Thought of a question recently that I’d like answered. I know that one RR would sometimes (or was forced to) share trackage rights with one another RR in order to successfully move through a region. My question is: Would different RRs ever share the SAME fueling facility or did they always have separate facilities for their own locomotives?
The reason for asking is that I am modeling a small New York Central fueling facility and freight stop but also have a couple of Erie locomotives using my mainline. I wanted to know if it would be prototypical to have an Erie FT using a NYC sanding tower or diesel platform. I would think the logistics would make it very impractical for either RR but thought I’d ask the question anyway.
You can readily find examples at terminals where one railway arrives on trackage rights of both separate and shared locomotive servicing facilities, both historically and today. A quick survey indicates that at least in the West, the shared facility was more common by far. Interestingly, often the trackage-rights railroad was a tenant in the engine servicing facilities of a third railroad, e.g., MoPac came into Pueblo, Colo., on Santa Fe but used Rio Grande’s engine servicing facilities, and Rock Island came into Denver on UP but used Rio Grande’s North Yard. Another permutation was the joint facility, owned by both railroads, e.g., Utah Railway and Union Pacific in Provo, Utah – the majority of Utah Railway’s main line miles were trackage rights on Rio Grande.
As a general rule if the trackage-rights railway was a tenant in the engine facilities of another railway, it was also a tenant in the yard. I presume there is an example where a railway arriving on trackage rights had its own yard but used someone else’s engine-servicing facilities, or vice versa, and perhaps someone can remind me of one.
Actually it isn’t that big a deal logistically. Railways had to work together and apportion costs and responbilities the instant they began interchanging equipment. Joint facilities are rampant – union stations, joint yards, joint backshops even. The trackage in any major city is a fantastic mess of ownerships sole, joint, and tenant; trackage rights of every type; maintenance agreements based on car count, car weight, axle count, flat fees.
Clearing Yard on BRC is an excellent example of a joint facility. Motive power of the various owners has long been serviced there. The balloon tracks under the hump were installed when the yard was built in order to speed the turnaround of steam locomotives after being serviced.
Knoche Yard in Kansas City also called Joint Agency Terminal is a shared yard and engine servicing terminal between the KCS and MILW (SOO/CP/MRL). The agreement between the KCS & MILW was initiated in the late 40’s and continues to this day between the KCS and current owner of the MILW Kansas City line.
If you like paperwork you should research the old paper clearing systems used by RR. It took whole buildings and thousands of staff. It also had to be filed and stored… a copy for each RR and whoever else involved. I don’t recall whether storage had to be for 2 or 5 years… imagine that weight of paper!
Then again… if you think the rules of golf are complicated… try the rules of Interchange… especially the disputes about charging repairs… these could be disputed nail by nail let alone by car.
So a car from RR A was loaded by RR B, switched by RR C, travelled over RRs D,E,F and G. RR E noted minor body damage but forwarded the car which was received by G with a damaged load but that wasn’t noticed by the road but the customer. So who pays for replacing part of the brake gear? BUT… the paperwork was wrong and sent to the wrong RR…
Somewhere in the pile I have copies of some of these decisions that were published in RR journals… I copied them because the convolutions were quite fascinating. Like golf they sort of built up a “law by precedent”. The Clearing house people and RRs all maintained “Experts” to protect their interests… bit like the world of lawyers.
Worried about a few tons of coal or sand? No! Whopays for the split pin holding the brake shoe?