Go Get Those Goddamned Empties!

While I was working at the RV, a couple times we received a big cut of empty tank cars at the E-L interchange in Summit that had moved down from E. F. Drew Chemical Co. in Boonton, New Jersey. They were handed off to us to bring down to the Lehigh Valley in Roselle Park. I think one came in a 12 car block and the other move came in a 9 car block. We didn’t get any revenue out of the move because they were moving empty. At that time, you had to pay a certain number of cents per car, per mile as a rebate for the benefit of having handled the load. Tank cars, for the most part, were returned via the same route. So, if you handled it loaded going to a consignee, the billing would be arranged to return the car via the reverse route. So, the way it came to you is the way it would go back. However, in the case of the Drew cars, the RV had to pay the mileage but got no revenue because they were empty cars. George Clark was really pissed about that. When Clarkie was doing the stamping for the interchange at the Kenilworth office, marking the date and time handled and stuff, he almost broke the stamp from slamming it down so hard on the desk and cursing all the while.

That was an exceptional move for us. I can’t remember exactly where the Drew cars were going other than, I guess, they were going someplace to be cleaned and reassigned. They were included in our normal E-L interchange; there wouldn’t be an extra move run. They pretty much filled the yard up in Summit. Thankfully, both times, we got to Summit early enough that they didn’t bog things up to much for the E-L. The second time we moved them, we were pulling into the Valley yard in Roselle Park, on that curve, when one of the cars derailed. It had been a relatively early day so we were anticipating getting done at a decent hour and it was still daylight, but now we had to stop, find a phone, call George Clark and he had to send George Davis out to help us. We spent a little time getting things re-railed. Those cars were just a big pain to handle.