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GN Wheel Reports
Wheel Reports are lists detailing all cars and locomotives in a freight train. Originally drawn up by the train's conductor these were eventually replaced by computerized reports. Several of these computerized reports have been converted to computer file formats by Wayne Sutton and Brian Morgan. These can be find at the bottom of the page in both Microsoft Excel format as well as Adobe PDF format. For those not owning compatible software links have been included to download the necessary viewing software (free). Following below is a description of GN freight operations and Wheel Reports provided by Wayne Sutton and Brian Morgan.
GN Freight Operations
This is only meant to be a very brief overview of Great Northern freight operations. For a detailed look read Great Northern Pictorial – Volume Seven “Fast Freight” (1966 into BN merger) or Volume Six both by John Strauss, Jr. published by Four Ways West for a detailed look at freight operations.
The map on the left shows
the main division points and the demarcation point between Lines West and Lines
East. Locomotives were generally changed out between Lines West and Lines East
at Havre, Montana. Lines West trains were given 600 and 700 numbers while Lines
East trains carried 400 and 500 numbers. In 1963 transcontinental trains were
renumbered below 100. On the map is listed as many GN fright trains as we know
about, but we may have missed some. The starting and end points for each train
are also listed. For the transcontinental trains the mileage and scheduled
transit time is also listed, for example train 98 starts in Seattle travels 1760
miles on an 83 hour schedule ending in Minneapolis.
Great Northern ran its scheduled trains in sections; if there was enough traffic on a given day they ran another section of the appropriate train. The number before the train number is the section number, for example 2/88 is the second section of train 88. While the Great Northern went no further East than the Twin Cities most of its transcontinental trains connected with Chicago via the CB&Q. The trains on the CB&Q used the same train numbers as on the Great Northern.
Before computers a wheel
report was simply a high-class train list. It was a compendium of all cars
handled by a particular crew between that crews' initial and final terminal. On
most roads when the train got to a terminal, the conductor would file one copy
of the wheel report with the yardmaster (or actually with his office staff) and
another copy with all the waybills for the cars would be delivered to the
connecting conductor. The connecting conductor would write a new wheel report
for his crew, and so on. Specific practice varied from road to road but this is
an overview in general of how it was handled. At designated terminals a clerk
would take each wheel report and "bible" every car in the train -
enter it in a large book with column headings for car numbers running from tens
to thousands. For example NYC 200138 would be entered (depending on road) either
under "2001" column or under "38" column. That way if
somebody wanted a trace on the car it could be found, and information passed
along that it went through terminal Podunk at 4am Dec 21.
Wheel reports are a terrific source of information regarding train consists and make up.
Find out how these wheel reports can help make your model freight car fleet more accurate in the "How Accurate is Your Freight Car Fleet?" article by Wayne Sutton and Brian Morgan in the July-August 2005 issue of N Scale Railroading. This issue is available direct from:
North American N Scale, PO Box 77296 Seattle, WA 98177-0296 |
They list the
locomotive numbers and caboose, along with every car in the specific train. For
each car in the train the wheel report lists the road number, whether it is
loaded or empty, the car type (as shown in the GST Codes), the weight (if
loaded), the contents of the car, the junction that it is heading to, the
destination city and state, the consignee (customer), special remarks, and
(possibly) the originating city and state, and the shipper.
There are a couple
of computer print-out of wheel reports in this section of the site, but they can
be awkward to sift through to get the information required, so the vast majority
here have been converted to spreadsheet format. The information is preserved,
but now is in a form that is much easier to follow, and which can be manipulated
to show many different things. For example, it could be sorted by car road
number, enabling one to see how many “home road” cars are used as opposed to
foreign road cars. Or, how many empties in each train, or how many loads of
lumber, to establish operating trends. Number crunching in this way can lead to
a much greater understanding of how the prototype railroad operated.
Of interest on the original wheel reports (PDF files) are the Western
Fruit Express perishable reports. All of the cars containing perishable goods
(and this included loaded cattle cars) were logged in and out by WFEX.
GN Wheel Reports |
Train # |
Route |
Wheel Report for... | |
(Searchable) |
(Copy of original) |
|||
82 'Hotshot' | Seattle - Twin Cities |
All combined (160 kB) |
March 13, 1968 April 16, 1968 April 17, 1968 April 18, 1968 April 19, 1968 |
|
88 'Fruit Special' | Seattle - Twin Cities |
All combined (221 kB) |
April 16, 1968 April 17, 1968 April 18, 1968 April 19, 1968 April 23, 1968 |
|
97 'West Coaster' | Twin Cities - Seattle |
April 1, 1968 All combined (142 kB) |
March 2, 1968 March 15, 1968 April 1, 1968 (262 kB) April 20, 1968 April 21, 1968 April 25, 1968 |
|
517 | St. Cloud - Willmar |
May 1, 1968 All combined (61 kB) |
March 15, 1968 April 18, 1968 April 19, 1968 May 1, 1968 (325 kB) |
|
Files prepared by Wayne Sutton and Brian Morgan. |