That little trail of corn about 2" high that runs down the middle of the tracks from eastern South Dakota grain elevators to Duluth or the Gulf of Mexico- who pays for that?
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
Depends!
Are freight rates being assessed on the Shippers weight agreement (where the shipper states the weight of commodity loaded), or on th Consignees weight agreement (where the consignee states the weight of the commodity unloaded), or if freight rates are being assesed on weights derived at carrier certified scales while the shipment is in route.
One of the 3 circumstances govern every shipment.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Murphy Siding That little trail of corn about 2" high that runs down the middle of the tracks from eastern South Dakota grain elevators to Duluth or the Gulf of Mexico- who pays for that?
Deer. They leave money for the train crews. LOL
Corny answer.
Norm
Oh, so that explains why trains always cost deer a few more bucks this time of year.
You guys have been reading Carl's postings haven't you!
She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw
Well, you know what they say- you can lead a horse to water, but that don't make it right.
Asked to use the word "horticulture" in a sentence, Dorothy Parker said (c.1925):
"You can lead a horticulture,
but you can't make her think."
Thanks for the vote of support, SJ!We all pay. If it makes a steady stream of corn along the tracks, it will (if it isn't all eaten--and animals won't go for the hard-to-get ones) foul the ballast, possibly take root, and require (eventually) weed control and ballast cleaning. And you can picture what happens to a stream of corn on the road, once the train stops in the yard. What's left from the piles might get killed once it germinates, but it will most likely rot before it gets the chance, assaulting the workers' noses, and everybody else's noses and clean floors if it isn't removed from one's boots. And that stuff is slippery, too, just like other things accidentally stepped into.I've seen it all, working on a railroad that hauled grain for its existence. Just thought I'd put a kernel of truth into the discussion (all of the good ones were taken, Ms. Cornhusker!).
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)
BaltACD Depends! Are freight rates being assessed on the Shippers weight agreement (where the shipper states the weight of commodity loaded), or on th Consignees weight agreement (where the consignee states the weight of the commodity unloaded), or if freight rates are being assesed on weights derived at carrier certified scales while the shipment is in route. One of the 3 circumstances govern every shipment.
O.K. one last corn poke~~~~~ you can lead a horse to water, but remember how a wet horse smells.
Y6bs evergreen in my mind
Murphy Siding In any of these scenerios, it appears that unless the railroad pokes a hole in the covered hopper, the rsponsibility for any missing grain is the responsibility of whoever didn't close the doors tightly enough?
Those that close the doors would argue the if the railraod didn't hump or kick cars at 165mph, then the doors wouldn't open.
It's been fun. But it isn't much fun anymore. Signing off for now.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any
I thought the speed limit for kicking cars was 143 mph?
Murphy Siding I thought the spped limit for kicking cars was 143 mph?
I thought the spped limit for kicking cars was 143 mph?
and require 88 gigawatts of power
Lots of cargoes are like that - coal off hopper cars, iron ore pellet leakage, TVs from containers, cars from auto-racks / multi-levels . . .
- Paul North.
NKP guy Oh, so that explains why trains always cost deer a few more bucks this time of year.
That's OK, they've got lots of doe.
ChuckCobleighThat's OK, they've got lots of doe.
I'll give you 10 points for that.
Paul_D_North_Jr Lots of cargoes are like that - coal off hopper cars, iron ore pellet leakage, TVs from containers, cars from auto-racks / multi-levels . . . - Paul North.
BaltACD Murphy Siding I thought the spped limit for kicking cars was 143 mph? and require 88 gigawatts of power
Is that why some other threads here that need the popcorn don't have it ???
What's the standard proceedure when a railroad notices that a grain car is leaving serious piles of birdfood in a yard or on a siding, etc.. ?
zugmann ChuckCobleigh That's OK, they've got lots of doe. I'll give you 10 points for that.
ChuckCobleigh That's OK, they've got lots of doe.
Murphy Siding What's the standard proceedure when a railroad notices that a grain car is leaving serious piles of birdfood in a yard or on a siding, etc.. ?
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edblysard Murphy Siding What's the standard proceedure when a railroad notices that a grain car is leaving serious piles of birdfood in a yard or on a siding, etc.. ? Everyone gets a box or trash bags....
Everyone gets a box or trash bags....
For us, the cheif dispatcher is called, then a contractor will come out and pick it up. If it isn't too much, he'll bring shovels and 5 gallon buckets. If it is a lot, he'll bring the vac truck with him. Car will then get sealed up for travel, and shop tagged if it needs more serious repairs after it is emptied.
Does the deer have any dough?
Yes, two bucks, nyuk,nyuk,nyuk.
CNW used to have its own "suck truck" to take care of various spills around Proviso. (A yard cleaner now does a better job and on a more consistent basis.) I don't think the grain could be reclaimed, so it was just taken to an area that was being filled in. I think it must have sufficiently settled before the north lot of Global 2 was built there.We had one private contractor, tangentially related to this...the guy who would come in and trap pigeons. There was plenty of spilled corn to use as bait. UP banned him, though, after he was observed working or driving in an unsafe manner in the hump bowl.I helped unload a grain car once. It was done in record time, of maybe a couple seconds. It was not appreciated. The corn wound up covering one of my retarders. The car wound up on the rip, for the doors to be re-hung (this was a box car).
And, speaking of automobiles, I may have mentioned the time that an auto rack car was being slowed in one of the group retarders, and the front-most vehicle on the top deck (a Ford station wagon, I think) took a flip and landed on its roof derectly in front of the rack!The poor CRO (it wasn't I, though I saw it): "Hey, I've got a car on the ground! No, nothing's on the ground, but there's a car on the ground! I mean..." He was kind of flustered. (He was a Carolina good-old boy...try saying that with a Gomer Pyle accent!). As you might have guessed, this was in the days before auto racks had solid sides and end doors. The wagon was flattened right down (up?) to the base of the windows.
Somebody check my math- If a train left a little, pyramid pile of corn 1" wide and one inch tall down the rail line, it would add up to about 18.33 cubic feet per mile of lost grain. Each bushel of corn is 1.244 cubic feet. A covered hopper carries 3200 bushels of corn (sort of- the internets aren't exactly sure. One source said 33,000). 3200 bushels is 3981 cubic feet. 3981 cubic feet in a covered hopper divided by 18.33 cubic feet of corn lost per miles equals 217 miles before the car is empty. Do grain cars ever show up at their destination empty?
Murphy Siding Somebody check my math- If a train left a little, pyramid pile of corn 1" wide and one inch tall down the rail line, it would add up to about 18.33 cubic feet per mile of lost grain. Each bushel of corn is 1.244 cubic feet. A covered hopper carries 3200 bushels of corn (sort of- the internets aren't exactly sure. One source said 33,000). 3200 bushels is 3981 cubic feet. 3981 cubic feet in a covered hopper divided by 18.33 cubic feet of corn lost per miles equals 217 miles before the car is empty.
Somebody check my math- If a train left a little, pyramid pile of corn 1" wide and one inch tall down the rail line, it would add up to about 18.33 cubic feet per mile of lost grain. Each bushel of corn is 1.244 cubic feet. A covered hopper carries 3200 bushels of corn (sort of- the internets aren't exactly sure. One source said 33,000). 3200 bushels is 3981 cubic feet. 3981 cubic feet in a covered hopper divided by 18.33 cubic feet of corn lost per miles equals 217 miles before the car is empty.
I think you might be computing the wrong thing. If a car is leaking grain, I think it is doing so regardless of its speed down the railroad or even if it is moving at all. Maybe the appropriate question is what is the quantity lost per unit of time. Using your data a car that leaked 1" by 1" by 1" of corn a second would be short 23.15 bu/min, or just about 2.3 hours to empty the car.
Of course, my example assumes a constant rate of leakage over the entire contents of the car which I doubt is representative of the real world. It also assumes no internal baffles to contain the leak.
By government decree a bushel of shelled corn weighs 56 lbs. I would have thought a modern grain hopper comes closer to weighing out than the example we are using here.
Caution: Math is not one of my strong suits.
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