Railway Express Agency

12/14/2014 4 albums Share: Facebook , Twitter , Google+ Album RSS

The Railway Express Agency was the Fedex of its day. REA's arrangement with the railroads was that they provided terminal space and cars and moved the cars at their expense; REA paid its own expenses and divided the profit among the railroads in proportion to the traffic.

REA had to take everything including hazardous material and Class A, B & C explosives. It was saddled with a lot of undesirable traffic that truck lines would not handle, such as auto mufflers & tailpipes, ladders, rugs, etc. REA handled carloads of cattle, race horses, and trainloads of fruits and vegetables. Carloads of radioactive material were moved on regular schedules for the Atomic Energy Commission. There was practically nothing that was not handled at one time or another including circus animals.

Express revenues remained at profitable levels into the 1950's, albeit partly because of rate increases — express volume dropped substantially after World War II.

Only the shell of the Buffalo REA terminal remains. Owned by the City of Buffalo, full size trees grow from the 2nd story and out the windows. Currently home to "homeless" art and the evidence of paintball battles.