LEARN HOW TO INTERCHANGE CARS Taught by an ENGINEER

DJ of DJsTrains Feb 11, 2022

  1. DJ of DJsTrains

    DJ of DJsTrains TrainBoard Member

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  2. mmi16

    mmi16 TrainBoard Member

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    Back in the day - when Per Diem on interchanged cars was actually based on WHO had the car a Midnight of the calendar day at some locations clerical jobs were established to ensure that interchanged was accounted for on the proper day. Since then Per Diem is actually Per Hourm and the car accounting of interchange is done with keystrokes. There can be situations where circumstances cause the need for more cars to be interchanged than the physical track(s) can actually handle - this sets up the situation of Per Diem Reclaim between the carriers.

    If Carrier A has 100 cars to give Carrier B and the interchange track only holds 20 cars, then Carrier A can fill the Interchange Track with 20 cars and Reclaim the Per Diem of the other 80 cars against Carrier B as of the date and time they placed the 20 cars on the Interchange Track. Such situation CAN devolve into a WAR between the carriers.
     
    DJ of DJsTrains, gmorider and Hytec like this.
  3. gmorider

    gmorider TrainBoard Member

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    A railroad war! Cool! :cool:
     
  4. mmi16

    mmi16 TrainBoard Member

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    More frequent than you would expect.
     
    gmorider likes this.
  5. mmi16

    mmi16 TrainBoard Member

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    One other thing I will mention. Not every place two railroads have tracks that connect to both carriers is a Official Interchange Point.

    In the middle 70's there was a volume of coal that originated on Penn Central/ConRail that was destined for dumping at the B&O's Curtis Bay Coal Pier in Baltimore. The official Interchange tracks were at B&O's Bayview yard. For PC/CR to place or pull cars from the Interchange tracks they had to operated from their Bayview Yard across the NEC Main Tracks to the B&O Interchange tracks. This was a CHORE for both carriers.

    With the coming of full coal trains and the need to return full empty trains, the carries came to a local agreement to utilize the PC/CR Mt. Vernon yard to deliver the coal trains to the B&O. The B&O in return would move the empty hoppers to West Aikin and shove them down the Perryville Connection to the CR/PC Port Road Branch. Neither of these connections were Official Interchange Points. You do what you have to do to handle the business.

    As a further aside, the connection at West Aikin had been built in the early 20th Century to permit the B&O to build its bridge over the Susquehanna River between West Aikin and Havre de Grace (the East Side of the River). The Havre de Grace connection was ripped out soon after the bridge construction was completed. The connection at West Aikin, though not used, I believe still exists.
     

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