How did this work? Did the co-ops actually own the cars? Can individuals own cars?
They still exist, but I have not seen any that still have their co-op reporting marks. What happened to them all?
KCB,
You did not ask the most important question, which is: Why did some grain shippers acquire their own cars? The answer is that from time to time the carriers find that they have more orders for cars than they have cars to fill the orders, a condition the shippers call a car shortage. The grain trade is particularly prone to car shortages due to the occassional bumper crop and to wide swings in export demand and destination.
Shippers may acquire cars by purchase or lease. Once acquired they carry private reporting marks ending in X. The railroads pay private car owners a mileage payment that should compensate them for the cost of the car, and will, if the car makes sufficient mileage.
Yes, individuals can own cars BUT you have to find a shipper willing to use it AND the origin carrier must agree to its use.
The rest of the story is that the carrier provides cars as a part of the transportation service. Private cars can operate on the national network only with the permission of the originating railroad.
Carriers found that the private grain hoppers tended to increase the number of cars they had stored when business was slow since the shippers with private cars did all possible to keep their cars moving to generate mileage income to pay the lease or car payments.
Carriers also found that the private cars complicated car supply and increased switching costs on the return leg. For example consider the BN at Pasco WA. Pasco is a hump yard about 250 miles east of the PNW ports and the logical place at which assign cars to orders. Orders may be single cars, that is one to 25 cars, or units of 26 cars. They can be to any station in Eastern Washington, Montana, the Dakotas, Minnesota, or Nebraska. Lots of places!
If cars are all green, that is BN, they can be assigned in whatever way minimizes switching at Pasco. If cars are red and blue and pink and green and the red and blue and pink have to go to specific destinations, Pasco has to