It’s not that unusual to see UP or some other railroads locomotives working on the nearby Norfolk Southern lines near my home. That got me to wondering how long companies have been doing this, that is… leasing extra motive power from other lines when they need it. Anyone have any idea?
JaRRell
The MKT was leasing power when it started, way back in the 1800’s.
Power has probably been leased since rail gauge was standardized and rolling stock started being interchanged. As soon as one railroad had a need and another neighbor had a surplus it was probably a no brainer at the time.
The D&RGW leased big steam 2-8-8-4s from the DM&IR.
It was very common during WWII. As an example, the NKP leased about two dozen 2-8-2s from the C&O, DL&W and Erie during the war. After the war, the NKP leased C&O Geeps during late 1958 to finally completely dieselize the railroad.
When the ATSF dieselized in the mid-1950s, they had a large stable of new steam siting idle. The Pennsy leased several 2-10-4s from them, I think during 1956-1957.
Leasing was very prevalent during WWII, especially as the war shifted traffic patterns from the Atlantic ports to the Pacific. Railroads were resuscitating older locos from the scrap heap, since new diesel power was at a premium due to alloys being needed for the war effort. It was not uncommon to see foriegn motive power on railroads due to traffic surges and locomotive shortages. A Burlington 4-6-2 in San Luis Obispo on SP’s California Coast line? You betcha. Santa Fe 2-10-4’s assisting Pennsy J1’s in Ohio and over Horseshoe curve? Yup. Missabe Yellowstones on Rio Grande’s Tennesee pass and Moffat Tunnel lines–every time the Great lakes froze over, LOL! Union Pacific “Bull Moose” 2-8-8-0’s assisting SP cab-forwards out of Dunsmuir, CA on SP’s Shasta route. Missabe 2-10-2’s on the Northern Pacific, Great Northern and even reportedly on the Western Pacific. It was a real mix 'n match out here on the pacific coast, and certainly in the East, also. And railroads were not only leasing other locos, sometimes they flat-out BOUGHT them. Santa Fe and Rio Grande raided Norfolk and Western for some of N&W’s earlier Y-series 2-8-8-2’s. Santa Fe even bought some second-hand Pennsy 2-8-2’s for use on the Great Plains. It got so that if you were standing trackside waiting for a train to come by (which on some lines was about every 15 minutes), you didn’t know WHAT you were going to see on the head end.
So for those of us who have ‘foreign’ power on our model railroads–take heart. It’s nothing new, LOL![:P]
Tom
Are you sure they are not just working off horsepower hours owed?
The presence of foreign road motive power should not necessarily be construed as leasing; they very well could be leased but they could also be part of some sort of pool agreement.
Ok, how does ‘working off horsepower hours’ and ‘pool agreements’ work?
Thanks to all for your replies.
Jarrell
Actually they aren’t “leasing” the engines. They are most likely run through power, where the trains operate from a yard on the UP to a yard on the NS and power stays with the train. The different railroads track the number of “horsepower hours” their engines accumulate on other railroads. So a 4000 hp engine on another railroad for 20 hours would be 80,000 hphrs. If one railroad owes another railroad too many hphrs, the owing railroad may give the other railroad an engine or two to use to “pay back” the horsepower hours. It is very different from a “lease” and the UP engine probably isn’t there because the NS is short. Essentially its there because a NS engine is over on the UP.
Dave H.
Ahhhhh… thanks for the information Dave. Learn something new every day!
Jarrell