Clinton chicken train

[pensive]

Attached is an article in the June, 1956 edition of All Aboard which describes the transport of baby chicks from Clinton to Kansas City, Missouri on the Frisco. The article mentions 6 "converted pullmans" outfitted for this operation. Can anyone list thier numbers?

Rich

[treefrog]

This article has been dead a long time but the numbers would be interesting to know. My interest lies with the High Line and more times than not you can't have a short freight without a baggage car for chicks. I would guess however that that if anyone had the numbers this fellow would have been answered seveal years ago. Merry Christmas & Happy New Year, Rick

[Karl]

http://www.frisco.org/vb/showthread.php?t=2186&highlight=chicken

post number 10

[pensive]

Thanks for the link, Karl. That's the answer.

Rich

[yardmaster]

Excerpts from the following article in the May 1935 Frisco Employees' Magazine, some interest operations information on the Clinton Chicken Train.

Clinton, MO. "The Baby Chick Capital of the World
by F.L. Hendrix

On Monday and Thursday of each week two extra baggage cars are called into service for the handling of baby chicks alone. This, in addition, to the regular equipment, is carried in Trains No. 20 and 21.

At the present time loading activities begin each Monday at about 9:45am and continue until 1:30pm at which time calculations show that from 140,000 to 175,000 baby chicks have been started on their voyage to new homes cattered throughout the entire United States.

This performance is repeated on Thursday and Saturday, only not in such large quantities as the two earlier days of the week, but with such regularity that most every day has become more or less baby chick day in Clinton. The close of each week, therefore, reveals that approximately 450,000 baby chicks have left Clinton, Mo. via Frisco lines.

Three leading hatcheries maintain 57 incubators of 52,000 egg capacity each, or 3,964,00 eggs for one setting alone or an equivalent of three refrigerator cars of eggs.

Baby chicks are loaded in baggage cars and spaced according to government specifications to insure each box sufficient air space to allow baby chicks fresh air in order to avoid getting overheated due to crowding. The largest shipments are made by U.S. Mail and this portion is loaded in a separate car while express shipments are loaded in regular equipment. This arrangement is carried out during the early part of teh season, but during the peak of the movement, a separate car is used for both mail and express and in this case it is necessary to run steam trains to take care of the movement.

[TAG1014]

This is one of the baby chick baggage cars. It's a train show picture I had (w/ no information) and Karl identified it as being shot by Arthur Johnson. There were some magazine articles awhile back about the Clinton local and the baby chick handling.

Tom

Edit: The articles were by Paul Dolkos in Kalmbach's 2008 Model Railraod Planning and also in their Spring 2009 Classic Trains.