If this is true, how could RRs "sell" themselves to various shippers (as has been described on this list in the past) - wouldn't the charge to get from point A to point B be the same no matter which way it went?

Yes. Which is why sales wasn't done on the basis of price, but on
something else -- availability or quality of empty cars, service (does
your load get bogged down in Chicago? interchange via Peoria on the
M&StL instead), or simply who provides the most regular bottle of
scotch to the shipping manager.



--
david d zuhn, St Paul Bridge & Terminal Ry., St. Paul, Minn.
http://stpaulterminal.org/