The Garbage Train

[Anonymous]

This forum did such a good job with my Orange Juice post/question that I'll ask about the 2nd most noteworthy train I see here in No. VA. That one is a train consisting of 15-30 container car loads of garbage, usually mixed with other freight. The containers come in various sizes and shapes, but the most common are four tall grey containers to a flatcar.

I've been told the garbage originates in NJ somewhere and is destined for a land fill in So. VA or the carolinas.

I take commuter rail over these same tracks and when a So.-bound train passes through the station on a warm day, it's not something you forget. Actually the No.-bound trains don't smell all that good either. Does anyone know exactly where the train originates and destinates? Can it be cost effective to ship garbage? I wonder if this one has ever been written up in Trains magazine.

[Anonymous]

When I lived in Richmond,I used to see a lot of those garbage trains roll through Acca yard.It's Yankee trash,and it might seem cost-ineffective,but when there are no alternatives,it becomes cost-effective.I think there is a landfill that accepts that crap somewhere between Richmond and Suffolk,Va,.. the cars traveling on the Ex-C&O.Also,NS used to haul waste through Richmond to a facility about 30 miles to the West of the city,but ceased handling the loads after the operator of the landfill(Waste Management or Browning-Ferris)withheld and delayed monies owed to NS.That was 2 years ago,and I do not the state of affairs today.

[Anonymous]

While I'm not sure about the origins of the tra***hat you are talking about, Trains magazine had an article in its June 1996 issue covering the tra***rain from Roanoke Va. to a site 33 miles west.

[rrock]

As far as the cost-effectiveness of garbage by train: Much of the garbage from the greater Seattle Washington area travels via train south to Vancouver WA, then east in the Columbia Gorge to Roosevelt WA (via BNSF) where it is trucked to a giant landfill.

Due to environmental regulations and extremely congested highways, no reasonable landfill sites are available near Seattle. Over-the-highway trucks would have to travel 100+ miles to any suitable landfill, which would have charged high tonnage rates. And, given the notorius congestion of freeways in the area, AVERAGE highway speeds at some peak periods were calculated to be less than 20MPH.

A large landfill at Roosevelt offered extremely low tonnage rates. Waste Management cut a deal with BNSF (garbage trains are about the lowest priority consist on the rails) and was able to offer a competitive and successful bid for rail transport of garbage.

Another side benefit is that net amount of "pollution" into the atmosphere emitted by locos (in this instance) was calculated to be less than a fleet of semis due to favorable horsepower/tonnage ratio of rail over semi.

[Anonymous]

Interesting - From these posts I gather that hauling garbage by rail is not an all exceptional. I heard an article on public radio that NYC ships virtually all their garbage to landfills in PA and VA. (perhaps that's the garbage I saw). An interesting commentary on today's society and today's railroading.