If one RR has trackage rights on another RRs line for a considerable distance - say, 100 miles or so - would they usually have their own separate depot and/or servicing tracks (including round house)? Is there anywhere where two lines share/shared the same facility? If so, how did the principle RR handle the financial compension? Thanks.
Tom
On the trackage rights, no they would probably NOT have their own depot or roundhouse. Remember, trackage rights is is renting the USE of the tracks, not renting the property.
Yes the other host railroad might provide engine facilities and there might be a “union” station.
They would pay by mile or by car or by load for the trackage rights and either a flat fee per engine or for services rendered on the engines. Joint facilites were commonly paid by percentage of use. If you had 45% of the business you piad 45% of the cost.
In most trackage rights agreements at the end of the trackage rights the train either goes back on its own railroad or into a joint facility 9which the road with the rights is already a joint owner. It would be very rare for trackage right to just go to someplace the tenant railroad never went to in the first place. Especially in the steam era, when depots would be a concern.
Most trackage rights agreements don’t allow the tenant railroad to serve any local customers either, just operate long haul over line of road.
Dave H.
Well in the example of the Milwaukee Road, they had trackage rights from Mpls/St.Paul to Duluth/Superior over the NP/BN. They then had IIRC some trackage and a yard of their own in Duluth and Superior, but I think used the CNW engine service facilities in Duluth. This was freight only.
The Minneapolis Northfield and Southern RR used about 5-10 mi. of trackage rights on the Soo to reach the Soo’s Shoreham yard and NP/BN Northtown yards next door. It was far enough from the MNS main terminal in Northfield that they leased 4 roundhouse stalls in the Soo’s Shoreham roundhouse.
Even more interesting is a joint railroad like the Pennsylvania Reading Seashore Lines that was owned and operated by both railroads. Since the PRR was twice as big 2/3 of the equipment and repairs were done in the PRR Philadelphia shops and 1/3 was supplied and maintained by the Reading in their Reading, PA shops. Logical until one hears that it was on an as needed basis so engine 1 and 2 regardless of which railroad they came from went to Philly for repairs and the third one regardless of which railroad it came from traveled to Reading for repairs so each railroad at times fixed the others equipment. One could see Reading engines being overhauled on the PRR and PRR engines being overhauled on the Reading.
From the 20’s to the 80’s SOO and NP/BN shared iron ore operations between the Cuyuna Range in central Minnesota and the NP ore dock in Superior WI. For about half of the journey from the Range going east the NP and SOO shared trackage, at MacGregor they split up and took their own lines to Superior. The ore cars ended up in the NP yard in Superior. Soo Line road engines would come over from their Superior yard with a SOO caboose and pick up a train of empties and take them to the range, the Soo’s yard was only a mile or so from the NP yard. Oddly there was no roundhouse at the NP yard, all NP engines came over from the NP facilities in Duluth. NP and SOO crews shared NP yard switching duties, both using NP engines only.
C&NW and MILW had a somewhat similar ore operation in Upper Michigan.
BTW as far as depots, it would be fairly common for more than one RR to use the same depot, even if it wasn’t technically a “union” depot. IIRC in Minneapolis, GN, NP, CB&Q and C&NW used the Great Northern depot; Milwaukee, Rock Island and CGW used the Milwaukee Road depot.
Currently the UP and the BNSF have a joint line between Pueblo and Denver. They share motive power on the line but have seperate yards and shops in both Pueblo and Denver. This occurred because originally the Rio Grande as the only line from Pueblo to Denver and would grant Santa Fe Trackage rights. The Santa Fe built their own line paralleling the Rio Grande’s. They each had seperate shops and ran seperately. In Later years the two railroads found it more practical to share the lines instead of running individually. One line became the Northbound Line and the other became the southbound Line.
A similar setup can be found on the line between Kamloops BC and Vancouver BC. One line west bound and the other is east bound.
They don’t “share” power. They each run their own trains with their own power.
Dave H.
Didn’t the Burlington and Santa Fe have some joint operations in Colorado?? Seems to me I have a video somewhere showing steam engines with both “C&S” and “AT&SF” on the tender…Denver area maybe??
BTW if you have several railroads coming together in one place, they sometimes combine to create a new railroad, like the Lake Superior Terminal and Transfer RR in Superior WI, which was joint-owned by six railroads and served them all, transfering cars from one RR’s yard to another RR’s yard, and serving several industries in Superior as well.