On the MR forum, RR_Brit and I were talking about a British nuclear transport train. It used modified UK hoppers and all to transport nuclear flasks, as well as had a large 10 axle flat car for “hot” flasks. But I don’t model the UK…
Has anything nuclear related been transported by rail? If so, what and how? I seem to recall seeing a picture of a “nuclear reactor” on www.csx-sucks.com, but don’t know if that is what it truly was…
Any information would be appriciated. Thanks.[8D]
There is a small fleet of nuclear waste transport cars floating around the North American railroad scene. Each one I’ve seen is a six axle depressed center flatcar with a specially designed “Thermos bottle” that is permanently secured to the deck. The bottle is oriented vertically, not horizontally like on an ordinary tank car. Additionally, each bottle is wrapped with a specially designed honeycomb-like covering that is designed to absorb just about any major shock or blow to the freight car. Supposedly if the cars derail at a speed of 35-mph or less, the bottles won’t rupture. The nuclear waste transport cars I’ve seen carry DODX reporting marks.
Incidently, they don’t look anything like the Radioactive Waste cars that Lionel marketed a couple of decades ago.
Plenty is transported by rail…and if Yucca Mountain happens, a lot more will be in special containers that AAR has tested to death in Pueblo at the TTC test track. Plenty of the protype containers are already out on the interstates (3 at a time). Also, Hanford and Amarillo PanTex frequently sent nuclear triggers back and forth in special ATMX cars which kinda look like upside down white gons/bathtubs.
Gonna model the uninformed mindless quack protesters that follow these things around? [:D]
That might be a bit hard. Maybe…I could use a magnet underneath the table to make a protesting crowd move next to the train…Yeah, that’s it…[:p] Who knows?
And if anyone has or knows any sites I can get pictures of these things, that would be even better.[8D]
I love these forums.[:D]
I seem to recall somewhere that there are something like only 4 privately-owned nuclear fuel transport rail cars in the US, and that they are all owned by General Electric Company’s Railcar Leasing unit. I forget the reporting marks, but I have personally seen them on CSX in North Carolina just a couple of months ago hauling waste nuclear fuel from a Carolina Power & Light plant somewhere in South Carolina to some waste storage facility up north. For security reasons, I cannot divulge anything further than that.
More information on nuclear waste rail transportation in the US can be found at http://www.NEI.org/?catnum=2&catid=80 [8D].
I seem to remember on at least two unit trains moving through Kansas City and every car had a HAZMAT placard. One was Green gons and the other was 20ft open containers that were tarped They cars did not appear to that unusual but they were the only units in the train. I hope this helps. [2c]
I have seen these cars several times, they are 6 axel depressed center flatcars, painted either dark green or grey, bearing the reporting marks of DODX or that of the Department of Energy. There is one cask, approximately 8 ft in diameter and 15 feet high, mounted securely, with heavy steel bracking, at the center of each car. They are always separated with empty 4 wheel flats, one between each flask car. There is usually one or two cabooses at the end of the train and one caboose or small coach car right behind the locomotive. These are to transport the guards and technicians that travel with the train.
They are destined for the Idaho National Laboratory in Eastern Idaho where both low level and high level nuclar waste is processed and stored.
I have seen and photgraphed these cars several times while they were parked overnight in a small Union Pacific yard before being taken the last 40 miles, at a very slow pace to the INL.
I have never been stoped or approached while photographing the train, but sorry, no pictures at this time…I have moved and all my negatives and prints are a hundred miles away!
Hi yaz scott,
I’ve thought about scratch building, one of these cars,but not as of yet. I do however,have a link to Tom Daspits great web page, that list many odd cars including a DODX reactor car.
He’s got al kinds of neat cars listed…schnabels being listed mostly.
http://southern.railfan.net/flat/cars/loads/dodx/dodx38882petersburgva1oct93.jpg
Patrick
Beaufort,SC
Dragon River Steel Corp {DRSC}
Making HO scale steel by the ton !!!
Whoa! That’s a bit more attention-grabbing than the standard one over here:
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/wagons/501-600/550048.jpg
These are apparently stainless steel, but they paint them in primer to avoid the inevitable tarnishing (and I’d guess making them a little less obtrusive can’t hurt either).
Before that last stock cars (for live animals) were scrapped, UP always kept 10 to twelve stock cars in Blackfoot, Idaho to use as separators between the DODX depressed center flats as the bridge over the Snake River at Blackfoot is not rated for two heavy cars on a span. Thus 1 flat, then 1 or 2 empty 40 foot stock cars then another flat would insure that acceptable loading were not exceeded.
DODX also used a special car for carrying low level waste. It lloked much like a standard box car - but without any doors. The top and sides of the car were removed by a crane for loading and unloading. In the early 60’s they were painted light gray or white. But then someone figure out that the light color made them too obvious, so they repainted them in PASTEL colors. In a train of box car red - they still stuck out like a sore thumb.
Sorry, my pictures are also in storage.
dd
The Navy used to run ammo resupply trains into Earle Naval Weapons Depot, just down the road from Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. Occasionally there would be an odd white boxcar in the consist. Of course, the Navy would neither confirm or deny the existence of “weapons of mass destruction” on trains… but I did talk to the engineer of one of those trains, who said that he was told to never stop for anything, including protesters on the track.
Earle was interesting because the track was a spur (off the Central of New Jersey, I believe) and ran right out onto the pier for loading.
Erik
Thanks all, and anymore would be appreciated.[;)]
Patrick, I can’t seem to get the picture to load in all the way, but the load looks pretty cool from what I could see.[8D]
Ya,and just hopefully the news media will keep hush hu***oo. I know it is very wrong to what I had just said but,Look at it this way. At least there will be a place for it go to for when it is time. And another thing too…There best bet is to ship it in the middle of the night when most town people are sleeping. And if the public finds out the Railroads are hauling nuclear waist by Rail and the news media finds out…there will be hell to pay. Allan.
Few years ago a special weapons train was suppossedly delivering nuclear warheads to a Navy base in Washington state, was dogged by protestors all the way thru the state, near the entry to the naval base they decided to block the tracks by sitting on them. Well, this engineer also has those “do not stop for anything” orders and as he neared the base, saw the protesters on the track and just layed into it with the horn (didnt slow down a bit). Now the protesters, just sat there, until the train which was doing like 30mph (so one one could climb on and crawling with special agents) was like 20 feet away then you never saw so many people scramble out of the way so fast in your life! Except for one dude who didnt budge! He just sat there staring down the loco, 10 feet, 5, 3, just staring, and I’m sure he could clearly read the foundry marks on the front coupler as the engine just ROLLED RIGHT OVER HIM ![:0] Amazingly he survived with not to horrible injuries, and possible Federal charges.
ALL this was caught on local news video! I saw it on 20/20 !
The location was at Port Chicago, CA.
Just to set the record straight on a few points made previously without divulging anything classifed. The “white trains” stopped running in the early 80’s. They originated at Pantex and carried SLBM warheads to various US Navy depots for boomer loadouts. All transfers are now handled by truck. The shipments to Idaho are decommissioned reactors, associated irradiated plumbing, and spent cores coming out of the nuclear navy. The other shipments are low level and mixed radioactive waste material destined for licensed burial grounds. The Yucca Mountain casks are very unique in two respects – they will haul high level (very"hot") waste and they are very resistant ot abnormal environments (fire, crashes including a direct hit by a loco going 70MPH, etc.). The cars that they will be carried on are specifically designed for the casks and also include many unique features.
Poppyl
Hopefully CN never pulls these!! [:0]
http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=52232
I would much rather since it has to be moved that it move with steel wheels instead of rubber. [2c]