The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk '41 Rail Road Express

Had a guy leave a message last night that he had a '41 Rail Road Express Chevy truck for sale. What is a "Rail Road Express"? I've never heard of such a thing.

Mike

Not quite sure... I've heard of a Auto-Railer Express which was a company that converted trucks and wagon to ride the rails...

Andy

RRE was a company like Fedex or UPS but they went bankrupt

Some of their old trucks were really pretty

Get some pictures!

Sounds like a panel truck, maybe, used by Railway Express Agency (REA).

Railway Express Agency was the business structure the railroads used to transport LCL (less than carload) packaging (as the man says, like UPS and FED EX) around the country. Although the railroads could transport LCL and bundle the lading in one car, it would have been messy to have everybody show up at the freighthouse to claim a box, and there were restrictions on the railroads doing drayage in town.

The railroads found solace in the quasi-independent Railway Express Agency (a company created and jointly owned for a while by all the railroads) which did the package/box pick up, drayage, freighting between cities and final distribution. Those in-city trips required lots of panel, one-ton and one-and-a-half ton trucks to do the work.

Maybe this is one. Hurry up and buy it so we can all find out!

I talked to the man and he says it's like an open air cab with a '41 front end and a box on back with sliding doors, I think he said it was a 1 1/2 ton. He says it's in good shape and kinda rare. I'm not interested. I want a 1/2 ton. I'll pass along the info. if anybody else is though. He is in Kentucky.

Mike

You'll have to contact the man and ask him for some pics. He said the box on the back was original to the set-up. I think he said it had sliding doors near the front on both sides. I also believe he said it was like a convertible, not a cab so to speak. Sound interesting. He was willing to trade it to me for my old '53 John Deere 60 that needs restoring so his price will probably be reasonable. I didn't ask him about just buying it. Here is his number, 1-606-521-3031 ask for Ernest. Whoever gets it please post a pic. of it for us. Good Luck.

Mike

Glenn I did say it as in the 60's so that's pretty close on the name for me....when did they go bust?... after how many years in business?

There were days in the 60's I didn't even know how to spell my name

Jim, REA went into the long, slow decline after WWII under competition from truck lines doing LCL. The truck option was faster and did a better job with less handling and damage.

REA had it's own collection of trucks, railcars and such and the railroads dumped the company (I think in the 50's). On its own, it had the hidebound efficiency of a stage coach builder in a rubber tire and asphalt road environment.

REA ended up with agreements binding it to labor contracts and demands to use rail transport ("can't let them LCL fellers compete by runnin' trucks down the road 'longside our trains") for intercity movements. Pretty soon, Aunt Margaret discovered she could do better sending her homemade fruitcake with some upstart called UPS. Somehow they got it to Cousin Rhody before this Christmas 'stead of just before July 4th.

REA was still out there, at least until a few years ago--restructured, new paradigm, etc. Do they still do the waybills on a typewriter?

I'm gonna call that guy, just for the heck of it!

Oh, no! Here he comes!

Dang, John, ya caught me!

Ok, Ok! I'll walk over to the Greasy Spoon to continue any further stuff about the Railway Express Agency.

I'll do the pushups over there, too!

What Glenn sez is right on. My paternal grandfather worked for REA all his adult life and retired somewhere in the early 60s.

Just consider a fleet of trucks delivering packages all over town from the railroad freight depot rather than today's paradigm of UPS, DHL, FedEx and other trucks delivering from the airport or a hub.

Yeah, according to Grandad, they were pretty stodgy...even by his standards. But they had kool trux. Darned if I can find any pics of them (other than a few toys) in a brief google search but here's an article about the operation in "Trains" magazine.