Consists with more than one roadname

I agree that sharing or swapping power was LESS common in the early Diesel days than now, but it still happened. GTW had a bunch of borrowed DM&IR SD9's for a while, and quite regularly swapped locos with CN, their 'parent', and other CN owned roads. GN regularly traded power with CB&Q, especially on the passenger trains. GN locos got all the way to Chicago, and CB&Q locos worked west on the GN, all the way to Havre, MT.

Dan Mitchell ============

Happens all the time. It's becoming common-place to see a lashup of UP-HCLX-CSX out here in Rochester NY.

Well now that you mention it..................... :-) I do need some coal to smash down to put in my steamer's tenders. I may take a walk along the right of way to find a chunk or two.

I think that was more or less the case. I also think an argument could be made that Canada was much more dependent on railroads than the U.S.

Sort of, back then. The CV and the GT (and the DWP) were US roads that were owned by a holding company (The GT Corporation). That holding company was in turn controlled by the CN which at the time was a Crown Corporation. Maybe one of our Canadian friends on the list will chime in about the politics concerning how "controlled by the government" a Crown Corporation may or may not be. I haven't figured out our OUR government works(?), much less anyone elses!

But the GT Corp had a certain amout of autonomy. It's my understanding that they absolutely *shocked* their corporate parent (CN) when they started repainting their diesels BLUE, orange and white (actually grey) instead of black, orange, and white (grey).

Anyway, the CN has since sold off the CV, and with NAFTA the GT and (I believe) the DWP are little more than parts of CN divisions.

Stevert

While this is quite true, It is also an example of power operating over roads owned by the same parent company. In another case of common ownership/control, you would never see an ACL loco on the Clinchfield or the L&N, nor any variation thereof, even though the ACL was the owner of all three of them. You would be very unlikely to see MP power on the Cotton Belt or the Frisco, but you would see MKT and Frisco power together on St Louis - Dallas passenger trains. but ONLY on passenger trains. So while it was quite rare, it was done to a very limited degree. To effectively model that window on time, you have to refer to specific examples, which are very different from today's practice.

CH

Another exception to the rule for the time frame mentioned is the UP having running rights on Santa Fe trackage over Cajon Pass. The UP mainline into Los Angeles via Las Vegas and Salt Lake City joined with the Santa Fe just east of Barstow. From there they ran on Santa Fe's main line through Victorville, Cajon and San Bernardino. At Riverside UP would take off onto their own trackage again for the rest of the way to LA. Now these UP and ATSF trains ran separately from each other. There was no pooling of motive power that I know of during the years being discussed.

In the early days, it was often difficult to mix brands of power on a particular railroad due to the difference of the MU connections. By the mid-60's, that got straightened out on most railroads with some railroads doing it earlier than others. It was the early '70's that power sharing really got started. Up until that time, there were some sharing agreements for some particular trains but the general rule was that power stayed on the home road. When strange locos were seen, it was usually from one of the locos being tested as a result of some repairs that were needed.

-- Why isn't there an Ozone Hole at the NORTH Pole?

First make silicon rubber molds of all sides. Presto, instant source of "rocks" etc for landscaping.

While I agree with your general assertion, I don't follow you here.

How did DM&IR (a United States Steel road) have the same ownership as GTW (a Canadian Government owned road)? And, while there was some corporate 'footsie' between the pre-BN railroads (GN, CB&Q, NP), they were hardly the 'same parent company' in the 1950's.

Dan Mitchell ============

They didn't AFAIK. I was refering to DWP, GTW, CV CN etc. Perhaps I didn't proofread well enough before I hit the send button. Sorry

There was a lot more than just "footsie" being played. The GN, NP, CB&Q and SP&S were not called the "Hill Family Lines" for nothing. The only reason that there was not a single company from the beginning, a-la BN, was that the government wouldn't permit it. They four wanted it that way, but couldn't get it until, what, 1971? Whenever BN became a reality. You can be sure that they pushed the law to its limits by cooperating with each other to the greatest extent possible. That's what I meant.

The GN and CB&Q seemed to get along fairly well. The NP and the GN hardly did so. While it's true that they all had some common foundation is the 'Hill Lines', and some shared financial interests, they also drifted apart in various ways at various times. Their history, in how and why they were built, were VERY different. Also, the operating officers of a company and the various financial interests controlling same do not always have the same agenda. We see that today in corporate take overs, 'milking' for short term profits, and the purposeful running of a company into the ground. It's good for a few, and hurts many.

As for BN, a lot of infighting occurred around the time of the merger, both before and after. Long time competitors were suddenly bedfellows. That continued until the SLSF was added to the mix, after which they seemed to acquire different interests. Such problems fade away over time, partly from retirments of older employees, and partly due to mellowing with age. All in all, the various BN mergers went very well, even after the addition of AT&SF. Certainly FAR better than the later Conrail break-up, or the UP/SP merger. They must have been doing something right.

Dan Mitchell ============

Nearly anything is possible. Just last week I saw a CN SD75I, red/silver BNSF GP60, and a blue/yellow BNSF GP60B, running light, west across the lakeshore line in Toronto.

__________________________________________________ ...... Drew Bunn Ainsley Specialized Transportation Mississuaga, Ontario Always on MSN - bunn snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com __________________________________________________

Canadian Pacific has always been a private company, and Canadian National has only recently (10 years?) been privatized. AFAIK the only thing our government owns now is some 5000 grain hoppers.

I've even seen CSX, BNSF, NS and UP in the same train here in Michigan.

Bob