Tony wrote:

I'm well aware that plenty of roads had practices like this. But
remember, in the steam era most of us are interested in, it was $2 a
day. You can do the math on the "large profit item."

True, although it would be equivalent to around $25 per day today.

YV brakeman Bob Lunoe told me that, when he worked on the YV in 1942, they
would take a foreign box car in good condition and use it for LCL service
along the line (which ran from the SP and ATSF interchanges to Yosemite
National Park and the end of the line). The headend brakemen (which he was)
had to unload LCL along the line from the Local and the cars they liked for
this service had tight floors (essential when using a hand truck) and doors
that were easy to open and close. Photos that Bob took in that year show
nice, new SP box cars being used in this service, spotted right behind the
engine for easy access by the headend brakeman. However, this resulted in
that particular box car spending the night at El Portal at the end of the
line after that run and therefore subject to per diem charges. LCL records
from 2-3 years later show that LCL was being carried in YV box cars. That
suggests that the YV decided it was cheaper to transfer all of the LCL to a
YV box car than to use one of the box cars that it arrived on. At probably
$.50/hour or less for a workman, it would certainly pay to transfer it and
get the foreign cars back to the SP or ATSF...

Jack Burgess
www.yosemitevalleyrr.com