Where did the coal go and why?

Let’s start this whole thing off by stipulating that I am talking about the Steam Era, and in every case prior to the Staggars Railroad Deregulation Act of 1980.

 I’ve been trying to find out where so called Tide Coal went and why.  A great deal of coal mined in the Appalachian Coal Fields went to piers at various east coast ports where it was loaded into ships and barges.

A large percentage of this coal was exported overseas. A great deal of this coal, however, went into ships and barges, and was taken to customers in the Northeast United States. Why?

Wouldn’t it have been better, IE., Cheaper, faster, or more efficient to bring this coal to these customers by rail? In some cases a great deal of bituminous coal did go by rail. For example the B&O handed a lot of coal tonnage off to the PRR who then delivered it to customers in the Northeast east.

The N&W interchanged some coal tonnage with the PRR in Hagerstown, MD. for eventual delivery to customers in the Northeast.

But why did railroads go to the time and expense to haul coal all the way to the Atlantic, load it into ships, and then have these ships bring the coal up to the Northeast US? B&O, WM, C&O, N&W, and VGN all had large coal piers where tons of coal got loaded into ships. 

While looking into this I discovered, to my surprise, that in many cases, so called Tide Coal was NOT the primary destination for these railroads coal. In most cases the primary direction was West to the Great Lakes, in other words, Lake Coal. The steel mills along and the lake boats on the Great Lakes was the primary direction. This re-evaluation was contrary to what I have been doing with the coal tonnage on my freelanced Atlantic Inland Railway. I’ve always split the tonnage 70% Tide, and 30% Lake, but after just a cursory glance the split is a bit more complex.

The first curveball pitched was that Tide Coal generally was the lesser destination. Say about 30-35% of the total. The second curve is that about 20-25% of the total coal tonnage went directly (in a manner of speaking) into the fireboxes of the railroads steam engines. The remainder went west to the Lakes.

So the break down went something like this: 50% Lake Coal, 30% Tide Coal, and 20% Locomotive Fuel.

Please also keep in mind that these percentages are an over simplification, but generally correct. For example a large percentage of coal bound for the Tidewater ports went to locomotive AND ships fireboxes. A large percentage of Tide Coal went to steel mills or other heavy industries located in port cities, and did not necessarily go over those coal piers.

Now we get to the conspiracy theory portion of our program. When the ICC was created they set rates for shipments by rail. The ICC was supposed to favor bulk shipments like grain and coal over manufactured goods. Because of this manufactured goods got charged higher rates to make up the difference, and this caused shippers to seek other avenues to ship their goods. So the ICC drove business of manufactured goods away from railroads. Then since railroads could only charge ICC rates for coal, a rate which often did not cover ALL the costs of shipping, railroads sought creative ways to earn more off each shipment.

Keeping the coal in company cars over its entire route was one way to earn more. Per diem, while minimal, added up. So that coal going from West Virginia to Maine went in company hoppers. But wait, as rail routes increased over time, coastal shipping decreased. Once railroads reached the entire nation, there was no reason to ship coal part of the way by ship. 

In steps the Longshoreman’s Union. The congressmen the Longshoreman’s Union  owned put pressure on the ICC to set rates and routes that would benefit shipping. Coal going to customers in the Northeast US soon had to travel part way by US registered ships.

Keep in mind the only evidence of this I’ve found is anecdotal, at this time.

What I have found is in most cases its proximity that drove the routes. Railroads that were closer to northeast customers were able to ship via all rail routes. B&O and PRR combined on all rail shipments to customers in the Northeast.

C&O, N&W, VGN were all roads that took their coal to Tidewater, then loaded it into ships which took their coal the rest of the way.

WM handed a lot of coal off to RDG and B&O. WM coal going to Baltimore went to steel mills on the east side of Baltimore, or through Port Covington to the Northeast or overseas to foreign customers.

Land locked roads like CRR and L&N  interchanged with C&O and N&W to forward their tidewater coal to end users. A great deal of CRR and L&N coal went to the Great Lakes.

As far as how this affects the Atlantic Inland? For starters more coal moving west. I’ve already seen big changes in moving coal to local consumers. Now I’m going to flip the percentages. 70% is going to go west to steel mills and lake ports off-layout. The remaining 30% is going to move east to Tidewater ports off-layout.