CSX on foreign rails (Lansing)

[astrofunk76]

Was at Lansing's Potter Park with the kids yesterday (Sunday) afternoon and happened to see eastbound on the old GTW. Funny thing was...it was being pulled by a single CSX unit...not something I've seen before. Anyone know what the deal is? Unfortunately, I wasn't able to catch the number of the unit...but I believe the train was all auto racks.

[AARR]

Railroads share engines quite often these days. Its no longer rare to see a companies locomotive on another railroads line. Its much easier to exchange trains that way.

Do railroads still keep track of how many hours/miles their power spends on another railroads line? It would seem that it would be an accounting nightmare but I am sure computers make it a fairly simple process

[astrofunk76]

Ah...thanks for the explanation. I've certainly seen BNSF (and UP) power on the GTW thru town before...but never CSX. Guess it's not as unusual as it seemed...

[CSX_CO]

Do railroads still keep track of how many hours/miles their power spends on another railroads line? It would seem that it would be an accounting nightmare but I am sure computers make it a fairly simple process

GPS probably makes it easier. AFAIK, its a flat 'fee' per day for the engines. I don't know if they break it down on an hourly basis or not.

I do know CSX is on a BIG kick to get foreign power back to its 'home road' as soon as possible. We had 9 UP engines on our fuel pad last night that we could touch. Meanwhile, we're holding trains for power. Which is utterly stupid. We're already paying the UP for that engine whether its sitting or moving. Might as well use it. I'm of the mindset that CSX is sending the engines back as soon as possible, and letting UP use CSX power, as a way to generate revenue.

Practice Safe CSX

[bctrainfan]

CSX 632 was in the CN Battle Creek yard on Monday, assume its the same one you saw...and I haven't seen CSX or NS power very often on CN here, but there is almost always UP and BNSF power here.