In the spring of 1997, Norfolk Southern Corporation and CSX Corporation agreed to acquire Conrail through a joint stock purchase. The Surface Transportation Board officially approved the acquisition and restructuring of Conrail on July 23, 1998. The the approved merger plan restructured Conrail into a switching and terminal railroad that operates as an agent for its owners, Norfolk Southern and CSX, in the Shared Assets Areas of Northern New Jersey, Southern New Jersey/Philadelphia, and Detroit.
Where was that? Railroads do grant trackage rights to other railroads on both a long-term and short-term basis. Might be more common right now with all the high water in various places.
I’m down here in south east Texas near Houston, and I see both CSX and Conrail engines mixed in with Union Pacific engines all the time. Once in a while, they’ll also have a Norfolk & Southern in the mix. It seems that they’re all just part of the national engine pool now…
Several years ago out in the Nebraska Panhandle we used to see ATSF power on BN trains regularly. One railroad will use the other railroads locos and then pay back an equal number of “horsepower hours” (remember now, an SD40-2 is a big electric generator driven by a diesel power plant. So it generates “horsepower hours” instead of “kilowatt hours” which is what your electric meter at your house keeps track of.). We see CSX power on Union Pacific trains quite often here in Kansas City. Earlier this week a train was waiting for a green board just South of the Noland Road grade crosssing in Independence with a big CSX General Electric unit on the point. Apparently CSX owed UP some horsepower hours.
I live close to Binghamton NY i see NS trains and CSXT and to add another railroad in the mix i see CSXT on the point of NYS&W trains all the time.
NYS&W have some alcos on there loco roster [:D] so there grate to see rolling down the line
and then we have the CP and there D&H line on that line we see CP,NS and CN a few weeks ago i saw to UP units heading a train on that line
I can’t remember exactly where (maybe Seattle?), but I’ve seen at least one train out west with BNSF and CSX locos on it. So, railroads do use each other’s locos from time to time (with permission, I’m sure!). When a lucky railfan finds this situation, it’s like spotting a rare bird in the jungle [:)]
All roads charge for the use of each others power, you just see more mixed consists today because different roads have the ability to track their power and charge for it. Different roads do not use other roads power without permission and in most cases it is in the design of a particular run that certain units from different roads stay with a consist as it moves across the country.
The track behind my shop is owned by CSX but I think only about half the locomotives that go past are theirs. Most of the other half is leasing company property, HCLX, FULX, etc. but I have seen lots of UP, several Indiana RR, and a few NS, BNSF, CN and one odd looking duck that I was to slow to identify. If work did not keep interfering it would be a great spot to watch trains.