I’m not sure if this the right place to ask this question or not but here we go. On my Ho layout I want to have a few different cars from several short lines mixed in with my trains. The question is how would a short line box car from the Northwest make it to the Southeast? Is this possible or ? If so how and how would it make it back to its home railroad?
No problem, although there is a Prototype Forum here where the question could also go.
It’s called interchange. So long as a car meets the mechical standards for interchange, the originating line will hand it off to a connecting railroad, which will take the car to the next interchange, and so on until the car arrives at it’s destination. There’s lot of paperwork and membership in various interline coordinating groups, depending on the size of the RR that makes the clerical arrangements to make this happen. Shippers can also designate the carriers handling the load, so the shortest route may not be the way taken by the car to its destination.
Assuming the car was owned by the originating RR, when it’s emptied it’s typically taken back to the place it was interchanged to return towards the owning RR. Anywhere along this point, the car is usually eligible to be reloaded provided it will move toward the owning RR. Eventually it returns to home rails, either MT or loaded, to start the process over.
Some cars are in assigned pools for big shippers and rarely see home rails. Other cars, like tank cars, are privately owned and usually leased to specific shippers.
There’s a variety of charges that apply to the car being emptied promptly at its destination, being held up or returned slowly, being cleaned or needing cleaning, etc. If the car needs repair, it is done away from home if it won’t let the car run safely or, if it is safe to move, it will be sent Home for Repair.
That’s just the basics. I’m sure I’ve left out things.
In addition to what Mike has written, there are even short lines that purchased rolling stock specifically for the purpose of letting it be used around the country to generate revenue.
As one example, I occasionally see boxcars in Union Pacific trains with the reporting mark GVSR. That is the Galveston Wharves Short Line, a 31-mile long railroad at Galveston, Texas.