Dan Holbrook wrote:

Car Service Rules allowed cars located within an AAR district to be backhauled empty in the opposite direction from the owner, providing a car order had been made at a location "within" the district for reloading in the direction of owner. This also applied if the car could be loaded within an AAR district to an unloading location that also had a car order for a load to be made in the direction of home. It was not a violation while it was being used in District 11 which contained the loading and destination points. However, this would have been considered a violation had it been loaded to lower Michigan, Illinois or Missouri. It also would have been considered a violation had the car been loaded to Green Bay, Sturgeon Bay if a loaded order for the empty was not available

Thanks to Dan, who knows this stuff better than likely anyone on this list, for the clarification. But it's worth pointing out that in the early 1950s, an AAR survey found that only about two-thirds of all car loadings involved car choices which were in accord with the Car Service Rules. It would be unrealistic to operate a model without regard to the Car Service Rules, but also unrealistic to adhere completely to them.

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