US Refineries in the 40’s

 

Back in June, Dave Parker posted a document to the Steam Era Freight Car list that listed the petroleum refineries as of 1948.  As Dave stated in his post, he thought it might be helpful to fellow steam era modellers.  I found it helpful, but thought there could be a better reference for my 1944 modelling era.  The title of Dave’s Report was Information Circular 7483, Petroleum Refineries, including Cracking Plants in the United States, January 1, 1948.  The US government publishes all sorts of helpful information on the industries it regulates or have impacts on our economy and national security.  You just need to know what to look for, and Dave’s post put me on track to solve what to me had been a mystery of the origins of the loads arriving at Port Chicago in November 1944.  http://northbaylines.blogspot.com/2012/09/interchanges-2-port-chicago.html

 

An internet search led me to locate several versions of the circular from the ‘20s and later.  Information restrictions during WWII apparently restricted or halted publication during the war years, but I did find the 1941 and 1947 versions that bracket my time of interest.  Thanks to my Library of Congress reader card, I was able to download each report in its entirety at one shot, rather than the page by page method I had to employ before I got the card.  Once I had the reports, I transcribed the refinery information into an Excel spreadsheet.  I simplified my data into single columns for crude and cracking capacity for each year yielding 4 data columns rather than 12.  If an operating plant had capacity shut down or under construction, only the operating capacity is shown.  Similarly only shut down capacity is shown if there was construction at a shut down plant.  The capacities are shown as follows: operating in black, shutdown in red, and under construction in grey.  In another project, I’ve been transcribing the April 1944 Official List of Open and Prepaid Stations.  I’ve added which railroads served the cities where the refineries are located.  I omitted steamship and barge carriers, as the coastwise shipping was shutdown during the war and I didn’t have an interchange with a water carrier.  The list of railroads and the abbreviations used is included as a spreadsheet in the Excel file.  That sheet also has the 1944 Railway Accounting Codes that were required as header information on each company’s waybills.  As a Coast Lines Santa Fe modeler, I am sensitive to the fact the Santa Fe had four distinct operating companies with different Code Numbers in my operating era: Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe, AT&SF, 22; Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Coast Lines, ATCL, 30; Gulf Colorado & Santa Fe, GC&SF, 315; and Panhandle & Santa Fe, P&SF, 617.

 

The four refineries supported by my layout are listed below:

PLANT	CITY	ST	41 CRUDE CAP	47 Crude Capy	TYPE	41 CRACKED CAPY	47 Crack Capy
Tidewater Associated Oil Co	Avon	CA	43600	60900	Comp	8000	11100
Shell Oil Co Inc	Martinez	CA	26500	45000	Comp	6200	8050
Union Oil of California	Oleum	CA	30000	60000	Comp	3500	6500
Standard Oil Co of California	Richmond	CA	100000	125000	Comp	11500	25100

 

That is a small example of the data contained in the 656 entries in the spreadsheet.  You can also filter by railroad.  For instance the Atlantic Coast Line served three cities with refineries:

Mexican Petroleum Corp of Georgia	Savannah	GA
Standard Oil Co of New Jersey	Charleston	SC
The Texas Co	Norfolk	VA

 

That doesn’t necessarily mean that ACL served the refinery, though, as C&O, N&W, NS, PRR, SAL, Sou, and VgnRy also served Norfolk and only one or two of those roads would have directly served the plant. 

 

I’ve placed a copy of the Excel file my 1940s US refineries folder on Google Drive at https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1gG7PrXx2Zr8kjw-HWmYeLieVgY0pxdGX?usp=sharing

 along with a PDF listing of the refineries sorted by City and State.  The files are ©2022 John C Barry.  You may download for your personal use, but for commercial use, contact me at NorthBayLines@att.net.

 

John Barry,

Lovettsville, VA

7 August 2022