DECEMBER 2000

    This month we will examine another seasonal shipment, namely seed potatoes from North Simcoe County in the province of Ontario exported to northern states during the 1945-59 railway transition era. A "seed potato" is an ordinary potato and part of a sizeable portion of the crop which is eyed (pun intended) by growers for next year's planting. In the example under discussion, the seed potatoes are loaded on the Penetang Subdivision, part of the CNR Allandale Division, which stretches from Toronto to North Bay. Consult Steam at Allandale for more information on this branchline (if you do not yet have a copy, don't wait long, as there are fewer than 40 remaining before the book is considered out of print). For those of us designing or employing car forwarding system for our model railways, perhaps some new waybills will sprout over the winter from the information presented on seed potato shipments.

    In the years immediately following the Second World War, our railway branchline network is still intact, and shippers orient their thoughts around proximity to a rail line and its inherent possibilities for export traffic. As a general rule of thumb here in Southern Ontario during the early steam-diesel transition era, any non-bulk shipment with a destination within two hundred miles is carried by highway truck. Therefore, without any further information on this topic, we can rule out carload shipments from North Simcoe County to major cities in the province.

    Now, a bit of background on the commodity under discussion: potatoes need certain soil conditions in which to grow, and in the years following the Second World War, various government programs in Ontario (and no doubt in other provinces and American states) are aimed at improving the quality of marginal soils for specific purposes within reach. Government agencies and farmers' organizations in North Simcoe County have determined that the native soil, with a little assistance, is suitable for the growing of potatoes. There is not the necessary acreage to make table potatoes a large export operation per se, but the factor of interest to us is that growers in northern states have discovered that the seed potatoes from North Simcoe County have a higher yield than that of their countrymen's spuds. The American federal government has been quick to seize upon this fact as well, kicking in price quotas in an attempt to limit the quantity of seed potatoes imported. Nevertheless, many American growers cheerfully pay twice the going domestic rate for the Canadian spuds.

    Some specifics on the shipments themselves: in Canada during our 1945-59 period of interest, seed potatoes make up approximately 25% of all potato carloadings. The lion's share of all potatoes, table and seed, are shipped from Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick (roughly equal to each other and totalling about 90% between them), with a smattering from each of the other eight provinces. Therefore, anyone incorporating this commodity into a railway operating system may wish to apply the principles offered from the study of North Simcoe County and identify the shipments as originating in the Maritimes (or even the Eastern U.S.) instead.

    The seed potatoes are loaded in sacks and packed into refrigerator cars for shipment from the beginning of March onward through the planting season. From North Simcoe County in the province of Ontario, most of the carloads are destined to New York State, with Michigan, Illinois and Ohio among the other states represented. Need an example of a specific waybill? Origin: North Simcoe Seed Potato Growers Co-op, Penetang, Ontario. Destination: New York Co-operative Seed Potato Growers, Georgetown, New York.

    Should one of your model railway branchlines be a candidate for loading of potatoes, you may choose to have a warehouse situated on a siding (such as exist in the Maritimes, and which North Simcoe growers are hoping for, but will never have), or simply load them from trucks to reefers on a team track. The latter scenario is in effect on the CNR Penetang Subdivision and no doubt dozens of other branchlines in potato growing regions across Canada and the United States. Modelling the March-June season in an agricultural region? Get your hands on a couple of stake trucks, plant a few men wielding bushel sacks, and spot a reefer for loading. Or, for bridge traffic on mainlines, incorporate the movement of a few reefers of seed potatoes into your manifest trains. As usual, if you have any comments please drop me an e-mail at ian@canadianbranchline.com.

Ian Wilson
November 30, 2000

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