I read a 1980's newspaper article about the impending takeover of the Suskie by DO. In that aritcle it noted that Marcal Paper was the largest customer on the (then) NYS&W. Casual observation today tends to suggest that little, if any, Marcal traffic moves by rail. My question is does Marcal still ship by rail and if so does anyone have an idea to what extent? Thanks in advance for any info or enlightened speculation.
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Marcal Paper
- Discussion related to New York, Susquehanna & Western operations past and present. Also includes some discussion related to Deleware Otsego owned and operated shortlines. Official web site can be found here: NYSW.COM.
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Are raw materials still brought in by rail? That would be more likely than the finished product, no?
~Ken :: Fairmont ex-UP/MP C436 MT-14M1 ::
Black River Railroad Historical Trust :: [/url]
Black River Railroad Historical Trust :: [/url]
Marcal was an original investor in the NYSW rebirth. The line needed rail access, and was prepared to buy the segment from BT to their Elmwood Park plant to maintain the link. I believe Nick Marcalus Sr was an original director of DO/NYSW.
Marcal worked with Rep Bob Roe to assure that funds were available for minimum service, and that got Walter Rich interested. The alternative was scrapping most of the line. A little bit around Marcal, a few miles up to Midland Park from Paterson, and the North Bergen to Hackensack area would have been it.
Same thing happened on the north end when Victory Foods of Norwich stepped in to demand continued service as a guarantee before they'd expand. Warren Anderson, the NY legislator from Bingo, obtained a grant from NYS to finance the buy of track, etc
Marcal worked with Rep Bob Roe to assure that funds were available for minimum service, and that got Walter Rich interested. The alternative was scrapping most of the line. A little bit around Marcal, a few miles up to Midland Park from Paterson, and the North Bergen to Hackensack area would have been it.
Same thing happened on the north end when Victory Foods of Norwich stepped in to demand continued service as a guarantee before they'd expand. Warren Anderson, the NY legislator from Bingo, obtained a grant from NYS to finance the buy of track, etc
I believe Victory added a siding to their "new" and now totally gone frozen food warehouse in the 1980's, then never used it. They still received at the dry goods warehouse and shipped out bales of crushed cardboard to be recycled.
They were the last shipper between Sherburne and Binghamton for NYSW.
They were the last shipper between Sherburne and Binghamton for NYSW.
JoeCollege wrote:I believe Victory added a siding to their "new" and now totally gone frozen food warehouse in the 1980's, then never used it. They still received at the dry goods warehouse and shipped out bales of crushed cardboard to be recycled.I believe you're correct about the switches, JC.
They were the last shipper between Sherburne and Binghamton for NYSW.
Victory was bought out by an Australian company in the mid-1980s, which put a lot of their development on hold. Kept the name, but not too much more. One of the original execs was the personal owner of the NYOW NW2, Mr Albert (Adalbert?) Button.
You'd think that with the high price of fuel it would be a lot cheaper to at least receive your raw materials by rail.
Maybe, but trucking gives you a high degree of flexibility. You can truck in and out on a shorter notice then with rail.
I would expect their business has changed somewhat as well. Though they've always used a lot of "used" paper products as raw materials, they've probably moved to more environmentally acceptable alternatives to direct bleaching and other processes that may have used tank car quantities of industrial chemicals.
IIRC wasn't there a co-gen facilty nextdoor which was receiving rail shipments of coal or culm (reclaim coal) ?
The cogen burns natural gas, as I recall. Marcal is the steam host for the cogen. It would be impossible to get the air permits to burn coal in NJ. Only non-gas cogens in NJ are solid waste burners.
~Ken :: Fairmont ex-UP/MP C436 MT-14M1 ::
Black River Railroad Historical Trust :: [/url]
Black River Railroad Historical Trust :: [/url]
They used to get used paper at a warehouse at PC yard. I think they still do, right behind the former site of Azco Steel.
riffian wrote:I read a 1980's newspaper article about the impending takeover of the Suskie by DO. In that aritcle it noted that Marcal Paper was the largest customer on the (then) NYS&W. Casual observation today tends to suggest that little, if any, Marcal traffic moves by rail. My question is does Marcal still ship by rail and if so does anyone have an idea to what extent? Thanks in advance for any info or enlightened speculation.
Ken W2KB wrote:The cogen burns natural gas, as I recall. Marcal is the steam host for the cogen. It would be impossible to get the air permits to burn coal in NJ. Only non-gas cogens in NJ are solid waste burners.What does the cogen in Linden burn ? Is the PSE&G Linden plant still active since that independent cogen came online ?
The large 600MW cogen in Linden burns natural gas. I'll have to check on the status of the PSEG Power, LLC Linden Gen steam units. The combustion turbines are still active.
The Linden Cogen has no effect on PSE&G's transmission system nor on PSE&G's affiliate PSEG Power's generation. The cogen there was built to supply Con Ed in New York and it has its own transmission line that connects to Con Ed in Staten Island. The Cogen never was connected to the PSE&G system.
The Linden Cogen has no effect on PSE&G's transmission system nor on PSE&G's affiliate PSEG Power's generation. The cogen there was built to supply Con Ed in New York and it has its own transmission line that connects to Con Ed in Staten Island. The Cogen never was connected to the PSE&G system.
~Ken :: Fairmont ex-UP/MP C436 MT-14M1 ::
Black River Railroad Historical Trust :: [/url]
Black River Railroad Historical Trust :: [/url]
I thought PSE&G Linden (unit #1 IIRC) sold steam to Bayway/Exxon and the cogen/IPP (Independent Power Producer) was supposed to serve Bayway/Exxon exclusively rendering PSE&G Linden virtually inactive. I also thought PSE&G Linden was to be decommissioned or revamped because in its current configuration it was an inefficient peaking plant (at best).
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