However, most road salt is comes by rail. It certainly does
here in Philadelphia.
The local co-gen used to haul out truckloads of by-product to area farmers, who spread it in their fields.
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...
CMStPnP I actually thought before that all blew up in the press that asphalt firms desired coal cinders and ash for mixing into asphalt but I might be mistaken there.
Fly ash is a well-established 'mineral filler' for asphalt mixtures. (Of course, pig poop is also being touted as a material to replace some or all the binder in asphalt, so perhaps progress in adaptive re-use in this field is not always quite forward...)
SD70M-2Dude aegrotatio A native Pennsylvanian told me they use cinders on the roads when coal mining operations are in the vicinity. Interesting, I thought coal cinders/ash are classified as hazardous waste now. Just ask the operators of the S.S. Badger.
aegrotatio A native Pennsylvanian told me they use cinders on the roads when coal mining operations are in the vicinity.
A native Pennsylvanian told me they use cinders on the roads when coal mining operations are in the vicinity.
Interesting, I thought coal cinders/ash are classified as hazardous waste now. Just ask the operators of the S.S. Badger.
I think there is a difference between ash from stoker firing and bottom ash from pulverized-coal plants (which appears to be the likeliest material cities would use for road grit). Believe it or not, there is an official organization that covers this (the American Coal Ash Association Educational Foundation, in Michigan) and you can go to http://www.coalashfacts.org/ for more propaganda information. (Or you can join me at the World of Coal Ash convention in Lexington, second week in May...)
I actually thought before that all blew up in the press that asphalt firms desired coal cinders and ash for mixing into asphalt but I might be mistaken there.
I don't know about asphalt, but the ash can be used in making cement. The coal-fired power plants in my area sell their ash, and most if not all is shipped out by rail in covered hoppers.
Greetings from Alberta
-an Articulate Malcontent
SD70M-2DudeInteresting, I thought coal cinders/ash are classified as hazardous waste now. Just ask the operators of the S.S. Badger.
I think that has something to do with the Great Lakes Treaty because they were dumping the ash and cinders in the lake instead of docking and removing them. So whenever you dump in the environment, people start to get extreme with their descriptions.
Many years ago before I was born the town used tailings left over from burning coal to put on the roads in the winter. But they were jagged enough to puncture bicycle tires so they stopped using them.
Modeling the "Fargo Area Rapid Transit" in O scale 3 rail.
In Denver, loose sand and fines are cheap. Frac sand, rip-rap and aggregate generally come from 100+ miles out. Some aggregate does come out of the mountains, but it is a long way from any active rail line.
Road salt, on the other hand, does travel by rail.
As Balt points out, most sand used on the roads comes from local borrow pits.
One city near here used to use crushed limestone instead. Worked good, but the salt and limestone together bonded very nicely and they had to physically scrape it off the streets in the spring...
CMStPnPIt's kind of interesting to me that the rails have landed the sand for transport for fracking but have not attempted to win or have not won in large part the sand for transport for roads in the winter that many public works departments apply. Thats all trucked in? Or am I just missing where the rail distribution center is?
I believe road sand can be just about any kind of sand and most of it is locally sourced.
Frac Sand is of a particular consistnacy and is not available where it it used thu it has to be transported to the using location - some times many, many miles and railroading fits the needs.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
It's kind of interesting to me that the rails have landed the sand for transport for fracking but have not attempted to win or have not won in large part the sand for transport for roads in the winter that many public works departments apply. Thats all trucked in? Or am I just missing where the rail distribution center is?
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