idler cars through the Fort

[Hotbox]

Last week I spied a westbound through downtown on the CF&E, hauling tanker cars behind two NS locomotives. Between each tank car was an empty bulkhead flat car.

Any idea what this train might have been? I was wondering if it might be the molten sulfur train, with the idlers added to disperse weight. I have seen the sulfur train numerous times before, but never with idlers.

[rrnut282]

It had to be nastier than sulpher, to go to all that trouble adding idlers. Did the tank cars have a red stripe? Or did they glow in the dark?

[Hotbox]

Sorry, no glow, and I can't recall a stripe one way or the other....how would such a stripe be oriented? around the car vertically, around lengthwise? (curious)

I just recall how heavy those cars are, (when coupled end to end, the combined load from two bogey's coupled close together really puts a load on the track) and considering the condition of the CF&E I wondered if it might be an attempt to disperse weight

[rrnut282]

I doubt weight was the reason for the idlers, unless the tank cars were very short so that many could be on a bridge at the same time. Wheels and axles can only safely carry a certain amount of weight and expect the rail to support it. If the loads were that heavy they should have 3-axle (or more) trucks.

I'm going to stay with my original guess that mixing the contents was the hazard, and the reason for the idlers. Usually the red stripe is a band around the middle of the car. It warns rescue personell to stay away. Otherwise they have to get close enough to read the numbers on the placards to see what they are dealing with. That's too close for the stuff with the red stripe.

[Hotbox]

Usually the red stripe is a band around the middle of the car. .

Thanks, so just making sure I follow you correctly, the stripe would go around the tanker like a wedding band on a finger, or longways "around" (lengthwise)?

Interesting what they might be sneaking through on this ghost of a former mainline...

[Greg46m]

Thanks, so just making sure I follow you correctly, the stripe would go around the tanker like a wedding band on a finger, or longways "around" (lengthwise)?

Interesting what they might be sneaking through on this ghost of a former mainline...

Right, just like a wedding band on a finger. The cars are usually a white or off-white color with a red stripe about 2-3 foot wide. A common nickname I've heard for them is a "Candy Striper". The contents are Hydrogen Cyanide. My emergency response guidebook classifies it as an extreme hazard with an isolation area of over 2 miles downwind of the spill. Pretty nasty stuff.

[KEITH_HARRIS]

GREG, WE IN THE FIRE SERVICE HAD A SAYING ABOUT THESE KIND OF CARS "RULE OF THUMB". YOU HOLD YOUR THUMB IN THE AIR AT ARM'S LENGTH IN FRONT OF YOUR EYES, IF YOU COULD STILL SEE THE CAR YOU WERE TOO CLOSE.
TIME FOR SUITS AND AIR PACKS BY THE PROFESSIONALS.


KEITH

[Michael Meisener]

On Candy Striper trains if you smell almond (yes thats the scent used) you can kiss your @*# goodbye.

[Hotbox]

Right, just like a wedding band on a finger. The cars are usually a white or off-white color with a red stripe about 2-3 foot wide. A common nickname I've heard for them is a "Candy Striper". The contents are Hydrogen Cyanide. My emergency response guidebook classifies it as an extreme hazard with an isolation area of over 2 miles downwind of the spill. Pretty nasty stuff.

Thanks for the info,....fwiw the tank cars I spied were rather grundgy, flat black in color. Wish I would have gotten a better look, but I was driving under an overpass while the train crossed above.

It was one of those things where I noticed the bulkhead flat cars first, then noticed they were all empty, and only then did it register to me what they were doing, in between the tank cars. By then I was under the bridge