Preference for rail

I wonder if Weidman's preference for rail, especially narrow gauge, had something to do with the fact it was slow and added to the transit time. Lumber companies were notorious for billing cars before the contents were sold ("rollers"), and then diverting them to a new destination after they were sold (diversion in transit I think was the tariff term). To buy time to find a buyer they would initially route the cars via circuitous, multi-interchange routes that would slow the car down. Seems to me the narrow gauge, including the delay for transloading, fits that bill pretty well.

Also, speaking of tariffs, to answer a question that was raised in another discussion here some time ago, in reading the ICC abandonment decision, it was noted that the cost of transloading at Alamosa was included in the rate. What that does not answer is now well the rates reflected the cost of doing that.

Here are a couple more pix of Weidman's, from my collection:




JBWX



Edited 7 time(s). Last edit at 04/28/2016 09:42AM by John West.