Now here’s a question that I hope isn’t too basic, but I’ve had a hard time finding info on it…don’t know much about chemical delivery, never been around it.
How do railroads, moreover rail customers, unload their tank cars? Is there special equipment used? Is it done outdoors or inside of the facilities? Is it pumped directly into holding tanks via hoses? Is this something that should be, therefore, modeled in the scene? Are there models available for this, like the ones for diesel/sand stands used for loco servicing?
In particular, I have several tank cars tending to a paper mill (clay slurry, sulfur, other chemicals) and want to know where they should go to within the mill complex.
Walthers has a fuel oil depot kit with a gizmo for unloading the tank cars. It looks like an elevated seesaw with twin pipes extending in both directions. We had quite a discussion here last year about how it actually would have operated. I think we finally figured out that hoses attach to that device. I don’t know if chemical unloading stations would work much differently. I’ve never seen a tank car with a bottom spigot so I assume whatever the contents are, it has to be pumped out through a hose. On my layout, the chemical cars are unloaded at an enclosed dock so I really don’t have to model the mechanisms.
having worked in an oil refinery for many years I know that propane is loaded into empty tank cars through a very heavy duty hose at pressure, much like getting a BBQ propane bottle filled only larger. The propane is pumped from the sperical storage tanks to the “loading racks”. The “loading racks” as they are referred to at the refinery has a platform the is lowered so operators have easy access to the top of the tank car for filling. The “loading racks” were outside if for no other reason than the extreme flammability of the product. I can only guess that off-loading this product would be similiar.
The molten sulfur product was loaded at a “loading rack” much the same but using metal piping instead of hose because of high temp and corrosive nature of the product. Walthers used to make a “loading rack” kit as part of their refinery set, I have one on my layout and it was easy to build and a good representation of the real thing. Hope this info is helpful.
Depends what is being a carried, what the MSDS sheets call for as far as Personal protective equipment (PPE), what the EPA requires, What state and local permitting requires, What local hazmat regulations require, etc. Nobody with an ounce of sense or knowledge of the above is going to dump anything flammable, toxic, high odor, etc. into a pit with a pump. Something like a slurry of Kaolin clay is a different matter. Food grade products like corn syrup have the own requirements for sanitation and contamination. California treats almost everything including water as a hazardous material. It is really a case by case situation. All tank cars I am aware of do have a bottom dump valve but whether or not a connective divice is needed is dependent on the above information.
My company deals with lots of chemicals and we air off the contents of tank cars and tank trucks. A air hose is connected to the tanker and its pressurized to around 15 PSI and the air pressure forces the chemical out of the bottom of the tanker through a hose and into our storage tanks.
At the chemical plants I’ve worked (environmental assessments and remediation), most tankers were unloaded by pumping liquids and slurries through flexible hoses attached to bottom spigots. The hoses were connected to permanent piping, above-ground at some facilities and underground at others, with the piping leading to above-ground storage tanks enclosed within concrete berms, or to tank farms (holding compatible chemicals) within a single berm. Permanent delivery pipes were up to 8" diameter and designated for a specific product. All of the unloading occurred outside in stub-end yards having 3 to 6 tracks that could hold as few as 4 to as many as 20 tankers.
The only model of a chemical unloading facility I’m aware of is in a Plastruct refinery kit. If your paper facility is just receiving various products by tanker, you don’t need an elevated platform as in the kit (but do make sure that vents on the dome are open before pumping out product, unless you pressurize the tank with air or inert gas). Some pumping stations with small pump houses along your industry spur(s), a few product-dedicated hoses at each station, and dedicated piping leading to above-ground storage tanks is sufficient. For a pulp mill, look up ‘kraft process’ and sulfite process’ to get an idea of what products need to be unloaded.
You see - a few days ago someone dug up an old thread where I mentioned that the BLI “Engineers and Firemen” package looked like Zombies. And now, old threads are rising from the dead, even though it’s weeks past Halloween.
I dont know about railroad tank cars but with the Milk Tanker I had, we hooked up a two inch hose to a industrial electric motor of about 400 horsepower to the outlet valve at the back of the tanker. Opened the upper hatch so that the atmosphere does not “Crush” the tank like a beer can.
Fired the pump up and once the liquid started flowing, it’s sorta like a flush toilet. Cannot stop 30,000 pounds from going right down the pipe. You see, it’s just like shiponing (Spelling?) gas with the gascan lower than the vehicle gas tank. The 400 horse motor is there to shove the milk up above the buildings and into the first tank where it is supposed to go.
We carried “Carboys” what was sloshing full of hazmat liquids of various kinds and carried stickers that told a trained person (**Waves) everything in box trailers.
Railroad tank cars, we stayed AWAY from those. ESPECIALLY when they are sitting there hooked up to something and either humming or gurgling something dangerous from a to b. You dont wanna be the one to put a truck tire on one of those hoses in some of those places.
Finally cement powder. Pumped 12-14 PSI of air into the tank, opened the valve at the bottom of the pot and out it flows. (**It better.) It will commence to sit and roar/rock as it shoves the cement up about 30-100 feet of pipe to the silo above… far above.
One day I decided to let my hazmat expire after one trip out of a plant that left me messed up for the first 500 miles or so. Something in the air or water… hmm. Oh well. Im still here lol.