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AHW Waybills

Sample Waybills:

KGBW (UTLX 22877 - gasoline) More sample waybills... CGW (SPS 14224 - gypsum wallboard) C&NW/BOCT (B&O 470263 - empty cans) C&O (C&O 127462 - coal) C&O (C&O 14692 - salt) COPR (MILW 65073 - lumber) EJ&E (WP 9473 - steel plates) RRR (NYC 41162 - silicate & asbestos) CN (CN 589448 - birch veneer) CNW (RVCX 19 - empty tank car) GBW (TNO 60899 - mill feed) LS&I (MILW 66335 - lumber) CMSTPP (M 1545 - logs) NYC (IC 35942 - veneer) SOO (SOO 2206 - metal cans) UP (NYC 172145 - mineral wool) GBW ("Truck" - granite) PRR (PRR 22579 - cans)

Abbreviations:

LFVC = loaded to full visible capacity SLC&W = shippers load count and weight P/U = part unload C/L = carload Abbreviations, Acronyms, Symbols, Signs is a good website for more abbreviations.

This list was shared by Andy Laurent and represents a stack of waybills about 4 inches tall!

As originally displayed, the waybills are in 'train order', meaning the order that the cars were in the A&W train for any particular day. Most of them are blocked by destination, with Sturgeon Bay at the top of the list (rear of the train), and other intermediate towns up front.  

This paperwork gives a trip down memory lane as to how railroads used to move cars....an actual waybill from the originating road, junction stamps, weights... real railroads just don't operate like that anymore.

Each waybills had an interesting journey... it began when a shipper called his local railroad freight agent and arranged to have an empty freight car delivered for the shipment.  The railroad freight agent prepared a waybill for the freight car and arranged for the proper train to pick up the shipment.  This process was repeated again and again for every waybill.

While in transit, most waybills received junction stamps when they crossed through major yards, or were delivered from one railroad to the next on their journey to the Ahnapee & Western. You can see some of the stamps on the bottom of each bill.

Each freight car and waybill were eventually delivered to the GB&W's 32-mile long Kewaunee, Green Bay & Western subsidiary -- the A&W's only connection to the rest of the national rail network. Some cars and waybills arrived at the west end of the railroad in Green Bay, while others were delivered via the car ferry connection on the east end at Kewaunee. The KGB&W forwarded the freight to Casco Junction where the cars were set out for the A&W and the waybills were stored in special box at the interchange.

After the A&W delivered the freight, the waybills went to the desk of a clerk in Sturgeon Bay who handled the billing of the shipper and the division of the freight charges among all of the participating railroads. After processing the waybills were stored in a box and warehoused. Forty-five years later and several decades after the Ahnapee & Western had been abandoned, Andy Laurent discovered these waybills and shared the story of the journey each one took in the summer of 1962!

One of the most interesting waybills was the move of the Richter Vinegar Corp. (RCVX) tank car for loading at Sturgeon Bay - a great example of a revenue empty! That one was a nice waybill to see, as it corroborated several stories from A&W employees about those shipments (that DC Apple Products was a real company (across the yard from the depot); that the shipments really existed; and that the cars came from Richter Vinegar). One interesting tidbit about the operations of the RCVX cars is that they were very early examples of "trip leased" equipment. While Richter may have owned the car, it would be leased to the individual companies for movement of their product. The reason for that was to avoid the per diem charges for the car as it might take weeks or even months to be loaded and unloaded.

If your web browser is compatible with Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 or later you can click on any column head in the table to sort the table accordingly.  Sorting by consignee column shows just how dependent the A&W was on the US Plywood plant in Algoma... even during the Door County cherry rush season!  Lumber & wood products were the dominant inbound commodity.  The Evangeline Milk Company was the other major shipper on the line.

The bottom of this page has some of the more interesting less-than-carload shipments during that same time period.