Can someone tell me what is carried in tank cars besides sulfuric gas and unrefined crude oil? (That’s all I heard of lately) Do tank cars also carry refined oil? What else?
Just about any bulk liquid commodity that is transported by over- the -road tanker trucks can be and is moved by railroad tank car.
About the only item I can think of that is NOT carried in tank cars anymore but does move in tank trucks is raw milk. I add “anymore” because back in the pre-interstate highway days milk was carried by rail car…
Corn syrup, which is an ingredient in some foods, is shipped by tank car.
Ethanol, propane (LP gas), sulfur, beer, inedible tallow, vinyl chloride, kaolin, various acids, a variety of petrochemicals (Ed Blysard would know), and just about any sort of liquid.
But milk was not usually carried in tank cars but in vessels, large cans, in refrigorator cars.
Soybean oil.
Chlorine and other gases.
Bulk milk cars were used, in order to get rid of the highly inefficient handling of milk cans:
Early versions were glass lined. Later versions were stainless steel.
There are probably several thousand commodities that are shipped in tank cars. Pretty much any feedstock, chemical, or product that is or could be a liquid, could be suspened in a liquid or shipped as a compressed or liquified gas could be in a tank car.
Fats, edible oils, syrups and alcohols.
Inedible oils and fats,lubricants
Fertilizers, latex, synthetic rubbers
Combustible and flammable liquids.
Flammable gases.
Non-flammable gases.
Oxidizers
Acids.and caustics
Sulphur and slurries
Liquid wastes
Toxic and poisonous chemicals and substances
Chemicals made from any of the above
Fuels, fuel additives and petrochemicals
But no tanks (unless its a flat car carrying a tank).
There are containers that have tanks for liquid products.
To take a different tack on the original question - if one has the ability to do some railfanning trackside (not everyone lives close to busy lines) take along a pad and pencil and jot down some of the numbers on the placards on the tank cars. Note, too, if the car has its contents stencilled on it (many do). You may also see four digit numbers in an orange rectangle. If a car has both, they’ll be the same.
Not all tank cars will have placards - that’s only required for hazmat commodities.
Once you’ve got your list, do a search for the numbers you’ve recorded, preceding each with “UN” (as “UN1234.” You’ll get back info on each commodity. All you’ll really want will be the name, most likely, but you’ll end up knowing what runs on the lines around you.
After cattle are processed in a slaughter house, their blood is used for glue in the process of making plywood. And yes, it is also shipped by rail. Urea used to control certain pollutants in diesel locomotives is also shipped by rail. Urea is also used by gas driven power plants to help control pollutants.
Mike
Interesting to see the milk tank car. My mom’s grandmother owned a farm and she’d ship milk by rail. Mom could remember seeing the milk containers loaded onto a wagon and her uncle took them to nearest station stop-which was on Frisco. Sometimes Mom and her brother would ride along and the milk cans would be unloaded. When the train came, the station agent would help load them onto the train coming into St. Louis where they were sent to a local dairy.
I have a friend who married a diary farmer in IL and a truck would come 2-3 times a week and pump the milk from their holding tank into the truck, he was part of a diary co-op that delivered the milk to a nearby processing plant.
The Borden Company had milk tank cars. The design was similar to a SP ‘haystack’ tender, incorporated a center blade on each end and rather resembled a butter dish cover.
One is preserved at the Illinois Railroad Museum.
Chuck