Placards on Tank Cars

[jtnrr]

I've gone through and began to weather some of my frieght cars and I figured before I do so to the tank cars I should try and add placards. I'm curious as to how one can determine what each tank car is hauling. I have about 14 kaolin tank cars, non hazardous obviously, that read either "Calcium Carbonate" "Limestone Slurry" or "Clay Slurry". But is there some other way to determine what a tank car carries besides a placard or a straight-forward description on the tank itself? Help is greatly appreciated.

[ssgburme]

I don't know how to hot link it to here, just google" railroad placards"
Karl

[Tank]

I don't know exactly how to classify which style cars carry what, but if you want a good reference, try to look for a Form 8620 HazMat, Instructions for Handling Hazardous Materials, and an Emergency Response Guidebook for placard information, train placement, and information of a comodity's uses. Placards can be applied to more than just tank cars though. Even substances like aluminum powder are considered hazardous! Box cars, intermodal containers, and even covered hoppers can transport hazmat materials, and sometimes the same material in different type cars have different placement restrictions. Found this by accident www.etestmaker.com/01/htm/hazmat/htm/hazmat_study_questions.htm It's part of a HazMat test that gives you a bit of a taste of hazmat rules and requirements. PM me if you have any hazmat questions. Also, maybe check this out 0306.utu.org/Files/%5B3566%5D2011%20Hazmat%20BETA%201.0%20Study%20Guide%20Resource.pdf

[jtnrr]

Thank you both.

[WC 7499]

If I am reading you question right... Other than the placard or stencil on side of the car there is really no way of knowing what a car might be used for. The only thing you may want to take into consideration is what type of tank it is. You would have to look into the density of the commodity and determine how many "gallons" of it would it take to load a car to roughly 100 tons whether it be 10k, 24k, 33k, etc. For example, molten sulfur would not work out too well in a 65' tank due to the weight.

Sorry if I am unclear with anything. It's late.

[OSR_182]

What Steve has said is a pretty good place to start - consider what the tank car is for. Also, if you can get an explanation of DOT/TC codes (eg. 111A100W1), that would help to understand what type of car it is, but a manual exlaning these codes is pretty hard to come by. But has been said, unless you can look up the placard number or read off the car what it is carrying, it could be hard to tell. Also, some cars are not placarded (like corn syrup), and these are generally for non- or limited hazard products (corn syrup won't explode, is unlikely to burn, and at most, will make everything really sticky!); or if the car is cleaned (not residue or loaded, like if en route to shop or scrap). This being said, here is a short explanation of the main types of tank cars and what they carry:

For example, the largest tank cars (33K) haul the lightest products, compressed gasses such as LPG or anhydrous ammonia. These are known as pressure cars because they haul contents under pressure; chlorine and sulfur dioxide are also shipped in pressure cars, but are much smaller due to chlorine being heavier than LPG or AA. Pressure cars can be identified by the protective housing over top of the fittings on top of the car.

Some light density liquids can be shipped in 30K cars, such as ethanol, gasoline, and various chemicals. These are non-insulated, and non-coiled. As a rule of thumb, most products denser than this require insulated & coiled cars, commonly 23.5K or 25.5 or 25.7. These are general purpose cars that can handle a variety of products (ashphalt, vegetable oils, heavier oils).

The smaller cars are for corn syrup, molten sulfur, or sulphuric acid. With the exception of most sulfuric acid cars, these are insulated and coiled to allow the product to be heated to unload it. These are small because the density of their designed product is the highest: tank cars are unique because every type is designed based on a specific product, and hence volume is inversely proportionate to volume, because the maximum GRL must be kept constant.

There are of course, many specialized types for unique products (various acids, gasses like CO2, etc.). Hope this helps to understand the majority of tank cars.

Cheers,
Peter.

[jtnrr]

Does anyone know what Union Carbide ships in their blue tank cars? I bought a Walthers 16,000 Gal Funnel Flow tancard and it is marked as being leased to Union Carbide.