Re: South Park / C&S 18x24 Depots -- Express Companies

[Jeff Young]

Interesting that the Ft. Logan and Eastabrook photos both show “Pacific Express Company” signs on the depots.  I model the 20’s when everything was “American Railway Express” (which was replaced by “Railway Express Agency” in 1929), but I thought the C&S was all “Adams Express Company” before WW1.  When was Pacific Express Company in the picture?

Cheers,

Jeff.

PS: I found a bit more info here: http://www.midcontinent.org/rollingstock/dictionary/express_companies.htm, but nothing specific to Adams vs. Pacific on the DSP&P/DL&G/C&S.

[Rick Steele]

Pacific Express was an arm of the Union Pacific. Think about the joint SP-UP Pacific Fruit Express (formed after the demise of Pacific Express). It was not that unusual for Railroad owned Express Companies to handle the lines of the parent road. There was Southern Express and a number of others. You will see signs for Pacific Express Company in Central City after the railroad made it there in 1878. There was even a Pacific Express Company office in downtown Central City in the Miller Block.

According to the ICC documents on the Express Companies, Pacific Express disappeared before the turn of the 20th Century. I do not know which express company replaced it for sure on the C&S. I would conjecture that it was Wells Fargo & Company express as I have seen photos of C&S RPO/Express cars in the early paint schemes with Wells Fargo lettering on their sides.

Adams Express Company was the favored express company for the CB&Q and appeared on the C&S after the Q bought control in 1909. It stayed that way until the formation of American Railway Express under Federal control during WWI by the USRA. After the USRA was dismantled, ARE became the Railway Express Agency.

Rick

[Jim Courtney]

Rick,

Thanks for the overview and time line of the various express companies. I wasn't aware that Adams came along so late, with the CB&Q acquisition.

As for the Wells Fargo relationship, here are a couple of cars lettered for Wells Fargo, prior to the 1906 passenger car renumbering:



Littleton Historical Museum, from Poole and Martin, in Grandt's Narrow Gauge Pictorial VIII

On the Morrison branch, 1903.






At Shawnee, prior to February, 1906.



I've seen photos of Combine #20 with the "Adams Express Company", though re-lettered in 1941 prior to being displayed at Central.

Anyone know of photos showing Adams lettering on cars in service, c1909-1918?

Jim

[Jeff Young]

Very interesting; a lot more companies involved than I had thought.  

So it goes something like:

      - ~1898  Pacific Express

~1898 -  1909  Wells Fargo & Co Express

 1909 -  1917  Adams Express Co

 1918 -  1920  USRA / American Railway Express (gov)

 1920 -  1929  American Railway Express (private)

 1929 -        Railway Express Agency 

Cheers,

Jeff.

PS: a couple of American Railway Express shots, in two different lettering styles:

[Jeff Young]

One for Jim:

http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/42516/rec/30

(Purports to be 1920, so either they were tardy in repainting, or the date is off.)

Cheers,

Jeff.

[Chris Walker]

Yeah,
OP-6326

http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/p15330coll22/id/42925/rv/singleitem/rec/5

[Jeff Young]

That’s the 1940’s repaint for Blackhawk, Chris.  Jim was looking for photos of the Adams logo in operation (which turned out to be far harder than I expected).

Cheers,
Jeff.

[Jim Courtney]

One curiosity about the express company lettering I've noted browsing through photos.

The "Wells Fargo Express" lettering only seems to be on C&S cars with their original 1898 numbers and lettering scheme, with all the pin-stripes. When re-lettered in 1906, the lettering for express companies seems to disappear from the head end cars, until the "Adams Express Company" shows up in the 19teens.



http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/p15330coll22/id/13201/rv/singleitem






But then again, perhaps the "delux gold" lettering is really there, just hard to see.  Another example of Derrell Poole's "yellow looks dark" phenomenon, of older B&W film stock?

Jim