The first unit grain train went through Rainier Oregon on the way to the ethanol distillery near Clatskanie. The train arrived Rainier 12:30 hours today with two BNSF C44-9’s on the point followed by 108 grain hoppers and another BNSF C44-9 on the rear. The power was in DPU mode. The train took eight minutes to clear the street running on “A” Street.
By ‘’ grain" do you mean corn or wheat???
Wow, yeah what kind of grain? Corn isn’t even in the ground here in GA. Was it wheat?
We see grain trains through here year round. I assume they are filled from elevators, so could hold just about anything that goes to a grain elevator.
Winter wheat will be up for cutting not too long from now and then corn and don’t forget soybeans. So we pretty much have year round crops and storage.
It must have been corn if it was on its way to an Ethanol plant. I haven’t heard of using wheat or soybeans for that purpose.
Was there something in the news about using soy also? Something in the back of my mind thinks there was another grain that they were testing for ethanol.
Haven’t heard of another grain being used or tested for making ethanol. There has been talk of using sugar beets for making it, and different organizations are doing research into using switchgrass or wood fiber. A plant is being built near Soperton, GA (west-northwest of Savannah) which will use wood fiber to make “juice” of some kind.
The grain was corn. The second unit grain train left Salina Kansas on Tuesday si my guess is that it will arrive this weekend some time. BN wanted to abandon the line through here after driving away the shippers it had. When BN took over from SP&S the train was around fifty cars each way daily except Sunday. By 1990 the train was down to just a few cars and ran as needed.
If you ever get a “good” grain train, they are just as long as most coal trains - about a mile+…
So keep noticing and maybe someday…
I’ve heard that cane sugar would also make good ethanol. The switch-grass option was also rated higher than corn. Most intriguing source I’ve heard about: kudzu.