I’ve been saving the little moisture containers from my medicine bottles and was going to use them for a Ho gondola load as a hazmat load. I have emptied the moisture granuals from them and was going to paint them florescent green. Is there any thing else besides the hazmat sign and numbers for a response unit that is needed and the protocol for movement and number of cars in the train delivering the loads? I just thought it would make some interesting loads, they are some what larger than Ho barrels but they always put them in an outer container for safety reasons. Any suggestions and info is appreciated, Jim.
I am using my silica dissicant dooleywhoppers as some kind of generalized containers. There are some modeled in medium ground. And many many more of the little critters are printed on the background, just to the right of the printed end-view images of distant boxcars.
Requirements:
A. Crew needs paperwork (not necessary for model world)
B. Car needs placards on all 4 sides (appropriate to commodity)
C Loaded tank cars of pretty much anything but combustible and cars of explosives or radioactive have to be separated from engines or caboose by 5 cars.
D. Loads of toxic inhalation hazard materials, explosives and radioactive can’t be next to cars with a different loaded placard.
E. Tank car Loads of placarded cars or cars of explosives can’t be next to a shiftable load.
F. Empty tank cars have to separated from engines and cabooses by one car.
Since you are loading your hazmat in a gon, there are no restrictions on how it is handled in a train except it can’t be next to a car placarded toxic inhalation hazard materials, explosives and radioactive. If the load itself is placarded radioactive or explosives, then A, B, C, and D apply.
Basically if your containers haul are anything but radioactive there are no operational restrictions modelable unless you are also hauling explosives, radioactive or poison gas in the same train. If you containers carry acid or poison or LPG, you can put that gon right next to the engine or caboose and haul as many of them as you want.
Hazmat rules are Federal law. Your tax dollars at work.
My HOn3 WWII era road will be hauling Uranium ore in open gons and U concentrates (“Yellow Cake”) in box cars. In keeping with those times and secrecy, the bill of lading will read “copper ore, AAA priority- War Dept - do not delay on sidings”. No warnings related to radiation or dust inhalation from loading/unloading. You get your pay, you take your chances.
Richard
I know everyone is interested in scratch building. But in case anyone is interested in barrels with a little more detail, Tichy is now selling HO scale 55 gallon steel drums 12 pieces for $3.50 (item 8211) or 96 pieces for $20 (item 8212). Their website is http://www.tichytraingroup.com/.
If you paint the barrels yellow, you can say they contain low level nuclear plant waste. However, that really wouldn’t be shipped in an open gondola.
When I used to work around nuclear power plants for a living, the standing story was that the only thing the truck drivers moving the barrels knew about handling them was that if they loaded more than a certain number in their truck it wouldn’t make it up the hill to the storage area.
Placarding requirments changed in the 1980s about the time that the EPA hazardous waste regulations came into effect. Prior to that time for instance, placards would just say FLAMABLE for ignitable cargos; after that the placard had to display a 4 digit number that identified the actual material being transported.
Microscale and other decal manufacturers make decal sets that have placards for hazardous materials
Clever idea. Never thought of that. I have assembled a collection, which I am going to paint a beige color and use as rolled craft paper, suitable for cardboard box making. Cemented to pallets and stacked, they will look good as a box car load.
I have observed gondola loads of earth contaminated by arsenic from a pharmaceutical company, as well as radioactive dirt from a WW2 era nuclear research facility, and in both cases, the hazmat was dumped into blue tarp lined gondolas, then covered with more secured tarp.
The gondola load probably should be covered and the car placarded “radioactive”. As someone else remarked, the placarding rules changed around 1980.
Joe
yeah, chalk one up for the gummit. the placards used to tell you what the stuff would do, after the change you had to look up the number in a book to know what was going on.
inflammable and flammable mean the same thing!!! ( remember the old gas tanker trucks )
there were restrictions on running haz loads next to running mechanical reefers and open loads that could shift.
my favorite hazmat is hydrogen cyanide. DuPont used to ship the stuff by the tank car load, i think they still do. if you could smell it, you were already dead.
charlie
Candy stripers. HCN was shipped in white tank cars with a red stripe around the tank at each trck and the middle of the tank lengthwise.
There was derailment where candy stripers were stacked up like cord wood. In one picture you could see one person standing next to the pile with his back to the camera. When they asked him what he was doing there he said he was taking a leak and he was doing it there because he knew nobody else would be within a half mile or more of him.
Is there something special about the requirement for moving loaded ethanol trains? Typically I see them with a single ‘buffer’ car between the locomotives and the unit train of ethanol loads. The ‘buffer’ car is typically an old 50’ box car or covered hopper.
Jim
What is Hazmat?
Here on the ATLANTIC CENTRAL it is still 1954 - NFPA 704, which would lead to the use of the term Hazmat, is still 6 years away,
So while we have flamable and dangerous loads, nobody here knows the term Hazmat.
Sheldon
Federal law requires that tank cars of placarded hazmat be the sixth car from the engine but not closer than the 2nd car if insufficient cover is available. Since a unit train has no available cover the railroad has to provide the minimum one car.
Great ideas folks the paper rolls is a great idea, I also thought about drilling a hole thru them and make them look like electric motors with a shaft sticking out on both ends. They make endless items if you stop to think about it and they are free (almost LOL) so thats the best thing about them.
I always am on the lookout for items to use for scrap loads or can be turned into something useful. But I have a strong competitor in the house. You see my CEO makes accessory items for Barbie dolls and dollhouses for sale on e-bay. I really do have to get a good start on the layout so she will think railroad first.
Back about 25 - 30 years ago they had dolls and trains in the same show so my wife started collecting dolls, we never missed a show. She now has a large doll collection and I have a LARGER train collection, about 700 rolling stock and 100 loco’s ( she has over 100 dolls)so it worked out great. Something she never complained about because I didn’t drink or smoke so my money went to the basement and she always knew where I was. I worked for myself as a independant carpet installer for almost 30 years 6 days a week ( she was my secretary) so on Sundays we did a disapearing act and traveled to the shows or what ever we ran into.I retired from the carpet business and went back to driving over the road and when ever I could drop the trailer and find the local hobby shop we were there,I always kept a MR in the truck for that reason. I once delivered a load up the street from Northlandz so that was a great trip. We had 10 years traveling together seeing the country and visiting flea markets and other attractions. I’ve known her for over 30 years and next Saturday it will be our 27th year anniversary so its been a great trip being together with very few problems and no arguments so I think we did pretty good so far.Jim.