We ex-Conrail folks call ourselves Ex-cons as it is a unique term that turns heads. My interest with Frisco started with a family business and a supplier that was located on the Frisco in Joplin, MO. I received boxcars of insulating cement that I sold in the NY/NJ area. We had a warehouse in Edison, NJ in the old Raritan Arsenal. I eventually decided to go back to grad school after 10 years and went to work for Conrail in Industrial Engineering and Coal (Unit Train) Marketing and Sales. My work ranged from designing Intermodal Facilities to simulation modeling to sales and planning. At the end of Conrail, I was also the Hopper Fleet Manager for 17,000 cars and had to get the CSXT cars stenciled NYC and delivered... I was the sole user of the RFID tag system...and that was awesome to get all of the standing order trains. I occasionally shut down the Hump at Conrail while I changed the "home" designation of some cars while sorting out the mess. After Conrail, I went to work for Formosa Plastics for a year and then to G-Log/Oracle where I have been for the last 20 or so years. I manage the Algorithms Team as a Product Owner and we have a lot of clients including rail and intermodal.... My love of trains and railroading has never died......and now that I am getting older, the "collecting" has to start reversing. I have about 20 years of FMIG and the Great Northern Goat that need new homes. I ma more interested in a modest price than to try to market them. I would like to see that they go to someone who is doing research and will find the information very useful. All of this stuff is in great shape...no damp basements.... So joining this group is a way to "give back" and enjoy the process... Anyone interested can email me at al.drummond@oracle.com FMIG Al
Welcome aboard Al. You have quite the life experience. Do you remember the name of the supplier in Joplin MO?
The hump was at Conway. It took a lot of arm twisting to get Conway to stop sending all loose hoppers to Shire Oaks for coal loading. But with the new program, I got to play with the system and make "pure" trains with the same lot and class of car. That was done by changing the home destination. We had 2 locations that did stencil work and I could not overload them. Columbus was one of them and Hollidaysburg was the other. I remember getting a train of BIG TRIPLES together that needed to be stencilled and had them load at Sonman or some place nearby. They went to the paper mill new Watertown on the Lowvill and Beaver River. That was Friday. Monday morning, I had the yardmaster in Hollidaysburg screaming at me that they were coming back. Turns out that the papermill got volunteers to unload to avoid demurrage. The trainmaster then put the loose cars into freight service and they made it back to Conway in record time. I wanted an empty unit train so I could avoid jamming up the shop. The shipper was PK Insulation Mfg in Joplin. PK Maitra worked for Eagle Pitcher and started his own insulating cement business. Then he purchased an electric furnace to make his own wool. PK died very young and so did his business, I guess. I also bought insulation from Eagle Pitcher. Most of the cars I got were Frisco or Railbox. I once got a beautiful ATSF plug door car and once got a near pristine B&M blue car. I took pictures of most of them...plus other cars in the Raritan Center. One of my hobbies was custom painting and decal work. Now that Floquil is out of business, I have not had a lot of luck with painting..
Thanks for the story "behind the scenes" on how to get cars marked properly without overloading the shops. Conway would have been right in the middle of intense movement of hoppers, so it was quite a feat, I am sure.
