Freight routinely travels over two or more railroads, so connecting carriers exchange cars at interchange tracks, where one road leaves the cars and the other picks them up. Carmen inspect cars at interchange because responsibility for defects shifts with the handoff, under industry interchange rules that also govern repair billing. Short lines live on interchange, since nearly every car they handle comes from or goes to a bigger railroad.
Leave the twenty empties on the interchange track and call the BNSF clerk, they'll pull 'em tonight.
Also heard as
- interchange track
- connection
Related terms
Car knocker
A carman, the mechanical worker who inspects and repairs railcars and tests their brakes.
Set out
To leave a car or group of cars on a track short of the train's final destination.
Bad order
A car or locomotive with a defect that keeps it from running until it is repaired.
Local
A freight train that works the industries along a line, setting out and picking up cars at each customer.