Are those buffer box cars,revenue cars or are they part of unit train and stay empty and along for the ride.Lots of oil units on BNSF thru Rochelle.Thanks for the replys
Those that have ended up on my carrier are covered hoppers loaded with sand - their sole purpose is to be buffers that are required for handling oil trains - they stay with the trains loaded and empty.
Those that I see on the BNSF are stenciled “buffer use only do not load” I haven’t seen anything similar on the UP.
While viewing the Rochelle web cam I see some tank trains that have no buffer car on either end. Is that because the contents of the tanks does not require it?
As for empty oil trains on the NS, I have seen both the loaded boxcars and covered hoppers full of sand in use for buffer cars.
We had one thru here just the other day and it was a unit tanker train with no buffer cars. All the cars were soybean oil and marked ADM
Depending on the contents of the head 5 cars, a marked buffer car is not needed, the tank cars themselves, if loaded with non-hazardous product are the cover or buffers cars.
Unit trains, like an ethanol or oil train, if all the cars carry the same product, only require one buffer car.
BNSF has a small fleet of older covered hoppers assigned to this duty only, they are non-revenue cars.
Use the above chart to determine which cars can serves as buffer or cover cars.
The ones I see on the BNSF should say “buffer use only do not repaint”. [:-,]
Only cars with hazardous materials in them require buffers. As Mookie commented, cars loaded with soy bean oil are not carrying hazardous materials; there are many other non-hazardous materials transported in tank cars, and the shipper had better know what hazardous materials he is shipping and mark them.
I wish I could have read Houston Ed’s posting from his trunkload of required reading and knowing; perhaps my eyes are too old? Employee timetables contain the information that is must know for train crews–I do not doubt that enginemen also need to know this.
did someone post that buffer cars are ballasted to approximately the weight of a loaded Oil train car ?
What are these buffer cars for? To protect the crew? Shock absorption (hence the sand)? Would not the second unit serve the same purpose? And while on the subject of crew protection, what about these LNG and/or CNG locomotives? Those consists would seem to be a bomb between the locomotives.
The buffer car could provide some isolation from the engine, which is a potential ignition source. It also buffers the oil cars from trailing engines, which may have riders.
Big Z,
The answer to all 4 of your questions is yes…the natural gas tenders BN used were retired because of the load stress that was causing frame and sill issues, along with operational issues