovered that and wrote about it in 2012, you can see that original post here: http://northbaylines.blogspot.com/2012/09/interchanges-2-port-chicago.html   What that detention report didn’t tell me was a tidbit that explains how the Santa Fe originated 7700 loads and terminated 6800 on the SP in those two years.  The traffic had to come from and go to the Shell and Tidewater refineries, as there were no petroleum facilities on the Santa Fe at Port Chicago.  On page 29 of the history, the author, F. B. Baldwin, has a paragraph dedicated to the Antioch-Martinez Switching Zone where both the SP and Santa Fe have access to all industries on either line on a switching basis.  That gave SP access to Columbia Steel and Dow in Pittsburg, and ATSF to the refineries.  And what about the Port Chicago Naval Ammunition Depot that I had planned on moving a gazillion explosive laden boxes to?  Only 107 car loads total since it opened to spring of 1944 when the report was written.  “Most of the traffic moving to it originates in Pacific Coast areas which we do not serve.” (P30)  The truth turned my expectations totally upside down.  But at least my investment in P2K and Red Caboose tank cars is paying off. 

Here is a list of the 1942-43 traffic by station.  The busiest was the WP interchange in Stockton, the least busy was Orwood.  And this does not account for the empties, only the loads originating or terminating at a station or coming from or going to an interchange. 

Total Originating and Terminating Carload Traffic by Location

Station	Orig 1943	Orig 1942	Term 1943	Term 1942	Total 1943	Total 1942	2 Year Grand Total	Avg loads/day
WP Stockton	30471	29306	22685	23115	53156	52421	105577	144.6
San Francisco	13351	13969	35016	32124	48367	46093	94460	129.4
Richmond	14118	14877	29352	18089	43470	32966	76436	104.7
SP Stockton	19514	17346	14799	13895	34313	31241	65554	89.8
Oakland	7018	10805	23053	23912	30071	34717	64788	88.8
Stockton	4616	5045	9888	8754	14504	13799	28303	38.8
Antioch	4940	3331	3545	3840	8485	7171	15656	21.4
Pittsburg	4070	4860	2840	3573	6910	6433	13343	18.3
Port Chicago	3471	5835	1326	353	4797	6188	10985	15.0
CCT Stockton	1934	1857	362	562	2296	2419	4715	6.5
NWP Tiberon	1596	1334	3148	4128	1596	1334	2930	4.0
Middle River	1087	1515	36	54	1123	1569	2692	3.7
El Cerrito	422	169	771	419	1193	588	1781	2.4
SN Port Chicago	401	420	237	328	638	748	1386	1.9
Oakley	261	538	92	81	353	619	972	1.3
Holt	593	212	95	61	688	273	961	1.3
Berkeley	63	34	435	414	498	448	946	1.3
Herpoco	364	383	13	12	377	395	772	1.1
Orwood	222	331	7	23	229	354	583	0.8

This Table shows that Stockton was the busiest place on the Valley Division as it handled nearly 280 loads each day to the interchanges or local industries plus all the through traffic to and from the Bay Area.  WP delivered 3 cars to the Santa Fe for every 2 the SP did and Santa Fe sent about the same proportion to each.  Perhaps it is just as well that I represent Stockton as my east staging, it could easily be layout unto itself with two major direct interchanges and one minor one plus the myrad of local industries.  The relative traffic levels are generally what I had guestimated, but with two surprises.  One, Herpoco had very little traffic and I will have to use my Hercules Powder cars less than I had planned.  Two, Middle River, the start of my on layout locations, chosen for its Bascule Bridge, had a lot more than I knew about.  As you can see in the next table most of that traffic was potatoes.  I may need to include a potato packing house and increase my SFRD reefer count.  That, or I can plan my ops sessions to avoid the potato rush.  I may need to up the reefer count anyway, the history documents the shipment of  550 car loads each year of fresh peaches from one orchard north of Merced to canneries in the Bay Area.  It still won’t be the solid reefer blocks needed for Bakersfield or Cajon though.

Principal Commodities Shipped by Station

Station	Principal Commodities	Fwd1943	Fwd 1942	2yr Fwd	Com Grand Total
Richmond	Oil & Gasoline	4952	5887	10839	18586
Port Chicago	Oil & Gasoline	2775	4972	7747	18586
Oakland	Canned Goods	1970	4889	6859	10377
San Francisco	Canned Goods	985	811	1796	10377
Stockton	Canned Goods	501	632	1133	10377
Antioch	Canned Goods	345	244	589	10377
Richmond	Sugar	2460	2998	5458	6740
San Francisco	Sugar	407	875	1282	6740
Middle River	Potatoes	1005	1445	2450	5205
Stockton	Potatoes	1017	1037	2054	5205
Orwood	Potatoes	131	316	447	5205
Holt	Potatoes	172	82	254	5205
Antioch	Sand & Gravel	2551	2521	5072	5072
San Francisco	Paper	1702	2269	3971	3971
Richmond	Autos & Trucks & Parts	44	1662	1706	3592
Stockton	Autos & Trucks	696	684	1380	3592
Oakland	Autos & Trucks	142	364	506	3592
Pittsburg	Steel	1391	1677	3068	3068
Pittsburg	Salt Products	1382	1578	2960	2960
Antioch	Box Board	1222	1458	2680	2680
Stockton	Fruits & Vegetables	605	465	1070	1401
San Francisco	Fruits & Vegetables	94	142	236	1401
Orwood	Fruits & Vegetables	81	14	95	1401
Pittsburg	Sulphate Ammonia	496	599	1095
San Francisco	Beer	357	706	1063
Oakland	Waste Paper	497	473	970
Herpoco	Explosives	364	383	747
Pittsburg	Asbestos	231	494	725
San Francisco	Tea & Coffee	307	396	703
Oakland	Iron & Steel	323	343	666
Port Chicago	Alcohol	370	207	577
Richmond	Fish Products	206	280	486
Richmond	Chemical Spray	238	242	480
Richmond	Barrels	250	193	443
Port Chicago	Cement, Lime, Plaster	129	303	432
Oakley	Grapes	131	300	431
San Francisco	Wine	192	231	423
El Cerrito	Crushed Rock	286	56	342
Holt	Celery	252	76	328
Oakley	Tomatoes	73	137	210
Middle River	Onions	59	48	107
El Cerrito	Enamel Ware	58	0	58
Oakley	Almonds	18	27	45
Berkeley	Structural Steel	42	0	42
Berkeley	Furniture	1	14	15

Principal Commodities Received by Station

Station	Principal Commodities	Recd 1943	Recd 1942	2 Yr Rec	Com Grand Total
Stockton	Autos & Trucks	4154	4352	8506	12731
Oakland	Autos & Trucks	1766	1178	2944	12731
Richmond	Autos & Trucks & Parts	383	898	1281	12731
San Francisco	Oil & Gasoline	869	2334	3203	6858
Richmond	Oil & Gasoline	1154	850	2004	6858
Port Chicago	Oil & Gasoline	991	207	1198	6858
Pittsburg	Oil & Gasoline	186	267	453	6858
Antioch	Waste Paper	2765	2724	5489	6738
Stockton	Waste Paper	715	534	1249	6738
Oakland	Sand & Gravel	1322	1231	2553	6673
San Francisco	Sand & Gravel	772	953	1725	6673
Stockton	Sand & Gravel	379	484	863	6673
Pittsburg	Sand & Gravel	500	197	697	6673
El Cerrito	Sand & Gravel	356	218	574	6673
Antioch	Sand & Gravel	134	127	261	6673
Oakland	Iron & Steel	1738	3130	4868	4868
San Francisco	Paper	307	306	613	4094
Pittsburg	Pig Iron	334	477	811	4094
San Francisco	Potatoes	1138	1310	2448	4094
Stockton	Potatoes	99	31	130	4094
Middle River	Potatoes	15	48	63	4094
Orwood	Potatoes	7	22	29	4094
San Francisco	Canned Goods	1044	757	1801	3374
Oakland	Canned Goods	775	798	1573	3374
Richmond	Lumber	559	574	1133	2544
El Cerrito	Lumber	289	617	906	2544
Berkeley	Lumber	179	219	398	2544
Oakley	Lumber	49	58	107	2544
Richmond	Barrels	929	1247	2176
Pittsburg	Steel	840	647	1487
San Francisco	Fruits & Vegetables	683	564	1247
San Francisco	Alcoholic Liquors	266	512	778
Pittsburg	Asbestos	245	174	419
Antioch	Box Board	134	219	353
Berkeley	Coal	92	93	185
Berkeley	Structural Steel	91	0	91	0
Holt	Sheep & Goats	43	30	73
Holt	Shooks	29	10	39
Oakley	Flour & Feed	24	6	30
Herpoco	Explosives	13	12	25

Much more analysis to do, but most of my modeling selection remains valid, but some of my assumptions and fleet composition need updating.

JOHN BARRY

Washington, DC