I have found many pictures of piping, hoses, and valves that are used to remove crude oil from the bottom of tank cars. That seems to be fairly easy to model.
What I have not found is how many cars are unloaded at once. Put another way, how long is the unloading area? These unit trains can be very long - I doubt they do all the cars at once.
Rick
As I recall, one of the original operations of the GATX Tank Train, in the early 1980s, ran as a set of 72 cars that was switched out into 12-car sets in 6 parallel tracks (a bit like the way CP Expressway sped up loading and unloading). The GATX cars were connected internally with a (fairly-large ID) inverted-siphon arrangement, and the contents (at about 140F) were pushed out to a single point per 12-car set with pressurized nitrogen gas, which doubled as blanketing and vapor control.
Thanks, but I was thinking more along the lines of the Trinity cars that could be in a unit train of 100 or more cars. I was under the impression that they were independent and were emptied (and filled) individually. Can a string those be done from one end?
No they have to be unloaded individually. If you know where they are unloaded, look at Google maps satellite view and see how long the unloading racks are.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
Half a century ago I was responsible for a #6 oil system at a steel mill that consisted of 32 soaking pits and 4 slab furnaces. There were two 1,000,000 gallon tanks and one 5,000,000 gallon tank. I have seen those tanks drained and the only thing keeping them running was a plethora of tank trucks and I mean hundreds loading from barges on the Ohio river and running around the clock. a truck would pull in hook up a 12" hose and dump oil into a pit connected to an 8' pipe that went to the pump house. I suspect that a similar system coud be used with tank cars with pits between the rails. One 10 degree below night I finaly got home and my wife took one look and made me strip in the garage. I was so cold it didn't matter. I despise #6 fuel oil to this day.
Here is another question related to loading and unloading oil products from tank cars - whose job is it? Is it the train crew or employees of the facility?
I suspect it is the employees of the facillity. The reason I ask is that I need to figure out the orientation of a loading platform. Should the stairs be positioned on the side that makes it easier for the train crew or the employees of the refinery? While this may seem like a simple issue, setting the stairs facing the refinery makes the pipe runs much more difficult.
Train crews don't have anything to do with what's in the cars OTHER than LCL or company material. Train crews don't unload any cars.
Would not the stairs go up on the end of the platform?
dehusmanTrain crews don't unload any cars.
Not on purpose, anyway...
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.
True for the big roads. But When we handed off oil trains, the contractor (I think) did both the moving/positioning of the train and the unloading. So they did both.
As has been suggested, the unit trains are broken down into cuts. It could use a two track spur/siding with unloading piping between the tracks for halving the cut. Or doubling the unloading for a given space.
- Douglas
ndbprr I despise #6 fuel oil to this day.
I despise #32 Anti-wear Hydraulic Oil to this day, for much the same reason.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
I have a photo of a tank car loading operation although I don't recall the details of its location or date.
Tank Loading by Edmund, on Flickr
It may be of some use to modelers. Note the valve stems at ground level. This can be useful for modelers to indicate that there are storage tanks somewhere 'off site'.
You can download and print this sign to use at your facility:
Tank_Car_Blueflag by Edmund, on Flickr
Good Luck, Ed
gmpullman Tank Loading by Edmund, on Flickr It may be of some use to modelers. Note the valve stems at ground level. This can be useful for modelers to indicate that there are storage tanks somewhere 'off site'.
Should also answer the where are the steps located question.
It took me a while but I was finally able to take some pictures of what I am dealing with.
I built the Walthers Loading Platforms several years ago so that I had dimensions to lay out track. Originally I thought I would set it up with the steps on the end towards the top of the ladder and the piping end going into the refinery:
After I got the track laid and put some cars on it I realized that in the real world this would be very impracticle. There isn't a way to get to the steps without walking on the track, which is impossible if cars are on it.
I decided to turn it around and put the steps on the refinery side. That meant having the pipes go into the ground:
I don't like that idea either. Why would pipe be run underground when you could just go straight from tank to platform with the proper configuration?
I have come to the conclusion that I need to extend the platform and stairs enough to clear the pipes and have both on the same side facing the refinery.
Here is one place. I did not count but it looks like they have enough spots to unload all cars from at least 2 trains simetaneously.
https://www.google.com/maps/@30.0819914,-94.0844752,478m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu
"No soup for you!" - Yev Kassem (from Seinfeld)
Might I suggest Jeff Wilson's new book, "Modeling the Oil Industry?"
WP Lives
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hbgatsf It took me a while but I was finally able to take some pictures of what I am dealing with. I built the Walthers Loading Platforms several years ago so that I had dimensions to lay out track. Originally I thought I would set it up with the steps on the end towards the top of the ladder and the piping end going into the refinery: After I got the track laid and put some cars on it I realized that in the real world this would be very impracticle. There isn't a way to get to the steps without walking on the track, which is impossible if cars are on it. I decided to turn it around and put the steps on the refinery side. That meant having the pipes go into the ground: I don't like that idea either. Why would pipe be run underground when you could just go straight from tank to platform with the proper configuration? I have come to the conclusion that I need to extend the platform and stairs enough to clear the pipes and have both on the same side facing the refinery.
Since this thread was resurected I guess I should give an update. The scene is still not finished but I did fabricate an extension to the walkway to extend over the piping and then added new stairs.
As for unloading I am laying pipe with valves and hoses along a section of track that will be able to handle about 8 cars. The start of that project can be seen in the picture if you look hard.