Shortlines, Industries, and Empties

[2-8-2]

Now, what exactly is a "pool" car?

I'll take a stab at that one...

Ever since forming and organizing of railroad associations, there have been pools. This consisted of dividing the total earnings of several competing lines according to an agreed basis irrespective of the amount of business actually done by the different roads in the pool. The object is generally to settle what portion of competitive traffic each line should carry, and those which carried more than their share were required to pay their rivals the excess receipts less the bare cost of carrying.

For example:

Let's say that Shortline X does not serve the city of Smallville, but Mega Railroad does. Mega RR also manages and maintains all cars in the pool, which includes several other railroads. Mega RR might make a deal with Shorline X by saying that if they donate a proportionate amount of cars to the pool, they will get favorable routing with ACME Co, the largest industry in Smallville.

Usually,the serving road has the most cars in the pool. Mega RR might use Shortline X's cars to move freight from ACME Co to destinations anywhere in the country. Mega RR would handle all communications with ACME Co including: scheduling, load make-up, turn around times, etc. However, the freight could be routed (billed) either through Mega RR or Shortline X.