Posted by: "Russ Strodtz" I'd like to make a few commnets on Russ's post based on my recollections from the 60's when I was involved with car distribution.
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> Rob, The flat statement was made that these cars were sent loaded or
empty
back to Canada. I responded that that was not always the case and if
it was some kind of rule how was it implemented or enforced.

Looking right now at a record for CP 265790 on 19-Jul-59. This car

was loaded with glass bottles at Streator IL and is going to some
undetermined point on the CGW. It is difficult to see how that loading
and routing would get the car back to Canada.
Read Mr. Jackman's post on the subject.
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It should be noted that the case mentioned was very unusual, and it was clearly illegal. Loading Canadian cars within the US was a violation of customs regulations and subject to federal penalties. For that reason most roads had strong policies about Canadian cars. On the NYC it was forbidden to load Canadian cars other than to or via Canada.
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> It was not until the use of computers took over car distribution that
anyone paid very much attention to any "Rule".
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This is absolutly false. Most railroads tried to observe car service rules and that was part of the training of every yard clerk. Before computers, it was an honor system that was effective most of the time. Of course there were numerous violations because it was next to impossible to detect most of them. But everyone knew that for the system to work overall, as it did, most times it had to be followed. In the 50's and 60's, before computers, much more of business was conducted on the basis of trust than is true today, and in those days you could trust people a lot more than today. That was a time when most people in the suburbs didn't lock their houses during the day.
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> The "Clerks just issued empty waybills to Canada" was a rather feeble
attempt at some humor. I did not find it humorous.

> Yes, the Clerk, Agent, or Operator would hand write an empty waybill.
The destination on that waybill would conform to the current instructions
from the Transportation Department of the Railroad he/she worked for.
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In my experience, use of waybills for empty general service cars was the exception on most railroads. Usually such cars were moved in accordance with car distribution orders on each railroad. There were general CD orders that said what to do with each kind of empty, by type and subtype and marks. The order might say to home route all surplus cars of a type or a group of marks. The only time a memo bill would be needed would be for an indirect connection car moving on record rights to indicate the off-line juntion for that car. BTW, suhc bills were not waybills in the legal sense, except for special equipment governed by CSD's. We called the memo bills. They might be simply an IBM card or other piece of paper that would be included in a stack of real waybills.



Malcolm Laughlin, Editor 617-489-4383
New England Rail Shipper Directories
19 Holden Road, Belmont, MA 02478