I was in Morris MN and a loaded BNSF unit coal train was moving West instead of East all the cars had AEX markings. Anybody have any ideas where it was going?
A common sight at Deshler - different types of coal (not to mention coke).
Can't speak to what you saw, but the explanation may be similar.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
I don't know, but the most likely destination for a westward loaded coal train in Morris, Minnesota would be the sugar beet plant (Minnkota) in Wahpeton, ND. The next guess would be for the American Crystal sugar coal loop in Ardoch, ND.
Don't know where the train was loaded, but as a rule of thumb, it's cheaper to route trains loaded on the Orin Line in Wyoming via Lincoln, Sioux City, and Willmar (than via Glendive) when destined to the Upper Midwest.
--Mark Meyer
Looking up the reporting mark I get ..AEX THE ANDERSONS INC.[ANDERSON ELEVATOR CO.]
The Andersons has a car-leasing subsidiary with over 23,000 cars as of 2017 (59% covered hoppers and 14% tank cars). I'm sure there are knowledgeable people here that know about them.
There are models of AEX Coalveyors, and their makers might be a source of further information.
Are you sure it was coal in those cars?
The Andersons is a major leasing company with a wide variety of cars. Their former coal gons, be they steel or aluminum, are used for a wide variety of things, including scrap, ties, and other such stuff. Forgive me if there was coal in those cars, but I'm skeptical.
Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
There's a plant near the Twin Cities (Roseport?) that produces petroleum coke. We get a train load out of there that goes west once in a while. The cars were of the bathtub gon type and I think they may have had AEX markings.
Jeff
Wouldn't that be the Rosemount refinery, right on US 52?
Brian (IA) http://blhanel.rrpicturearchives.net.
blhanel Wouldn't that be the Rosemount refinery, right on US 52?
Yes, that's the one. I knew it had something to do with roses.
Again, while anything is possible, my money is still on a coal train for Wahpeton.
The Rosemount facility is on the UP. Historically, they have shipped petcoke all-rail to Midwest steel plants via Chicago, or to a ship at either Duluth/Superior or Thunder Bay (interchange to CN at Pokegama). Petcoke can go to export to Asia, too, but it is exceptionally unlikely UP would give the train to BNSF at St. Paul for the long haul to the west coast. And then, there are no port facilities in the Pacific Northwest, so it would have to go to Roberts Bank, BC. In which case UP would probably rather give the train to BNSF in Seattle, or give it to CP in St. Paul.
And the likelihood of it being a petcoke train from Rosemount is diminished further in that if UP DID give the train to BNSF at St. Paul, it wouldn't be routed via Morris, but rather would go via Staples. The Staples routing is preferred, not only for capacity, but also that access to a route via Morris would require using BNSF's Midway subdivision between St. Paul and Minneapolis and its 1.6 percent grade versus 1 percent on the St. Paul subdivision for a Staples routing.
Again, anything is anecdotally possible, but a train from Rosemount is one of the most unlikely scenarios out there. I don't know anything about the pricing of lease cars from The Andersons, but it makes sense that a lesser-known (relatively speaking) leasing company could be supplying cars for the Wahpeton-Minnkota train. These trains usually remain on property in Wahpeton anywhere from one to three weeks before departing empty to get another load, so whatever the operation, it's not totally based on the shortest possible cycle time.
And, BTW, "The Andersons" just got sold:
https://www.railwayage.com/financeleasing/aitx-acquires-the-andersons-inc-railcar-leasing-unit-for-0-55b-cash/
Vermontanan2 Again, while anything is possible, my money is still on a coal train for Wahpeton. The Rosemount facility is on the UP. Historically, they have shipped petcoke all-rail to Midwest steel plants via Chicago, or to a ship at either Duluth/Superior or Thunder Bay (interchange to CN at Pokegama). Petcoke can go to export to Asia, too, but it is exceptionally unlikely UP would give the train to BNSF at St. Paul for the long haul to the west coast. And then, there are no port facilities in the Pacific Northwest, so it would have to go to Roberts Bank, BC. In which case UP would probably rather give the train to BNSF in Seattle, or give it to CP in St. Paul. And the likelihood of it being a petcoke train from Rosemount is diminished further in that if UP DID give the train to BNSF at St. Paul, it wouldn't be routed via Morris, but rather would go via Staples. The Staples routing is preferred, not only for capacity, but also that access to a route via Morris would require using BNSF's Midway subdivision between St. Paul and Minneapolis and its 1.6 percent grade versus 1 percent on the St. Paul subdivision for a Staples routing. Again, anything is anecdotally possible, but a train from Rosemount is one of the most unlikely scenarios out there. I don't know anything about the pricing of lease cars from The Andersons, but it makes sense that a lesser-known (relatively speaking) leasing company could be supplying cars for the Wahpeton-Minnkota train. These trains usually remain on property in Wahpeton anywhere from one to three weeks before departing empty to get another load, so whatever the operation, it's not totally based on the shortest possible cycle time. And, BTW, "The Andersons" just got sold: https://www.railwayage.com/financeleasing/aitx-acquires-the-andersons-inc-railcar-leasing-unit-for-0-55b-cash/ --Mark Meyer
Mark you're right. These coal loads are for the Minn-Dak Sugar Beet Facility in Wahpeton. To everyone else. Here's the photos to prove it below. Click the link, then scroll down the photos in the sidebar on the left. You'll see two AEX bottom discharge hoppers loaded with coal.
https://www.google.com/maps/uv?pb=!1s0x52c948296e3d1649%3A0x3ddadd6635dfeff8!3m1!7e115!4shttps%3A%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipNxCZ0QMssFDXRCXEnhdJLEf_LpLqRe_H-bvehc%3Dw288-h240-k-no!5ssugar%20beet%20plant%20wahpeton%20nd%20-%20Google%20Search!15sCgIgAQ&imagekey=!1e10!2sAF1QipPzI3XJGjEOkHmXP8NVKEQUogGsCkkfhIu6hP_d&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjEmMvDhMjyAhUEbs0KHbvPBfAQoiowG3oECFwQAw
jeffhergert blhanel Wouldn't that be the Rosemount refinery, right on US 52? Yes, that's the one. I knew it had something to do with roses. Jeff
Actually, it is Roseport after all, at least to the railroad. I noticed today there's a train coming out of there heading for California sometime within the next day or so. When I looked at it this morning it only had two engines assigned to it, one CP and one CN, but no cars. Now it's showing cars assigned to it.
It was the first thing on the west pool line up this morning. (Shows how good our line ups are.) Now it's so far back it doesn't show on the line up. The line up shows expected jobs for the next 36 hours.
Weird, I brought up the area on Google Maps and found the refinery- large pile of black stuff on the west side with a string of loaded gons running through it, can't tell if they're being loaded or unloaded though. Spur ties into a fairly large railyard with lots more loaded gons, tanks, and covered hoppers. Refinery is identified as the Pine Bend Refinery, Koch Petroleum Group. Roseport, Inc. is "located" on the shoulder () of Courthouse Blvd. running southeast away from the refinery. Attempts to find out anything about Roseport don't get much, and indicate it's an ammonia wholesaler with two employees.
EDIT: Looked up the website for the refinery company-
Pine Bend Oil Refinery provides fuels that power the Midwest (pinebendrefinery.com)
Could the Morris train possibly contain petroleum coke for a power plant?
When I first posted this reply, I missed Vermontanan's post. He's got it right most likely.
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.