11-30-2011, 09:43 AM
Specifically relating to the Los Angeles Junction, both UP and BNSF run trains onto yards belonging to the LAJ. The distance isn't all that great, but UP runs onto the LAJ off its line down Vernon Avenue and into LAJ's A Yard. There are signs on the interchange track reminding (according to my memory anyhow) UP crews of the LAJ speed limit. (That would certainly be a useful scenery item on a model.) Also, the BNSF has a regular pair of trains called LACBAR and BARLAC that run from Barstow to LAJ's C yard, also running onto the LAJ over interchange tracks. The LAJ is wholly owned by BNSF but provides a "neutral switching service", so traffic can also go onto UP.
The other side of the coin is that in the San Joaquin Valley, San Joaquin Valley Ry trains regularly operate over UP track to reach various isolated branches. Often modern spinoff lines use right of way that's actually leased from the Class I. I think this applies to a lot of RailAmerica lines. For that matter, especially where the short line is a spinoff of a Class I, they share interchange yards -- I think this happens in Palmer, MA, for instance, where a short line (Mass Central?), a regional (NECR) and CSX share an interchange yard. I'm actually a little surprised that so few modelers have taken up RailAmerica, since you can so easily find Florida East Coast locos in Vermont or California -- and so forth.
The other side of the coin is that in the San Joaquin Valley, San Joaquin Valley Ry trains regularly operate over UP track to reach various isolated branches. Often modern spinoff lines use right of way that's actually leased from the Class I. I think this applies to a lot of RailAmerica lines. For that matter, especially where the short line is a spinoff of a Class I, they share interchange yards -- I think this happens in Palmer, MA, for instance, where a short line (Mass Central?), a regional (NECR) and CSX share an interchange yard. I'm actually a little surprised that so few modelers have taken up RailAmerica, since you can so easily find Florida East Coast locos in Vermont or California -- and so forth.