A question about interchange and non conforming equipment

[dknelson]

When railroad equipment could not be interchanged due to non conforming equipment, such as arch bar trucks after 1939-40, or type K air brakes, or older standards for handrails and ladders and such -- could a railroad interchange such cars with a subsidiary? For example could the Southern interchange such cars with a wholly owned subsidiary such as the ET&WNC? Or was that viewed as interchange with a foreign road?
Dave Nelson

[Anonymous]

A railroad can interchange anything with anyone anytime. The rule only says that the receiving railroad is under no OBLIGATION to accept. The whole purpose of interchange rules is to set a minimum standard which when met requires that subscribing railroads MUST accept the equipment of other roads without question. Subscribing to the rules is to your advantage, as now you don' t have to send out an army of car men to crawl all over every car you accept in interchange to make sure it meets your standards in every detail. The car is warranted to meet your standards. If they've sent you a car with an outlawed type of cast wheel, and that wheel cracks in two and falls off on your railroad and the train piles up in a smokiing heap, you can send them the bill.

So yes, if it's your wholly owned subsidiary doing the accepting, they would naturally be amenable. But in reality, as those cars are worthless in general interchange service, it's only a short-term or special strategy. Other than a few cars in some captive service such as a gravel haul between the same pit and the same crusher every day, or sugar beets moving between the same grouping of loaders and the same factory every campaign, and work-train equipment, it's rarely worth it.

OS

[dknelson]

So if I understand you correctly the phrase commonly used such as "banned from interchange after 1939" or whatever is incorrect, that nothing is banned, and it is just up to the other railroad to accept a car or not and they are permitted to refuse a car that otherwise they'd be obliged to accept.

That suggests that if all the railroads had agreed to ignore the "rule" against, say, archbar trucks or against K airbrakes that we'd still have been seeing them. Interesting.
Dave Nelson

[Anonymous]

Add to that phrase "... under AAR car-service agreements" and you're there.

Yes, the railroads could all choose to ignore the rules. But since the AAR is nothing BUT the railroads -- they fund it, staff it, and run it -- a majority of them have voted for a rule that is instituted, and all agree to be bound by the majority -- it's a possibility that's nonsensical. If they didn't like the rule, they wouldn't have voted for it. It would be like saying "a majority of voters in the 2004 Presidential Election thought Kerry would be the better president, so they voted for Bush."

OS

[Anonymous]

Of course, certain equipment does not meet current FRA Regulations and simply operating such equipment can be a violation of those regs...

LC

[modorney]

I think you can "move" anything if you are willing to pay for it. For example, museums and tourist railroads often get stuff shipped in by rail. And lots of this stuff is non-interchange. So, these odd pieces travel on the tail ends of trains, or get moved as a one-car train as part of a power move.

Like high-and-wide loads, and long loads with idler and spacer cars, the railroads charge a lot. And you have to be patient, it sometimes takes months for these items to reach their destinations. They'll sit in a siding, waiting for the next opportune time for the next leg of the move.