Eastern Railroad Discussion > Conrail Livestock Question.

Someone on the Nostalgia & History board wanted to know what was the last regular movement of Livestock on the railroads (Barnum & Bailey Circus doesn't count)? When did Conrail stop hauling livestock on TV-2? I recall seeing it in March of 1988.

Conrail used to haul a car or two of cattle out of Kansas City on their TV intermodal trains to a kosher packing house near Elizabeth, NJ, on the corridor. I would also see empties going west on manifest trains on occasion. 1988 sounds about right, if not a little late. The last time I believe I saw a stock car on Conrail was 1987, but it could have been earlier than that. They were a fairly regular sight in 1982/83, then they were gone.

The cars were 86' long "steer palaces" marked "Cattle Car Leasing Company" and the reporting marks were either CCLX or CBPX (the latter were lettered for Cross Brothers Packing Co. in Philadelphia-who either stopped shipping cattle by rail or went out of business). There was a photo in Railfan & Railroad in the early to mid 1980's of a car spotted at the Elizabeth plant. An article in Trains a little later indicated they were using these cars to ferry golf carts from cold climates to Florida and vice-versa, before they were apparently scrapped.

I scratchbuilt a model of one of these stock cars in 1983 and have other materials pertaining to these cars that I had gathered for the model project.

As for the last regular livestock move on any of the major railroads, wasn't that the LA-bound hogs on Union Pacific (in the HOGX cars) that was featured in a 1987 issue of Trains?

Mid-1980s sounds about right for Newark NJ.

I can remember the Conrail dispatchers raising hell when "stock trains" were delayed coming into Oak Island, etc.

There's even a reporting point in the Oak Island yard area named "stock switch" on the Passaic & Harsimus branch.

It's a shame because the increased Muslim and Jewish populations have dramatically increased the demand for fresh killed, ritually slaughtered meat. There's a lot of fresh goats, lambs, calves, etc coming into Newark by truck these days.

Out of Chicago, remember a car or two for Cross Bros. a week from CR&I yard to the east when I worked for CNW at Wood St.

John

Can't remember the dates, but Conrail had a stock pen near the Reily St. yard office in Harrisburg for a while. Stock was brought in on the large stock cars, unloaded and trucked to a packing plant somewhere east of Harrisburg. I believe Harrisburg was the end point because it was about as far as they could go relieably without having to stop and feed and water the animals.

Moyers cars on TV12M.