It's obvious that the AAR was weeding out cast iron wheels from the scene over time. They still do so today, but it's amazing that cats iron wheels were still in use to some extent into the 1960's...wow.
The FGE wood reefer that is such a prominent exhibit in the Great Hall of the California State Railroad Museum arrived at the museum c. 1975 in Sacramento from Tacoma Ice & Storage (WA) on the same iron wheels that it had when it was taken out of service many, many years previous. It could not be handled in "interchange", but yet the BN agreed to haul it to Bieber, CA (Inside Gateway) behind the caboose, and the WP simply looked the other way until it arrived in Sacramento. It was further interchanged with both the Central California Traction Company, and the SP (several times) before it went on to permanent exhibition in 1981.
If I understand the rules correctly, does not the rule simply state that a railroad does not have to accept on interchange certain equipment, not that it is absolutely forbidden to do so?
