Been doing some research here and found a lot of great info on the Hoxie Subdivision. But I haven't found info on what types of freight would have made it over the line. I know LCL , lumber, strawberries and melons in season, but what else? Saw mention of loads of pipe for a project in the area. Also found mentions of cotton and potatoes Trying to nail down an operating plan for a small layout, plus I am genuinely curious now. Thanks for any help in the matter .
There may have been rice (bagged), definitely potatoes (potato shed at Arbor), and cotton would have been a distinct possibility. Rice was and is still raised in abundance near Poplar Bluff and all the lowland ground is suited for corn, wheat, rye, cotton, berries and melons, peanuts as well. Agricultural products were loads coming out of the area and a lot of variety of products delivered for stores in the area would have been loads coming in as well as oil products in bulk tanks and loaded in box cars and agricultural equipment.
Good deal! I shall incorporate these into the “ matrix”. Would pulpwood have been a commodity? Thanks again.
Worked a derailment one time at Hoxie, there by the diamond. We all stood around looking at the Zenith TVs , but we didn't get any.
In talking to old heads my favorite stories were the “well we dumped this car full of (whatever) and the claims guy let us get dibs on some of it!” Craziest one I heard was the car full of sugar and guys and their wives scooping it up in buckets . That or if we spotted cars inside of Coors and didn’t charge the inter plant switch, there would be a couple of cases of beer in the caboose!
How about a carload of snackpack pudding. Boy folks got tired of easting snackpack pudding I will tell you.
Most of the derailments I've been around didn't turn out producing such palatable bounty. Years ago one of our trains (A&M) derailed coming southbound off the mountain. Among the cars derailed was a reefer loaded with frozen chickens that was headed for a cold storage facility at Ft. Smith the A&M switched at the time. During the derailment, the side of the reefer ripped open and frozen chickens were strewn hither n' yon. It was the dead of summer, so it didn't take long for those chickens to thaw, then quickly start rotting. By the end of the day, the smell was horrendous. There were LOTS of clean up cars, road bed, and track work to do. MOW was going to be there a few days. So, in desperation, MOW used the track-hoe to load a side dump car with the rotting chickens and dirt. Guess who got the odoriferous rotting chicken's and dirt loaded side dump? Yup. Fort Smith yard got it. When it's something Springdale didn't want to deal with "send it to Fort Smith" was the common "solution". I was working the Fort Smith switch job at the time, so it fell to me and the Conductor to stick it somewhere. I think this was when the frack sand business was booming, so we didn't have tracks to spare. We ended up stuffing it on a spur that was alongside the north switching lead. Even then, every now and then we'd have to handle it to make switch moves. With the doors and windows on the engine open wide, it was summer, 'ya know,. that stench would drift into the cab. And EVERY TIME Jeremy had to ride the side of that car, when he returned to the cab he would smell like rotten chickens and stink thus for an hour or so! This went on for weeks. Then the car disappeared. Never knew what train or move it was on when it was sent out, but one morning it was gone. The rumor mill indicated where it went, but I shall refrain from saying just exactly where it was rumored to have gone so as to protect any of the guilty that may still be working at the A&M!! Lordy, the things that take place on a railroad that you only know about if you work for one! Andre
I'm not aware of any on the Hoxie Sub. Karl, Keith, Ken McElreath or Jim James might be able to confirm or deny.
Yeah I can’t find any solid proof of it, but figured it could be a thing. I don’t think I want to try to find 50’s era pulp racks so we will say it wasn’t . So now to figure out some towns to model.
When I drove OTR a guy I worked for decided to buy a dry van (we were strictly flat beds) to diversify loadings. I wound up hauling gelatin to GFS out in Ohio. Not like family Jello packs, but enough to make five gallons at a pop. Let me tell ya, we hated cherry Jello at my house cause three boxes got rejected due to some damage. Boss took one, I took one and I have no idea who got the last one. Never again.
There were no pulpwood facilities on the Hoxie sub or its branch lines. Towns/points to model based on my memory; Delta: Implement dealer, grain elevator, feed mill. Arbor: Potato shed. Toga: Grain Elevator/feed mill. Advance: Implement dealer, house/team track, grain elevator/feed mill. Brownwood: connection to Zalma Branch (crossties). Sturdivant: Not sure. Puxico: similar to Advance. Poplar Bluff: like Advance. That line from Blomeier to Poplar Bluff is a good line to model. Karl I'm sure can offer corrections or additions to what I have posted since he probably has records to back up or refute my assertions.
Good info! I found an encyclopedia of Arkansas site that helped out with industries in the Arkansas towns. Cotton Gins, sawmills, grain and canneries . It’s been fun to piece this together . It’s like an archeological dig.
I may be biased since my dad was a Delta Bobcat - still has his blue corduroy- but I've always thought Delta would be a pretty fabulous layout design element. Plenty of interchange options with SSW and MoP. See this link below for additional details: Delta, Mo
My dad was also a Delta HS graduate and basketball player. Some towns like Puxico would have had petroleum dealers for fuel and lubricants as well. Ken McElreath
The old site was hacked and the web host refused to help me clear it. I'm retired now and have been working on a new site that is much much bigger. I thought this time I would wait and upload it when the majority of it is finished. It won't be long now!
