1. posterid:676148
  2. Less than 40-foot box car data from 1943 ORER

Re: Less than 40-foot box car data from 1943 ORER

Tony Thompson
 

Steve Lucas wrote:

 

Some at the Canadian roads felt that US roads were holding onto Canadian cars and simply paid the demurrage on them.  Cheaper than buying new cars, perhaps?  This was an issue on the Canadian carriers from post WWII to the 1970's when Railbox and IPD cars finally created a decent box car supply for American shippers.. The Staggers Act and the early 1980's recession may have helped out a bit, too.

A letter in the STMFC Files section from CN president Donald Gordon to his counterpart at either the Great Northern or Northern Pacific seems to lend some credence to the belief that US roads were holding onto Canadian cars..

    This kind of topic comes up from time to time. Remember the Car Service Rules, aimed at increasing the ratio of loaded miles to empty miles, STRONGLY encouraged using foreign cars for loading. Yes, you can call that "hanging on to them," but you can also call it using them in revenue service. The implication of "cheaper than new cars" is the belief that those loading Canadian (or ABC RR cars, or whatever) ought to be loading their OWN cars. But that's not what the Car Service Rules were about. 

Tony Thompson             Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA
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