Hopper cars from non home roads

They were needed by someone, somewhere.  Unless a car is specifically designated " When empty return to agent XYZ railroad," any car can wind up anywhere in the country on any railroad.

Shippers and receivers don't care who's car is used, just so long as their loads get shipped and delivered.  Plus, empty cars sitting in idle a yard don't earn any revenue.

Rusty

Generally, one way use foreign cars are reverse routed towards the home road.  If not convenient to be cut out when empty, the ones you saw could have been blocked for a customer serviced by the B&O.  Another option is they are in a pool for a specific shipper.  The shipper could have ten assigned cars and by agreement the pool cars may be sent to any consignee.  Case in point, thirty years ago auto racks had to be loaded to run over the home road.  An agreement was reached with the automobile manufacturers and the Class I railroads that each railroad could furnish a percentage of cars based on the previous year's revenue from a particular plant.  The railroads still furnished a percentage of cars and the assembly plant still had cars available, but the railroad switching the plant no longer had to switch cars for specific destinations and the plant loaders no longer had to assure automobiles heading west out of Chicago were not put on an FEC car rack.  John in Lansing, Ill.

In the mid to late 1950s, the PRR had a serious shortage of its own hoppers and gained the use of hoppers from neighboring railroads, paying per diem for their use.  I believe it was common practice for railroads with a shortage to "capture" empties from other roads and simply pay per diem for their use.

-Greg

Car service rules can be more general than specific in some cases.  Overall, though, they require a carrier to forward the car toward the home road, but with wiggle room for agents who would need a car and not have a home road car.  Some followed the rules faithfully, but a few would load foreign line cars improperly.

Usually, when a car is improperly handled, it is a car that was used to deliver something to an industry, and, while it is still in place, empty, on the industry spur, the industry loads it and creates a waybill that improperly uses the car.  Not much can be done after that, and that is the alibi most often used by carriers shipping foreign line cars improperly.

Not likely in coal hopper service, though.