Seaboard Air Line's 40' PS-1 Loading Assignments

 

Seaboard Air Line's fleet of Pullman-Standard 40' PS-1s consisted of 1,900 examples which were comprised of cars constructed in 1948 to 1955. Production changes throughout the fleet were rampant as were specialized loading assignments. I began a project to outline the fleet's loading assignments which ranged from beer to biscuits, as well as coffee, appliances, paper, aluminum and mineral service. The following assignments have been referenced from SAL loading assignment documents from 1964 to 1971 and have been reconciled against one another to determine the best information.

By and large, SAL assigned the majority of 40' PS-1s to appliance loading with 106 cars in dedicated service to and from various shippers, with the largest being General Electric. In 1951, General Electric's Appliance Park, Kentucky 900-acre site was opened which required a considerable amount of dedicated cars. 

General Electric photograph, Appliance Park, KY

SAL also serviced other appliance and electronic manufacturers throughout the midwestern United States to include Hot Point, Maytag, Whirlpool, Norge, Gibson, Westinghouse Electric, Tappan, and Kelvinator.

The most iconic SAL PS-1s were those used in beer service which served the Tampa, Florida, breweries in Hillsboro, FL which was a jointly serviced yard by the ACL and Seaboard Air Line. These 39 PS-1s were the most colorful and memorable of all Seaboard Air Line Pullman Standard boxcars. There were no fewer than 5 paint schemes applied to this group which frequented the Tampa area.

Schlitz Brewery, Tampa, Florida. Images courtesy of Hillsborough County Public Library and Florida Memory Project.

Warren Calloway photograph

In researching these cars, a particular group of cars were loaded at Quincy, Florida at the Floridin Company, which opened the nation's first mine of Fuller's Earth in 1893. Fuller's Earth is used in a variety of chemical, industrial and pharmaceutical applications. The images below show the company's facilities during the 1940s which shipped Fuller's Earth as a bagged commodity.

Both images courtesy of Florida Memory Project

The majority of SAL's PS-1 fleet was assigned for loading in Florida with 64 cars, followed by Kentucky with 59 cars, and South Carolina with 28 cars. Aside from beer and Fuller's Earth, SAL loaded coffee in Jacksonville, Florida from the Maxwell House plant using 13 dedicated cars.

Maxwell House coffee plant, Jacksonville, Florida Time-Union photograph

Seaboard Air Line assigned 28 cars to Bowaters paper located in Catawba, South Carolina for shipment of coated paper from the massive plant served by both SAL and Southern Railway. The paper industry was served extensively throughout the southeastern United States by Seaboard and rival Atlantic Coast Line. Successor Seaboard Coast Line maintained one of the largest fleets of high capacity paper cars to many paper mills and plants throughout the area. The usage of the 40' PS-1 in paper service required the addition of two louvered vents on the car ends to reduce moisture intrusion and allow for ventilation of the lading. SAL assigned only cars from the earliest orders, Pullman Lot 5919B, to this service which were constructed in October 1948. 

These early PS-1s featured the standard brake retainer location, the absence of roof ribs on the outermost panels, straight end ladders, a grab iron was fastened below the ladder on the ends, three point end grab irons, and no embossments immediately below the roof eaves on the car ends. The early PS-1s which are represented by the Kadee 4300 series bodies, have a unique bolster tab in addition to the aforementioned details, but to date, the model has not been released with an 8' door opening to match the cars specified by Seaboard Air Line.

SAL assigned 15 cars to the Ampthill, VA Rayon plant located south of Richmond, VA. The plant, located on the banks of the James River, was served by the Southern Railway and Seaboard Air Line. With increased production of products such as Rayon, Dacron, Tyvek, Nomex, Corian, Mylar, and Lycra this became an important commodity for SAL.

The final few assigned cars were in aluminum can, salt cake, biscuit, general distribution, and grain service. 

The Tampa area was once again a major producer of aluminum cans during the 1960s for use in the brewing industry and was served by American Can Company.

 Interestingly, SAL assigned three cars, 25996, 25613 and 25771, to Streitmann Biscuit, the predecessor to Keebler, in Norwood, Ohio. The final few cars present some interesting service possibilities those being the two assigned cars, SAL 24802 and 24813, to Tampa grain service. Tampa serviced two major mills in the area those being Cargill and a downtown mill located adjacent to City Yard in the Ybor City area. The mill was sold in the 1960s and ultimately purchased by Ardent Mills. The mill was recently demolished as has much of Tampa's remarkable industrial heritage.

Cargill's Tampa mill located on the Ybor Channel. Image courtesy of the Florida Memory Project.

While examining the assignments there were a few additions and subtractions over the years, for instance three cars were assigned to the Sunshine Biscuit company in Ft. Benning, Georgia, however by 1971 these assignments had been transferred to cars serving Floridin Company in Fuller Earth service.

Several other changes included the loading point for Norge Corporation was changed from Ft. Smith, Arkansas to Grand Rapids, Michigan.  SAL cars 25544, 25622, and 25684 were reassigned to Fuller Earth service after having been assigned to AVCO in Glencliff, TN and routed via the L&N. 

One car, SAL 25552 was assigned to Southern Industries, in Richmond, Virginia, via the SAL, however, by 1971 this car was found in the massive General Electric pool serving Appliance Park, KY.