Bulk Salt Shipments by Rail (St. Clair County)- 1970's
Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2022 2:32 pm
This post mostly is a follow-up to some posts in the Chat area over the weekend (which have disappeared). Someone was asking about what kind of shipments were made in 2 bay covered hoppers in the '70's. I've been doing some research into commodities shipped and how those commodities were shipped, when shipped via rail, for my local area. My research project isn't complete yet, but I can share some of the information I've come across.
As some of you are aware, there were two big companies who shipped a lot of salt from the St. Clair County area- Morton Salt in Marysville and Diamond Crystal Salt in St. Clair. As far as I can tell, both companies shipped via boxcar and covered hopper. The railroad that had direct access to both companies was known for their iconic blue boxcars that showed up all over the country carrying salt and other products manufactured in St. Clair County. BUT- the leases on the 40' version of those boxcars ended at the beginning of the 1970's (accompanied by at least one lawsuit, according to the great Google), and the 50' version of those boxcars weren't leased until 1977, leaving 6-7 years where salt was loaded into other cars.
One of the things my research has led to is a partial list of cars that were assigned to either Morton Salt or Diamond Crystal. Other cars were generally assigned to the Port Huron area, but were not specifically assigned to one salt company or the other. Most of these cars belonged to the Grand Trunk. The specific point of this post is to share the car numbers for the covered hoppers that were assigned to the salt companies for bulk salt shipments.
I currently lack a comprehensive guide to what car numbers were assigned to which car types for the railroads in the 1970's, although railroadpicturearchives.net, the Railroad Fallen Flags photo site and a couple other sites have helped me figure out which cars were probably covered hoppers. If anyone knows of a source for where I could find this information for all of the carriers in the 1970's, I would appreciate it if you could share that information.
Covered Hoppers assigned to Diamond Crystal (St. Clair)
B&O 604163
C&O 601259
C&O 601311
C&O 601323
C&O 601360
C&O 604777
DTS 2528
DTS 2530
DTS 2533
GTW 315050
GTW 315052
GTW 315056
GTW 315093
GTW 315094
SOU 6226
SOU 6454
SOU 6918
Covered Hoppers assigned to Morton Salt (Marysville)
A whole bunch of USLX cars- I've seen numbers from USLX 586 to USLX 799 show up at different points in time.
NELX 101 - NELX 115
NAHX 48479 (leased to E I Dupont)
NAHX 48522 (leased to E I Dupont)
NAHX 43436 (leased to E I Dupont)
NAHX 48542 (leased to E I Dupont)
DUPX 30109 (leased to E I Dupont)
DUPX 30120 (leased to E I Dupont)
DUPX 30109 (leased to E I Dupont)
DUPX 30142 (leased to E I Dupont)
DUPX 30153 (leased to E I Dupont)
DUPX 30131 (leased to E I Dupont)
DUPX 30124 (leased to E I Dupont)
DUPX 30111 (leased to E I Dupont)
BO 604280 (leased to E I Dupont)
CO 605795 (leased to Morton Salt)
CO 600088 (leased to Morton Salt)
NAHX 48125 (leased to Morton Salt)
NAHX 48479 (leased to Morton Salt)
USLX 708 (leased to Morton Salt)
USLX 721 (leased to Morton Salt)
USLX 753 (leased to Morton Salt)
MILW 99770
When time allows, I'll update this with some of the boxcars (road names and series) that carried salt on a regular basis too.
As some of you are aware, there were two big companies who shipped a lot of salt from the St. Clair County area- Morton Salt in Marysville and Diamond Crystal Salt in St. Clair. As far as I can tell, both companies shipped via boxcar and covered hopper. The railroad that had direct access to both companies was known for their iconic blue boxcars that showed up all over the country carrying salt and other products manufactured in St. Clair County. BUT- the leases on the 40' version of those boxcars ended at the beginning of the 1970's (accompanied by at least one lawsuit, according to the great Google), and the 50' version of those boxcars weren't leased until 1977, leaving 6-7 years where salt was loaded into other cars.
One of the things my research has led to is a partial list of cars that were assigned to either Morton Salt or Diamond Crystal. Other cars were generally assigned to the Port Huron area, but were not specifically assigned to one salt company or the other. Most of these cars belonged to the Grand Trunk. The specific point of this post is to share the car numbers for the covered hoppers that were assigned to the salt companies for bulk salt shipments.
I currently lack a comprehensive guide to what car numbers were assigned to which car types for the railroads in the 1970's, although railroadpicturearchives.net, the Railroad Fallen Flags photo site and a couple other sites have helped me figure out which cars were probably covered hoppers. If anyone knows of a source for where I could find this information for all of the carriers in the 1970's, I would appreciate it if you could share that information.
Covered Hoppers assigned to Diamond Crystal (St. Clair)
B&O 604163
C&O 601259
C&O 601311
C&O 601323
C&O 601360
C&O 604777
DTS 2528
DTS 2530
DTS 2533
GTW 315050
GTW 315052
GTW 315056
GTW 315093
GTW 315094
SOU 6226
SOU 6454
SOU 6918
Covered Hoppers assigned to Morton Salt (Marysville)
A whole bunch of USLX cars- I've seen numbers from USLX 586 to USLX 799 show up at different points in time.
NELX 101 - NELX 115
NAHX 48479 (leased to E I Dupont)
NAHX 48522 (leased to E I Dupont)
NAHX 43436 (leased to E I Dupont)
NAHX 48542 (leased to E I Dupont)
DUPX 30109 (leased to E I Dupont)
DUPX 30120 (leased to E I Dupont)
DUPX 30109 (leased to E I Dupont)
DUPX 30142 (leased to E I Dupont)
DUPX 30153 (leased to E I Dupont)
DUPX 30131 (leased to E I Dupont)
DUPX 30124 (leased to E I Dupont)
DUPX 30111 (leased to E I Dupont)
BO 604280 (leased to E I Dupont)
CO 605795 (leased to Morton Salt)
CO 600088 (leased to Morton Salt)
NAHX 48125 (leased to Morton Salt)
NAHX 48479 (leased to Morton Salt)
USLX 708 (leased to Morton Salt)
USLX 721 (leased to Morton Salt)
USLX 753 (leased to Morton Salt)
MILW 99770
When time allows, I'll update this with some of the boxcars (road names and series) that carried salt on a regular basis too.