Conrail Carloads

Even though this is beyond the pure PRSL years I think this deserves being documented here. My thinking was that the Millville line had the bulk of the traffic. I was definitely wrong.

Quoted from "Mongo" (Gary Evans) July 2nd, 4th, & 10th 2012 on the PRSLHS:

In the mid 1970's, just before Conrail, PRSL moved about 95,476 cars a year. Over 30,000 came to and from the Pennsgrove Branch with its large amount of chemical and plastics traffic.   This means that all the other PRSL lines combined accounted for the other 2/3 of the traffic.

Just before the takeover of Conrail by NS and CSX, Conrail did in fact put most of the former PRSL out for bid for short line operation. The part they wanted to keep, was the Pennsgrove Branch and Pavonia Yard.

Here is some comparative totals for 1973.

            Salem Branch                 6,654 carloads,
            Bridgeton Branch          1,464 carloads,
            Pennsgrove Branch     31,018 carloads,
            Millville Area                8,637 carloads,
            Grenloch Branch          1,300 carloads mostly from Bellmawr Industrial park.

Major shippers on the Beasley's Point line were

            Owens-Corning Fiberglass in Barrington,
            Atlantic City Electric at Beasley's Point &
            Northwest Magnesite at Cape May Point.

The Pennsgrove line had

            2 DuPont Plants,
            Atlantic City Electric Deepwater Power Plant
            Mobil Oil Refinery,
            Plastic plants:
                        Shell,
                        Monsanto &
                        B.F.Goodrich  .

Not to mention the large Texaco refinery on the Millville Line in Westville.

This line supported four local freight round trips from Pavonia.

            One to Thorofare,
            One to Paulsboro,
            One to Pedricktown, &
            One to Carney's Point.

Paulsboro also had an assigned switcher on all 3 shifts.

Most of the information here was gleaned from

            the 1st and 2nd Printing of the PRSL book by Frederick A. Kramer and from
            "By Rail to the Boardwalk", which is the Bible on PRSL history.

My personal experience was mostly with Cooper's Point yard, where most of the traffic was for

            Campbell's soup & RCA.
            There was a team track where other stuff was unloaded, occasional cars for Weeks Marine Co, and even a ramp    where I saw salt being unloaded for the Camden City Highway Dept.

Grenloch branch: 1,872 carloads
          Bellmawr Industrial Park:       1,765
          Mt. Ephraim lumber yard:                 44
          Glendora Delaware Valley Box:         63
(From Reading Seashore Lines book by WJC)

It seems if it wasn't for the Bellmawr Industrial Park, the Grenloch Branch may have disappeared.

While it's true that the Pennsgrove line has lost some business, like the Shell Plant and coal for Atlantic City Electric, the new Pureland Industrial Park served by SMS switching line has added quite a bit of new business and is only about 50% developed.

PRSL's territory was mostly a consuming area. More stuff came in than went out except for sand and chemicals.