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Shuttle loader opens on Washington & Idaho Railway
Nice article.
Any way to get more pictures so us modelers can put together something similar. I have made a large investment in grain hoppers, distillers grain hoppers and ethonal tankers, along with ethanol distillation buildings. Would love to model this.
Bruce: Co-Ag’s website has many photos documenting the construction process: http://co-ag.com/index.cfm?show=65&mid=45
Jeff: Thanks!
Great Article and love the photo by Dave Honan!
Do they really use barges for export? Wouldn’t a ship be more seaworthy?
Interesting article. Yes indeed, nice photograph by Dave Honan.
Was the first train a full 110 car consist with run-through BNSF power?
Thomas: The first shuttle train consisted of 112 cars and three BNSF locomotives. Prior to this the facility had loaded some cuts from co-load trains, in which portions of a full unit train were distributed amongst a handful of elevators along the line for loading and subsequent reassembly into the full train.
John: Thank you for catching my mistake; you’re correct, grain hauled to the ports by trains is transloaded onto oceangoing ships, not barges. I must have been thinking about the barge system used along the Snake River to transport grain grown too far from rail-served elevators to the Columbia River ports.
Why is it necessary to transload rail to rail? Can’t the cars from the smaller elevators just be gathered into unit train lengths?