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  • LV Operations at Charmin / Mehoopany

  • Discussion related to the Lehigh Valley Railroad and predecessors for the period 1846-1976. Originally incorporated as the Delaware, Lehigh, Schuylkill and Susquehanna Railroad Company.
Discussion related to the Lehigh Valley Railroad and predecessors for the period 1846-1976. Originally incorporated as the Delaware, Lehigh, Schuylkill and Susquehanna Railroad Company.

Moderator: scottychaos

 #141789  by DElder
 
I am interested in finding out about operations/traffic at the Charmin paper plant at Mehoopany PA during the mid-70s just prior to Conrail. There does not seem to be much specific info in the various LV books, and an Internet search also didn't turn up much. From the limited information that I've been able to locate, I'm aware of Charmin's apparently voracious daily appetite for clean 40 ft and 50 ft boxcars for outbound product loading. I would also like to know more about other inbound and outbound traffic/commodities, types of cars used, etc. For example, I suspect that there would have also been inbound tankcars of chlorine (??), but I would guess that the plant might also have received other materials by rail from the LV. (As some can probably guess, I'm considering the Charmin plant as the centerpiece of a moderate-sized operations-based LV model railroad (along with several other locations), and thus could use more information on traffic in and out of the plant.)

Does anyone have any information on this subject that they could share, or possibly a contact that they could direct me to who might know about this subject?

While I'm a "new member" to this list, I've thoroughly enjoyed following the conversations on the LV here for some time. I've lived here in the midwest for more than 25 years now, but I grew up along the LV in central NY during the 60s and 70s, and "The Valley" has always remained my favorite railroad. A big thanks to all you folks who obviously have fond memories of the LV, and don't mind sharing them with the rest of us us!

Doug Elder
Olathe KS
 #142176  by Matt Langworthy
 
Doug,
A great source on this area is Lehigh Valley Railroad: Wyoming & Buffalo Divisions , which I acquired a few weeks ago. This book was written by ex-LV employee Mike Bednar, and it's the final word for operations between Wilkes Barre and Buffalo. It includes a few shots of the Charmin plant. Typically, the local ran daily with a lone Alco RS-3 or -2 as power. In addition to the boxcars, I did see a few tankers in one of the pics. I think you're right in assumung they contained a bleaching agent (either chlorine or hydrogen peroxide).

I appreciate your enthusiasm for our fallen friend LV. I was in Elmira 1/30/69 and lived there till just after the start of CR so I have a few memories I'd be glad to share sometime. Welcome to the forum! :-D
 #176771  by 2nd trick op
 
In the mid-1970's the Valley's Coxton Yard always seemed to hold a generous supply of general service boxcars, the majority of them from the shortlines which flourished in the car-leasing business for a few short years, available for loading at Mehoopany. Conrail also had a fleet of boxes dedicated to sanitary-paper traffic, identifiable by yellow doors.

It's also possible that some of those cars delivered pulp to the plant.

And as an afterthought, perhaps another forum member might know whether the "XF" class boxcars dedicated mostly to flour traffic could accept sanitary paper as a backload. Buffalo Creek (BCK) and Atlantic and Western (ATW) were two of the roads that maintained fleets of "XF" boxes.
 #176834  by Matt Langworthy
 
FWIW, I found out elsewhere that the tank cars also carried perfume. What power did CR assign to this operation?
 #177543  by wis bang
 
Matt Langworthy wrote:FWIW, I found out elsewhere that the tank cars also carried perfume.
By 1980 the perfume was trucked in from Conn. by Chemical Leaman; I used to speak to the driver from my position in Central Dispatch. They got a 6,500 tanker [loaded to 45,000 lbs.] every day. The perfume is added to the cardboard roll so the smell but not the solution permiated the paper. Figure (4) truckloads = (1) tank car.
 #974962  by Franklin Gowen
 
MikeRoseHobbies wrote:Doug:

I'm modeling this line and have been in direct contact with Mike Bednar. I'd be happy to share what I've learned, and would also love to exchange info with you. You may contact me directly if you like at "[email protected]", thanks.

Just discovered this list!

-Mike R
Welcome aboard, Mike! :) We all have our respective rail-related passions, and this web forum is a great place for information exchange.