well when the q 381 derailed near town here they pointed out the tank cars had residue in them.some other cars did have loads but they remained upright.as for speeding under a train a truck did that at the clinton street viaduct last fall.just made his trailer a sardine can faster.
stay safe
joe
About 3 years ago, my helper got a small digital camera, he brought it to work, had us take a few photos of him and the motor for his kids, you know," what Dad does at work" stuff…we were dragging out one of our receiving tracks and he took this one of me…
Well, Ed, RWM, GraniteRailroader (and anyone else), I checked with the man who superseded me in shipping hazmat. He looked in the CFR 49, and sent me a note stating that there is NO Residue placard. So, this is one placard that the powers that be decided is unnecessary. Any one you may see or have seen has been obsolete for at least eleven years. I was first certified eleven years ago.
As to ammonia, I understand that the farmers in this country who use ammonia as fertilizer were able to convince the powers that be that this gas should be considered as having the only the hazard of being compressed, so far as placarding is concerned. Did any of you ever get a snootful of ammonia? I did once; it took the top of my head off and clear up to the ceiling, and gave me a good nosebleed (high school chemistry lab). Once, I received, on a warm day, a pallet of ammonia drums that was delivered on a non-refrigerated truck. I could not enter the truck because I was not certified for a respirator (I was given a by on this because my wife likes my beard so much), and I had to ask another man, who is certified to take the pallet off. I think that Canada really has the right idea.
“Inhalation hazard” is a part of the official description of ammonia in the CFR, so this must be on the bill of lading and/or train sheet.
Yes, in a tank car, you can have a large quantity of residue which can be quite dangerous. Some substances have reportable quantities–a spill of ten or more pounds of chlorine must be reported, and a spill of 100 or more pounds of hydrofluoric acid must be reported, and the bill of lading/train sheet must have “RQ” noted. These were the only two such substances that I had to worry about. I do not remember shipping that much HF, but one chlorine cylinder might have had that much chlorine in it.
Know what you are handling–and I would tell the truck drivers (local and OTR) “Watch out for the crazy people on the highways”.
Johnny
Another placard that was lost in the past few years is 1257, it was for natural gasoline. I have since seen MSDS list natural gasoline’s number as 1203 and others list it was 3295.
3295 is “Hydrocarbons, Liquid, n.o.s.” (Not otherwise specified).
1203 covers several commodities:
The “128” is the guide number from the ERG. It indicates FLAMMABLE LIQUIDS (NON-POLAR/WATER-IMMISCIBLE)
I had never heard of “motor spirit;” is that simply another name for gasoline (as you do not buy gasoline in England; you buy petrol instead)? Gasohol sounds like gasoline with some alcohol added.
I wish I had picked a copy of the ERG (Emergency Response Guide) up the day the company gave me a by-by party. I certainly don’t need it now, but it would have been another souvenir of my work with hazmat. The ERG is of great value to an emergency response team since they need all the help they can get to take care of a situation that involves hazmat. I always gave the driver a copy of the MSDS for every hazardous substance I was shipping, so he could give to the ERT if he ever needed one, saving them time of looking up what to do with what was present.
Johnny
If you want a copy bad enough, you can download it as a PDF. I keep a copy on my computer.
There is one in my truck, too, but I am a former fire chief.
I’ve always been told that the ERG is good for about the first 10 minutes. After that you’d better have a better idea of what you were dealing with as well as a plan of how you’re going to handle it.
I certainly would be interested in its definition. Many times the fuel trucks that fuels the locomotives and reefers at the local train yards are placarded 1203. I wonder if it is legal to placard diesel fuel as 1203. Unless diesel fuel is considered a motor spirit, it would seem like 1203 is now allowed for diesel fuel. In case you are wondering, no the placards did not have 1202.
Larry, I put “motor spirit” into the Internet Explorer search engine, and it redirected me to “gasoline.” So, it must be another name for gasoline.
ericsp: If Diesel fuel has its own number, it is illegal to use any other number for it. If it does not have its own number, then the 3295 (if the flash point of diesel is above the point that divides inflammable and non-inflammable liguids) or 1203 (if its flash point is below that point) could be used. Larry, can you check the ERG to see if it has its own number? I tried to find the ERG in the search engine and the best I could come up with was an offer to sell me one for $6.00.
My memory may be faulty on some fine points, so you will not offend me if you correct me. I have been living a life of ease for more than two years.
Johnny
The 2004 ERG lists two numbers for diesel fuel.
1202
Diesel fuel
Fuel oil
Fuel oil, no. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6
Gas oil
Hearing oil, light
1993
Combustible liquid, n.o.s
Compound, cleaning liquid (flammable)
Compound, tree or weed killing, liquid (flammable)
Diesel fuel
Flammable liquid, n.o.s.
Fuel oil
Medicines, flammable, liquid, n.o.s.
Refrigerating machine
Here is the 2008 ERG for free (PDF).
http://www.phmsa.dot.gov/staticfiles/PHMSA/DownloadableFiles/Files/erg2008_eng.pdf
At an operation lifesaver presentation I saw a picture of a car that had passed under a tankcar at a rural highway crossing up here in Canada. Both car and train were travelling at speed so the timing must have been split second. In that case the driver (drunk) somehow survived unhurt but the car was no longer as high as Detroit intended. He had to crawl out through a window, presumably the front. The train crew was unaware of the incident until later.
Quite a few tank cars have Wabco-Pak(?) brakes, or something similar, with separate pistons inside each truck, thus no brake rigging under the carbody. The air line is usually up higher.
John
Johnny, “spirits” is another word for alcohol. Thus the term “wines and spirits” or “spirit shop” referring to liquor or wine stores (depending on your geography). In the case of fuel, spirits usually referred to wood alcohol.
Ah, yes, the historic use of the word, “spirits”, over several centuries, has been in reference to beverages containing ethyl alcohol. You would not want to drink methyl (wood) alcohol (unless you are so desperate that you would put canned heat into a sock and squeeze the sock to get the methyl acohol out) because it can cause you to go blind. You also should not drink isopropyl alcohol (it’s more common than n*-*propyl alcohol) because it can do worse things to your stomach that ethanol can. Some alcoholic beverages do contain mixed amyl alcohols (sometimes called “fusel oil”) in small quantities, but ethanol is the main alcohol in them. It is true that gasoline has been called “motor spirits,” but gasoline is usually a mixture of the higher liquid hydrocarbons (unless you have pure iso-octane, which was given the octane rating of 100)
Johnny