Here’s a question for the railfans…Are these railroads - CSX and Norfolk Southern - such rivals that they never carry each other’s freight cars? I’ve not seen pics or trains running where, say, a NS engine is hauling a CSX car…i guess because their lines go a lot of the same places in the east. See plenty of NS hauling other lines cars, but not CSX, to my recollection. Maybe this is commonplace somewhere else?
But would it be ridiculous to model a NS engine hauling a set of cars which included a CSX box or hopper?
I live on a CSX mainline near a NS connection and I see them mixed all the time. Remember, RR’s make more money when their cars are on other peoples RR’s, and everybody’s money is the same color green!
Many railroads including CSX and NS share motive power and rolling stock. They have another term for it but they just charge out the billable hours to the other company when the equipment is used for the second or third party use. I have also seen NS locos in lash ups with BNSF and ConRail too.
All railroads want is to make money. They will do just about anything to make it! Actually, two weeks ago, I saw a NS loco (couldn’t get a good look at it…might have been a GP) lashed up with a UP GP hauling a mixed freight…in NE PA! believe it or not, it was also the first time I’d seen an active UP loco!
The west side of Cleveland, Ohio has a Chevy plant and a Ford plant. CSX (Chessie) and Conrail used to share switching at the Chevy plant every 6 months. Conrail did the Ford plant.
Since the buyout by CSX and NS both the Chevy and the Ford plants are switched by each railroad and they alternate the switching duties every 6 months.
I live near a small NS yard in Georgia. I see BNSF, UP, Conrail engines hooked up with NS. I also see almost every railroad name or company name come through. You name it, it comes through.
I live near the CSX main line as it come east out of Atlanta, toward Athens, and on toward South Carolina. I commonly see CSX and NS cars rolling together, as well as headed for local industries. I also work next to an NS branchline, the end of which is leased out to a shortline operator. In any event, they haul grain about halfway down to a couple feed mills, occasionally a centerbeam flat or 2 with lumber or something wrapped in plastic, a plastics plant a bit farther gets a covered hopper or 2, or empties get pulled, and several dozen auto racks go on down to the Toyota plant. That’s where the shortline takes over. At any rate, I saw a BNSF and UP engine on the run the other night, but I’ve also seen CSX, Conrail, old BN (green units, possibly lease units), and who-knows-what-else on that run. Cars come from all over, lumber cars are sometimes northwestern names, sometimes Canadian cars. Auto racks come from everywhere, CSX, BN, UP, Canadian roads, FEC, you name it.
Even though RR’s compete, they also run each other’s equipment (cars and loco’s). Sometimes a RR may be short on motive power, another may have units sitting unused, so a lease agreement is worked out. That has become very commonplace in the last 10-20 years or so, and some RR’s even lease units from independent leasing companies (CSX does this a lot). Cars are usually interchanged on a “per diem” (per day) basis, meaning RR’s pay for a car each day it is on their line. That’s why customers usually get 24-48 hours to unload a car, then a “demurrage” charge is billed (basically a daily detention charge) until the car is released as empty. Some companies have been known to use cars to store product for days, or weeks, or even months on end, paying the demurrage rates are sometimes cheaper than building warehouse or other storage space.
Great photos! As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. Those pix show clearly what I see daily in my area, often it is difficult to determine exactly what railroad is the actual carrier unless you know who the track belongs to.
Guys,Railroads been interchanging cars for years…Why the surprise? As far as locomotives those are nothing more then run through power or locomotives working off “borrowed” hours.