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One subject I didn't see mentioned on the various replies was that of "per diem." I don't know if that still applies these days, but 50-odd years ago, when there were over 100 Class 1 US railroads, every railcar that was "off line" would cost its owner a daily rate payable to the company whose tracks the car was occupying. Railroads employed hundreds of clerks to keep track of all their rolling stock, and payments by RR "X" owed to other companies would be offset against receiveables from those companies owed to Company "X" for their cars on "X's" tracks. Another term which may still apply is "demurrage." A consignee receiving a rail shipment had a certain amount of time in which to unload the car so it could be returned to service. If the car could not be unloaded by the deadline, the business firm would have to pay the railroad a certain sum for each day the car was being held. This system is/was applicable, I believe, to business firms with their own sidings. It may have been applicable also to cars on railroad-owned tracks, such as team tracks & freight house tracks, if the car was a full load for one consignee and could not be unloaded within the allowable time. You also asked how railroads could find out who had space available to store cars. I think smaller roads could advertise in RY AGE, and I am sure there are personal contacts between the smaller roads and the big companies with whom they interchange. It doesn't make much sense to me, for example, for NS or CSX to store their surplus cars in California, or for UP or BNSF to store their cars in Maine. I think it would be more logical and less costly for them to store equipment on their own tracks or on tracks of a shortline or regional in their own territory. Hope this helps answer yr quesion.
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