Good evening how are we all doin tonight fine and dandy. I got to see something really cool in the last two days. As I cross the 27th St. viaduct here in milwaukee every afternoon. I get to see the CP Rail/ Soo line Rail yard which is very cool. But anywho I got to see a special company clean out two rather large tank cars. The tank cars were sitting on a side track away from other cars and they had a big pump trucks and other cool machines. To do the job but today was the coolest cause they had a 20 or 25 foot flame shooting out of a controlled tube far enough from the cars so not to pose any danger to anyone working around the tank cars. Also there was a couple of Milwaukee fire fighters to watch and keep control of the fire so in case the fire got of control they could put it out. How often do tank cars get cleaned out is it every time a car gets emptied or how is that done. Also do they do it the same way like. I saw today or is it done differently each time. Thanks for any and all responds to this subject
I’ve never seen them being cleaned (which sounds fun to watch!), however I have watched them being unloaded in front of my former school in Adairsville, Ga.
What do you suppose causes a flame to come out of a tank car during cleaning?[:O]
The flame is from the burning of the residue of what the tank car last carried. It isn’t real common to see a tank car being cleaned, it’s expensive and keeps getting more so. Usually what ever a tank car is designed to carry and carries on its first trip is what it will carry for the rest of its working life, that way there is no contamination of its next load.
http://www.railcarphotos.com/PhotoDetails.php?PhotoID=3943
Are you talking about this type of tankers?
Tank cars would be cleaned when the commodity they have been contracted to carry changes. A tank car that has been hauling Sulphuric Acid would need to be cleaned before it could be used to haul Sodium Hydroxide Solution, as an example. The tank car fleet is not a free running, multi purpose affair. Shippers contract with the Private Car lines for the cars that they use to transport their commodities. Once a car is placed in service to carry a specific commodity, it will generally stay in that service for most, if not all, of the cars life (presumes that the Shipper stays in business that long).
That 25-foot flame sounds like it was being propelled by something. Could it have been a pressure tank car that was being cleaned out (here I go again, asking for numbers!)?
I have often seen instances of the same tank car carrying different commodities from time to time. We have some former clay-slurry tanks that now carry sodium bichromate, for example. More to the point of my hypothesis, though, I’ve seen some former pressure tank cars that now carry some sort of flammable (non-pressurized) liquid. I would assume that a cleanout would be necessary before conversion of the car.
Sounds to me like the flame was a flare, to burn off a flammable residue from the car. May have been more efficient than transfering the product to trucks and hauling it somewhere.
Too much flame on the inside of a car during cleaning.
I am assuming that these cars you are seeing are placarded 3295. I suspect that the cars with this placard that I see around here are carrying natural gas liquids, but that is only a guess. Most of them have had the old commodity painted over.
Back in the early part of the millenium, I saw several GATX 58600 and 58700 series pressure tankcars placarded and stencilled for gasoline. Also, I noticed that several of the former ARPX 5000 series cars (I am assuming these are now the UTLX 5000 series) are now carrying pentane.
I once saw some tankcars placarded for gasoline but stencilled for LPG and others placarded for alcohols not otherwise specified but stencilled for ethyl ether.