PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR Kitbashing a Monon delivery trailer As modeled in HO scale/Montford Switzer D
uring the era of less-than-car- load (l.c.l.) service, the railroads employed local pick-up and de-
livery trucks offering door-to-door serv- ice for this high-rated freight. A small series of specialized trailers were oper- ated by the Chicago, Indianapolis & Louisville Railroad (Monon) within the Chicago commercial zone for delivering and picking up l.c.l. freight. They were examples of the specialized semi-trail- ers which were common to many rail- roads and trucking companies in the 1950’s and 1960’s. This all came to light on the Monon Railroad in 1954. During that year the railroad relocated its downtown Chica- go freight house and l.c.l. hub to com- pany property in suburban South Hammond, Indiana. The new location was adjacent to the Monon’s northern- most Indiana classification yard and engine terminal. The new freight house was a state-of-the-art facility contain- ing freight traffic and operating offices in the front, boxcar loading doors on the west side, truck loading doors on the east side, and there was also room for a piggyback ramp.
60
RMC/Dremel Kitbashing Award........
A minimum of $100 and a Dremel Rotary Tool Kit with a variable-speed Dremel 3000 rotary tool and acces- sories are awarded to the monthly winners of the RMC/DREMEL KITBASHING AWARD. Entries must consist of at least two photos (high-resolution digital pic- tures should be at least 3,000 pixels wide; color slides or 5″×7″ or 8″×10″ prints are also acceptable) and a short text. Models must use at least 50% commercial compo- nents; unused entries may be held future editorial use.
tions for the Monon Railroad. It al- lowed for l.c.l. shipments to be sorted and staged for delivery throughout various areas in the Chicago commer- cial zone without having to first be de- livered to the downtown Chicago freight house. There was no longer a need to send switch crews, car inspec- tors and other employees downtown twice per day to service the railroad’s l.c.l. business. Trucking contractor Ay- ers Cartage Co. began forwarding Chicago-bound shipments the final few miles from South Hammond over the local streets and highways, as well as picking up outbound shipments on the way back to South Hammond. Once loaded, l.c.l. cars could be switched into the next southbound Monon freight train, allowing a significant improve- ment in service.
This relocation of the l.c.l. loading and unloading facility to some 23 miles south of Chicago’s downtown to a sub- urb was a significant change of opera-
This new method of operation re- quired special equipment suited to the local pick-up and delivery trade. Ayers Cartage contracted with the Monon to do the work and scraped together 20 short, single-axle van trailers approxi- mately 25 feet long for this new busi- ness. With the post-World War II rise of
APRIL 2013
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100