Tim, I'm sure you'll receive better replys, but it allowed the shipper to pick his route. In other words, open his doors to every RR agent in town. Clark
Tim, This is the basic but it also was sometimes reserved to single receivers in a town. The agreement allowed more than one origin RR to access an industry or town with out being hit with additional switching charges from the delivering carrier. But, it also gave the shipper/receiver of an industry or town open access to other carriers without a charge as the car was loaded and shipped out of town. The town of Salem,OR is reciprocal to both carriers. We here in Salem,OR are served by the Oregon Trunk (now BNSF) but reciprocal to the SP (now UP) and we can ship and receive cars from either carrier without penalty. The charges($135.00) is resolved by both carriers. Open access vs. close to a carrier has been a battle for as long as RR's have been competeing for business. Chicago for instance has many reciprocal agreement with charges of $300.00 being absorbed, seems like a small amount of money but the numbers really haven't changed since the 50's.
