Hey all, does anyone know what railroads the Frisco interchanged with the most at Birmingham in the 40s and 50s? I remember reading that the Seaboard began handling the mail and express cars of the Frisco's passenger trains at some point.
Hello ncstl576, Here's a table of the Frisco's interchange partners at Birmingham, circa. 1976. While not exactly what you're looking for, it should give you a vague idea of what traffic flows through Birmingham looked like 20+ years earlier. Gabriel G.
Thank you Gabriel! I imagine most SCL traffic would have come from the SAL, instead of the former AB&C/ACL. I don't exactly know how much traffic the CofG and the SLSF handled, though they did share East Thomas Yard with the IC.
ncstl576, If I had to assume based on the routes of the run-through trains Frisco ran with SCL, I'm thinking ACL would handle Frisco traffic bound for Florida (via. Waycross); while SAL would handle Frisco traffic bound for Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia (via. Hamlet). I'm also going to try and do a guesstimate based on the pre-merger revenue ton-miles of the railroads that made up ICG, SCL and SOU. Interchange railroads listed alphabetically with carloads. ACL: 66,617 carloads CG: 3,060 carloads GM&O: 73 carloads IC: 201 carloads SAL: 61,492 carloads SOU (pre-CG): 24,756 carloads Interchange railroads listed by carloads ACL: 66,617 carloads SAL: 61,492 carloads SOU (pre-CG): 24,756 carloads CG: 3,060 carloads IC: 201 carloads GM&O: 73 carloads Gabriel G.
James, I would have to dig deeper, but I think SAL and CG are probably the top two. I recall seeing that the SL-SF and SAL interchange traffic was rather robust. With the latter, I recall that the Frisco initiated an acquisition of the Central of Georgia that never came to pass. Perhaps Karl, Mark Davidson and/or Ken Mc can confirm. If you need a list of all railroads with whom the Frisco interchanged in Birmingham in 1943, let me know. I don’t think that’s what you’re needing so I will await further word. Best Regards,
Chris, That is correct. The Frisco went and purchased a block of Central of Georgia stock in 1956-57, then applied for permission to control the CofG. However, the ICC discovered the Frisco had already acquired effective control of the CofG before they granted it permission to do so, going so far as to borrow money during the hearings to purchase more CofG stock. The ICC chastized the Frisco for its impropriety and forced it to divest its stock. In 1960, the Southern applied for permission to purchase the Frisco's CofG stock and take control. Probably for the best, considering absorbing the CofG would've resulted in Frisco losing more traffic than it would've gained. Gabriel G.
