Hello I seen this and was wondering why the numbers are on top of the car? And why the hopper at the end?
Thanks for the help Frank
I’ve seen box cars or other types of cars used ahead of the helper loco and behind the head end power when there are tank cars in the consist. Here in Minnesota tank unit trains are getting to be very common on the BNSF. The idler cars (I think) are to put a cushion between the motive power and the flamable/explosive tank cars. Possibly someone more in the know can explain. Why the lettering on the top of the tank cars, I have no idea.
That helps with identification in the case of a derailment. If the car remains upright the normal side reporting marks aren’t necessarily readily visible from above, and if it ends up on its side they may not be visible from the ground. If the car can be identified from a (hopefully) safe distance, proper precautions related to hazardous lading can be better identified.
Idler cars provide additional protection in the case of an accident. In most cases it is not permissible to place a car placarded as hazmat next to a locomotive. I don’t always see idlers at the rear of a train unless there’s a DPU pushing (e.g. some shorter locals in my area that work refineries), but they aren’t uncommon.
The number on top is so the person walking along the loading rack 15 ft off the ground can tell what the car number is. They can’t read the number on the sides from that vantage point.
Assuming the train is a solid unit tank train and assuming its a tank train of something hazardous the car would be used as cover.
one time not far from here there was a bad derailment with dangerous chemical cars in the train, and it polluted a fairly large stream and sent a green fog downwind. The conductor was given an incorrect profile, and the chemical company that surveyed the wreck from a helicopter was not the company whose cars were wrecked they couldn’t read the car numbers. There was a big hulaballou over it of course, and it’s most likely one of the reasons cars are marked that way now.
Stan
The info posted about the numbers atop the tank sound correct,
I regularly see trains with tank cars carrying LPG or Ethanol bringing up the rear of a train with no protection except the Fred.
If I remember correctly, I have seen that cars with hazmat could not be attached to the loco or caboose, there had to be a “cushion” car in between. Don’t know if it covered switching operations or just over the road trains. It was awhile ago that I saw that information as an answer to someone’s question Things could have changed since then, but it made sense in the context of the question.
EDIT: Watched the video after writing the above, things even more complex than I remembered, then again the stuff being transported is getting more and more complex.
Have fun,
Richard
When I see CSX pull tank trains around here, there seems to be an idler/spacer car on both ends. My guess is so they can push/pull the train wherever they are, keeping the crews in compliance.
Brad
Hazmat placement is regulated by the Federal government as is the paper documentation the crews have to have.
The rules started out as 1 page in the timetable and are now up to the equivalent of a 25 page booklet.
The basic requirement for loaded hazmat cars is that when train length permits, the hazmat car cannot be closer to the engines or caboose than the 6th car, but there be at least one car between the hazmat car and the engine or caboose. On a ‘standard’ train there will be 5 cars of cover. There is no reason to cover the rear unless there is a caboose, DPU unit or helpers.
On a unit oil or ethanol train the entire train is hazmat cars, so “train length” does not permit 5 cars of cover, the minimum of one car must be provided, and so they add a cover car.
If the train in the original picture was loaded then technically its in violation of the law because the law requires all available cover be used up to the 5 cars. So it there are two cover cars on the train and there is no caboose or engine on the rear, the rear cover car has to be put on the head end to maximize the cover on the head end of the train. Train length permits 2 cars of cover so they have to use 2 cars of cover.
Not all tank cars are hazmat, not all placarded cars are hazmat, not all hazmat is in tank cars.