Mookie,
LPG, Liquified petroleum gas, butane, propane, those guys.
Carl explained, its a gas at atmosphere, but under pressure, is a liquid.
You know the little bottle of propane driver has hooked to the torch he uses to solder, or the bigger bottle under the bar-b que pit?
That stuff is a LPG.
Mudchicken told you what we call it when one blows up,
Bleve.
If you do manage to poke a hole in the side of one of these, the friction of the liquid against the edge of the hole, added to the rapid expansion of the liquid into a gas, can/will cause it to explode.
Think about it, we have a offical name for one of these things blowing up.
Englewood had a bleve back in the 70s, after all the fires were out, and they found most of the cars, they ended up bulldozing most of the north side of the yard across Liberty street, into a empty lot, and starting over on rebuilding the yard.
Yes, they can throw parts of the car a mile.
We saw a bleve in our training films, the tank went pretty much straight up, about 100 feet, landed several hundered feet down range.
Now, after telling you all that, heres this.
Carl, Mudchicken, LC, wabash, me, Rodney Beck, and now, N Stephenson, all work around this stuff every day.
We transport thousands of the LPG tankers through “your” town every day.
I kick them, in cuts of two, all day long.
Because the tanks on these cars are tough, real tough.
I am sure Muddyfeathers can give you the math and specs on one, but they are designed to be beaten to death.
We are trained on how and where to place them in a train, so they dont get a hole poked in them.
Because the people who build the tankcars, and because we railroaders do our job every day, and do it right, you most likely will never see a bleve.
Holland load snugger floor, floor has slots in it, to allow a eyebolt type device for straps to be sliped into the slot and locked in place, allows you to strap and