[PRCo] Re: Central Electric Traffic Association

[Schneider Fred]

Central Electric Traffic Association was, to the best of my  
knowledge, a membership association that handled advertising and  
promotion, tariffs, publication of rosters of different companies.

I have several copies of their equipment lists.   In that way you  
could determine which interurban railway owned stock (cattle) cars or  
probably more precisely stock motor cars, hoppers, tanks, and so  
forth.   Dimensions were listed because they were critical to  
interchange on lines running over street curves.

To what degree were cars run through over other railways?  Probably  
seldom if ever.   If you had a carload shipment from point a to point  
b, you probably sent it by railroad.   Of the thousands of pictures  
of have of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois inteurbans, I do not have a  
single picture of an interurban car in service and off the owner's  
track.   On the other hand, they were very competitive with overnight  
express shipments of things like auto parts moving from Detroit south  
over the Detroit, Monroe and Toledo to Toledo and then all over Ohio  
or Indiana for next day delivery.   Their strong suit was similar to  
what Greyhound was doing in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s.

You might consider looking through the Electric Railway Journal for  
more information.


On Dec 31, 2008, at 11:59 AM, Edward Skuchas wrote:

> I found a poor resolution file of a one page ad for this association.
> I would like to find the source and other ads.  The CETA was the
> electric railway freight service that interconnected lines from PA to
> OH, IN, MI & IL.  There is a nice map.  This is the system and map
> where the CERA and other trailers were pulled.  The box motors pulling
> the trailers crossed operating company boundaries, so a foreign box
> motor could end up miles away from its home line.
> Can someone please direct me to some reference ads and text?  Its
> probably in a publication in my library, and I am unaware of the
> location.  Many on this email list are very knowledgeable, and I
> appreciate your assistance.
>
> Happy New Year to all.
>
> Ed
>
>