Will a merger put rail shipping back on track?

DAILROADS are on the fast track to recapturing lumFlUer shipping customers, says the Southern Plcific, demonstrating their point with an immediate reduction in freight rates for lumber in the West Coast corridor.

Rio Grande Industries' Oct. 13 purchase of the Southern Pacific Transportation Co. has resulted in the fusion of the venerable Southern Pacific and Denver & Rio Grande Western railways, forming the nation's fifth largest rail network. With 15,000 miles of track in 15 states, the company (operating under the Southern Pacific banner) vows to bring what it calls welcome financial relief to western lumber markets.

Combined Southern Pacific and Denver & Rio Grande Western railroads otfer lower lumber freight rates, more direct routes. improvements extend to rolling stock, track and yard the new SP challenges truckers and other railroads for lumber shipping orders.

In addition, says Rio Grande Industries chairman Philip Anschutz, the merger "willgive us operating flexibility and new competitive clout to go head-to-head against the trucks and other mega-merger rail lines."

The railroad has reduced per-car lumber rates by up to 100/o - depending on shipper location and type of rail equipment used - between origins on SP lines in Oregon and California and SP destinations in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada.

Freight rates for lumber should be about $7 per thou- sand board feet less than similar motor carrier charges, claims the SP.

The railroad assumes the rate decrease will encourage utilization of SP's varied flatcar fleet by equalizing the price per thousand board feet for each equipment type.

SP is also reopening its Modoc Line through portions of Oregon, California and Nevada, "a 258-mile short cut for the Northwest shipping community," says Southern Pacific president Mike Mohan.

Mohan insists the reopening of the line along with other planned improvements "will remove days, rather than hours, from schedules and improve transit time reliability."

Four new routes between Eugene, Or., Northern California, St. Louis, Mo., and Memphis, Tn., have also been introduced.

Other improvements include the addition of 50 new fuel-efficient, high horsepower locomotives, 80 new double-stack container cars. 150 new 73-ft. center beam flatcars, and system-wide track and yard upgrades.

Now SP is hoping that lumber shippers, when faced with the same transportation choices, will choose the rail of the species.

HomeClub, Inc. will open 100,000 plus sq. fi. warehouse stores with nurseries in Oxnard and Santa Maria, Ca., this month; in Las Vegirs, Nv., and Martinez, Ca., next month and Fontana. Ca.. in the spring . .

Tualatin l,attey Buitttars .\'trpply will build a full service lumber yard in Gresham, Or., for a late spring opening . . Yardbirds, Petaluma, Ca., plans to build new stores in Fairfield and Vacaville.Ca....

&ilders Dist'ount has opened a 101,000 sq. ft. store in a former Gemco in Simi Valley, Ca. Manzanita Lumber Co., Tillamook, Or., is celebrating its 25th anniversary ... Butte4;lield Lumber lnc., Midvale, Ut., is now an author.ized Olympic machinecoat 0perafron

National Lumbt,r & Su1tply. Fountain Valley, Ca.. lost $1.67 million on its 20 stores in its thirdquarter...

Havwarcl LLmber (b. has lost its Junipero Ave. site in Carmel, Ca., with the sale of the property to the city . Diamond Lumber, Inc., and .41's Et'onomy Center have been closed in Paradise. Ca. American Lumber Co. is closing its Turlock and Oakdale, Ca., stores; the Modesto, Ca., flagship unit, which is observing its 64th year, is not aflected . .

O'Maltey Cos., Phoenix, Az., is reorganizing its retail div. (see p. 4t for story) ...

Hantpton 4.Lfiliares has purchased equipment at the longago liquidated Grry Roberts Lumber Co., Toledo, Or., fron'r Georgia-Paci/ic who will tear down the mill to use the land. which is surrounded by other CiP-ownedproperty...

Combs Lumber, Inc.. Arcata. Ca.. held a bankruptcy auction Jan. 10, offering its sawmill and planer

Perr.v H. Koplik d .Sbrs, Portland, Or,, has acquired Fallov' Fores( Produds, Lake Oswego, Or... . Cali.farniu .Sugar & Ilestern Pine Agency. Redwood City. Ca., has opened a full service wholesale lumber brokerage div. in Modesto, Ca., specializing in treated wood products. Roy Liles and Don llratcher in sales

Weyerhaeuser's ('ustotner Service Cenler, Fontana, Ca., won the Top Team award for the 3rd quarter from Weyerhaeuser's Western U.S. region Tradewesl Hardw,ood. Rancho Dominquez, Ca., which just opened an office on the Big Island of Hawaii, is celebrating its 5th anniversary in business

Empire Wholesale Lumber Co. has a new Underwood. Wa." office. Jim Sherwood in charge . Bunts Lumber ('o. has moved with an address chanse of Box 10100, Van Nuys, Cir., 9l+10; telephone: (818) 891-9969; FAX 8 r 8-891 -4411

Man,-ille Corp., Denver, Co., has had $102 million in fees and expenses for lawyers, accountants and investment bankers who worked on the co.'s 6 year bankruptcy proceedings ap- proved by a U.S. bankruptcy judge.

Lat'o Lurnber, Woodland, Ca., will be a first time exhibitor at the National Home Center Show in March .lones Stevedoring with operations in Washington and Oregon is celebrating 130 years in business . .

January 1989

Tetott ,\ales-D7', lnt'., Cheyenne, Wy., has been formed by Devils Tower Forest Products and Teton West Lumber Ctr. as a sales agent for Neiman and Blacktail Mills, Hulen, Wy.

A preliminary injunction against Cooper Industries by The .Stanley Works for trademark infringement, was denied in N.C. ..

Wood Foundatiorts Institute. Toledo, Ia., a new group, is expanding its educational program . the United States Douglas Fir Crosscnn Manu.fat'turers .4ssociation has been formed with headquarters in Eugene, Or.

The 4merit'qn Plvwold 4ssociationis slated to reieive $4.7 million from the Dept. of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service to promote U.S. wood products in Hurope.,. construction contracting rose 3%t in Nov. (latest figs.) as non-residential building and housing rose

U.S. lumber expotts of 2x4 and larger franring lumber to Japan are at record figures as platform housing starts in Japan are near an all time high of 52,000 , 43.7 million kitchen cabinet and bath vanity units will be sold this year according to a National Kitchen Cabinet Association survey.

U.S. tariffs on cedar shakes and shingles from Canada will be maintained at 2Aoh (a drop lrom the 35ob imposed in June 1986) for this year, then l0% for a year and 5oln for 6 months

California was called the honest nnrket in the country as new home sales rose 3.5% in Ocr. (latest U.S. Bureau of Census figures) fixed rate home mortgages were averaging 10.68 at the end of Dec., down slightly from a high of 10.71 ,

Housing slarls climbed 1.4V0 in Nov. (latest figs.) to an annual rate of 1,563,000 units . single family starts were up 0.8%: starts on multis of 2 to 4 units. 3.201r.5 or more units up 3o/n . . . permits edged up 1olo

Fibreboard Corp., Concord, Ca., plans a major restructuring, concentrating on its core building products business and selling off underperforming or nonessential operations.

Fibreboard expects to sell by early 1989 the fiberglass insulation plant in Tucker. Tx.: the sawmill at Burney, Ca.; the printing plate group, with plants in Seattle, Wa., and Los Angeles and Emeryville, Ca., and the trucking operation serving California's paper industry. It will write down the value of its hydroponic fresh produce business.

Together, these operations had sales of $22.8 million with operating losses of $3.7 million during 1988's frrst three quarters. The sale of the businesses, currently "handshake deals," should bring about $8 million.

The company is also looking for a buyer for its profitable Northstar-atTahoe ski and golf resort.

Chairman and president Lawrence C. Hart said, "We believe that focusing our resources on the more profitable, higher growth parts of the building products business offers the straightest path to the long-term values we seek for our shareholders."

Separately, Fibreboard has struck a deal with Continental Casualty Co., under which the insurer will pay all defense costs and 400/o of settlement costs to some of the 46,000 people who claim they were injured by Fibreboard's asbestos products prior to March 1959.

Pope & Talbot, Portland, Or., has contributed a $2,500 grant to the national Student Design Award Program, which challenges competing architectural students to design a non-residential building using wood as the structural material.

Last year, 1,300 students from 75 schools entered the comPetition. The seven-year-old program, funded entirely by grants from the wood products industry, is a joint venture of the Collegiate Schools of Architecture and the American Wood Council, of which Bob Courtney, v.p., wood products marketing, Pope & Talbot, is vice chairman, treasurer and steering committee chairman.

By Matt Moulder

Chuck Rose, known by his colleagues in the Portland, Or., area as "suitcase Charlie" in the 60s and 7Oidue to the frequency of his travels across the nation as North Pacific Lumber's goodwill ambassador and star salesman, Chuck's traveling is now betw:een Portland and his second home on the Oregon Coait. Rose is thoroughly enjoying the leisurelv wavs of the retired.

Chu'ck's career was distinguished in that he had only one employerfrom the time he leficollege in 1959 until he hung up his heddset in 1986. Doug David was iust getting.North Pacific going good in 1959 when he g,ave Rose a shot at selling wood over the bhone. The company ha-d l+ employees then. Twenty seven years later, when David gave Chuck his'final check, the firm had Srown to over 400.

lt took Rose only two years, 1960 and '61 , to qualify for United Airlines 100,000 mib club and that's a lot of trips to Nebraska. From 1960 to 1975 Chuck spent more time in airports than .lohnny Carson spends on vacation. '

Charlies's lifestvle was chanqed a little in 1970 when he got married.lt chansed a lot when he Secame a daddy in1973. Chuik made a statement" about his lighthearted outlook on life on the day his daughter was born by na--ming her C.D. Rose. She is now a beautiful 15 y"ear old and her many admirers sincerely hope that she will run for Portland Rose Queen two years from now. Wouldn't it be something to have a Rose Queen named C.D. Rose?

On The Serious Side ll::liliil.ffi,E.E.*ET:n.ij,lii'jttti::i:'J

I keep reading about sightings of spotted owls in areas of virgin timber that are about to be logged. As'a consequence, logging plans are often curtailed by the courts. I know that spotted owls preter these tvoes of areas to live in, but a person gets the impression that one of 'these critters would shrivel up and dle if it happened to drift into an area that had been previously logged' Surely the.re must be a few owls who don't really mind living in an area where logging once occurred.

Foresters Arise!

Let's hear about those spotted owls seen nesting in logged over areas. We're coming in a w'eak second place in the propaganda war on the various endingered species that inhabit the woods. Soon big loss will be an endan-g,ered ipecies and mouldings & millwork can't bi made out of Chris[mas trees and poles.

Western Wood Products Association - Jan. 9, district meetings, Sheraton Airport, Portland, Or.l Coeur d'Alene Resort, Coeur d'Alene, Id.; Jan. 10, Riverhouse. Bend. Or.; Valley River Inn, Eugene, Or.; Jan. 11, Host International Hotel, Sacramento, Ca.; Jan. 12, Marriott's Camelback Inn, Scottsdale, Az.

Mountain States Lumber & Building Material Dealers Association - Jan. 10, blueprint reading seminar, Denver, Co.; Jan. l3-14, residential framing/lumber estimating seminar.

Lumber Merchants Association of Northern CaliforniaJan. 13, board of directors meeting, Monterey, Ca.; Jan. l3-14, management seminar, Asilomar State Park, Pacific Crove_. Ca.

National Housewares Manufacturers AssociationJan. 15-lE, international housewares exposition, McCormick Place, Chicago, ll.

Mountain States Lumber & Building Material Dealers AssociationJan. 16-18, residential framing lumber estimating seminar, Phoenix, Az.

Western Building Materials AssociationJan. 16, district meeting, F'airbanks, Ak.; Jan. 17, Anchorage.

Oakland Hoo-Hoo ClubJan. 17, initiation meeting, Francesco's Restaurant, Oakland, Ca.

Black Bart Hoo-Hoo ClubJan. 18, annual Industry Night, The Broiler Steakhouse, Ukiah, Ca.

Humboldt Hoo-Hoo ClubJan. 19, annual crab feed, Eureka Inn. Eureka. Ca.

Spokane Hoo-Hoo ClubJan. 19, initiation, Club Night and Past Presidents Night, Spokane, Wa.

Inland Empire Hoo-Hoo ClubJan. 20, dinner/initiation, Indian Hills Country Club, Indian Hills, Ca.

Shasta Cascade Hoo-Hoo ClubJan. 20, initiation meeting, , Redding, Ca.

Western Building Materials AssociationJan. 24, district meeting, Spokane, Wa.; Jan. 25, Pullman, Wa.

Western Building Materials AssociationJan. 26-29, Young Westerners Club conference, Tacoma Sheraton, Tacoma, Wa.

Inland Empire Hoo-Hoo ClubFeb. 3, Lakers trip, The Forum, Inglewood, Ca.

Central Builders Supplies Co.Feb. 8-9, annual buying show, Commonwealth Convention (lenter, [-ouisville, Ky.

National Building Material Distributors AssociationFeb. 8-9, selling skills workshop, San Francisco Airport Marriott, San Francisco, Ca.; Feb. 10, sales management workshop.

Los Angeles Hardwood Lumberman's ClubFeb. 10, Old Timers Night, Embassy Suites, Downey, Ca.

California Hardware Co.Feb. ll-12, Sentry market, Pomona Fair Grounds, Pomona, (la.

Western Building Materials AssociationFeb. 13, district meeting, Tacoma, Wa.; Feb. 14, Olympia; Feb. 15-16, building materials marketing course, Olympia.

To cap off a year-long Long Beach. Ca.. centennial celebration, Fremont Forest Products, Whittier, Ca., delivered a live 80-ft. fir tree to be decorated for Christmas.

Fremont president Pete SPeek worked with Louisiana-Pacific general manager Joe Wheeler who donated the tree to ship 1,300 miles from Feather Falls, Ca., still living and branches intact.

Also helping deliver the gift were trucker Bill Smokes, Jim Walund Trucking, and Fremont traffic manager Angela Stroud.

Speek had previously arranged to ship another huge live tree to the Port of Long Beach in the earlY 1970s. "It wasn't this big, though," he recalled.

Fremont has a nine-acre lumber distribution center in the Port.

Lumber Merchants Association of Northern California is seeking a successor for executive vice president Gary Smith, who resigned to become executive director of the Northwestern Lumbermen's Association.

A committee headed by Breeze Cross is reviewing resumes. A selection should be made in January, according to Neil Keefer, president of LMA.

Susan Bobbin is coordinating arrangements for upcoming meetings.