CN runs a pair of daily intermodal trains between Chicago and I believe Halifax.
On the rear of 149 there are always a few cars (today 11 cars, but usually 2 -4) that are CN flat cars with long rectangular objects (corners rounded). Can anyone fill me in on what these are and where the origin is and possible destination? Why are the cars handled on train 149 and not on a regular manifest train?
ed
These don’t sound familiar to me, Ed, but a reporting mark and number off one might be a help.
I will get one the next time I see it…today’s train has already passed. The lading looks like it is some sort of aluminum or other metal. Really low profile and long, perhaps 2 feet high x 40 feet long.
ed
These cars are loaded with aluminum slabs. I’d like to know more about this kind of move too. I beleive they are attached to intermodal trains as a faster premium service that bypasses major yards. I also think they come from Quebec somewhere but I don’t know where they go to.
Aircraft sub assemblys. ?
kurt
Those are Billets of Aluminum on Canadian National Flat Cars with steel tubing bulkheads.
They are very frequently on the ends of CN Trains. Usually it is an intermodal container train.
If you hang around the tracks for a week you should be able to get a photo of them.
Andrew
Thanks Andrew…what is an aluminum billet used for?
today on 149 there were 11 cars of them…the most I have ever seen. Probably due to the holiday slowdown. As I indicated earlier, the cars are on just about every westbound 149 going to Chicago.
ed
Did the cars look like this, Ed ?
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=281885
Alcan has a few aluminum smelters in northern Quebec, due to cheap, abundant electricity.
No, pretty much a standard flat car.
It makes for an interesting end of train. You have this enormous train of stacks and pigs (CN runs long intermodals) and then at the end are a few flat cars with shiny metal.
I will get a photo.
ed
If they are aluminum billets, they’d fit your description, Ed. Guess I wouldn’t need a number to tell you that. I’m sure they’re somehow melted down and used (along with aluminum scrap) at just about any large facility that makes use of aluminum (you might be drinking out of some of that stuff eventually). We don’t have a connecting intermodal run with CN that I’m aware of, so I doubt that I could trace one of those cars to see where it’s going.
Search in the CN Flat Cars section of RRPictureArchives.net
One Example of Many:
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| CN 618095 at Dolton, IL United States |
CN 149 now runs from Montreal to Chicago daily. CN 309 picks up the aluminum coil cars and bilet cars in Montreal , and drops them in Belleville, ON for 149 to pick and take to Chicago. I don’t know how or what train brings them to Montreal from Arvida QC (Alcan) or do I understand the reasoning behind this move but thats the way CN does it!
Thanks for the update. It must be pretty good business for them.
ed
Sorry, slightly wrong info. CN 309 runs from Joffre QC where it picks up the loads, to Mac yard in Toronto. Dropping the product in Belleville for pick-up by 149 allows both trains to avoid major yards.