Train and car movement at SIT yard and chemical plant

Trains Magazine General Discussion
1

I’m planning on modeling a chemical plant (shipping chemicals and plastics) with a SIT (storage in transit) yard nearby, and I’d like to know a little more about the operation at such facilities. The model railroad will represent SP in Texas near the Gulf coast in the 90ies.

More specifically what I wondering about are:

  • What trains would operate at a chemical plant? Would it be a local having the plant as one workplace among others, a turn running out of a yard to switch only this plant, a trough train dropping of cars to a switcher at the plant, some other kind of train or would it be worked by different kinds of trains?
  • Would the train working the chemical plant bring cars from the plant to the SIT yard or would another train do that?
  • What train/trains would bring cars from the SIT yard? Are any trains originating at SIT yards? If so, would these trains be long distance or short haul?
  • What types of motive power would be used on trains operating at chemical plants and SIT yards?
  • Would there ever be any empty cars stored at SIT yards? For example if all the loading tracks at the chemical plant are occupied.
  • Are any empty cars cleaned at the shipping chemical plant, or is that done at the receiving plant.

A lot of questions, I know, but any answers appreciated. [:)]

/Mattias

2

Mattias,

Question #1 depends on the volume of cars that plant uses.

Sit Yards, like Dayton yard on the old SP here serve several different customers.

If the volume is great enough, and the yard big enough, like Dayton, there is a dedicated switch crew there to pull the orders and build a outbound train, or switch out any inbounds, which is delivered to the SIT yard by a local run.

Question #2, Most of the time, no, but sometimes yes.

The SIT yard will have a receiving/departure track, where the local can drop off and pick up.

If that local serves one of the SIT yards customers, and the cut they pick up is only for one customer, they often can run it to the plant.

But again, most SIT yards serve several different customers, so there will be a mix of customers cars in the train to be picked up, which means it will have to go to a switching yard and be blocked out for each customer.

A local, or a dedicated turn, will drop off an inbound, then will pick up the outbound train and take it to a switching yard, where, after switching, which ever local run serves those plants will take the cars to the plants, pull and spot the plant.

Question #3.

Depends on the volume and size of the yard.

BNSF has a SIT yard, Casey yard, a few miles outside of Houston.

They run a dedicated train, called the Casey Turn, to and from that yard.

Every day, they dispatch a pair of road locomotives to Casey, normally a set of Dash 9s, where it picks up its train, and delivers it to several yards in Houston, UP’s Englewood and Basin yards, PTRA North Yard, and PTRA Pasadena yard, BNSF’s Old South yard, and New South yard…

It drops off customer’s order cars and collects cars from these yards that are headed back to Casey as it goes.

This is an all day affair, takes on average two crews.

Casey has a on site crew which switches only out at Casey, to prepare this train for the Casey turn, and to swit

3

Edblysard

Thanks for the lengthy answers, very informative. I do have a couple of follow up questions.

  • Would locals drop off and pick up cars at a big plant several times a day or would the plant get all the cars from just one local ones a day?
  • The local run that delivers cars to the chemical plant does it both have cars for chemical/plastic and for other commodities (for other industries), or does the other cars go on a separate local?
  • The small yards inside the big chemical plants are they just for switching, or are they also used for short turn storage of empty and loaded cars?
  • Do the plants have dedicated tracks for cleaning cars?

/Mattias

4
5

I’m a supervisor at a much smaller SIT facility. We handle about 30 to 40 cars a day for 4 different customers.

  • My yard crews perform all pulls, spots, and any in-plant switching.
  • For the three customers that receive between 2 and 6 cars, the crew switches out their own cars, and then goes over to do the pulls and spots.
  • For the major customer, I have one crew switch out the ordered cars. The next shift, another crew pulls, spots, and handles the interplant switching.
  • Once a day I have a yard crew transfer cars between the classification yard and my SIT yard. It’s very rare to have a through train drop cars at my yard.
  • I hold both empties and loads.

Nick

6

Nice thread!

Mike in Tulsa

BNSF Cherokee Sub