EPIC mini-gon containers

[Anonymous]

Spotted a bunch of these double-stacked on spine cars on what was probably a CSX run through on BNSF. They were about half the height of a 20' container, had soft covered tops, black with 'EPIC' on the sides in large letters. What are these being used for? I'm guessing something pretty heavy considering the small size.

[jsoderq]

In the east they haul garbage, trash, and contaminated soil.

[youngengineer]

they also carry sewage for fertilizer, the cars give off a foul stench and one would not want to get around them and touch them as they are extremely dirty. We try to hand these cars off to the other switch crew, as they stink pretty bad.

[CShaveRR]

Those "spine" cars are specialized equipment for this type of container as well (if the containers were normal-sized, they'd be too tall for stacking on a spine car). They're two-unit articulated cars, with three trucks. I don't think they can handle more than six loaded containers before maxing out the weight--they could haul eight empties, though.

Fortunately, they "run through" here, and we don't have to handle them much.

[mudchicken]

A large number of those can be found at Grote & Amity Colorado (BNSF La Junta Sub)where those New Jersey dried sludge pellets are used as fertilizer in SE Colorado's wheat, milo, corn & vegetable (onion) crops. (and they occasionally blow the roof off of the storage bins at Amity in about once a year dust bin explosions)...They are unloaded with a standard MiJack Piggy Packer.

The siding at Grote, Colorado is Carlton/US-50 in Prowers County for those who use roadmaps to find the place. Amity is 4 miles west of Holly near the Colorado border.

[xx(][xx(][xx(]

(they look like little black bb's by the time they get out here)

[Anonymous]

I concur, they usually contain contaminated soil from a cleanup effort somewhere. (at least from my end of things).

[dldance]

I saw several cars of something that sounds similar to your description at a mine loader in Nevada yesterday so they must have additional uses beyond sludge, etc.

dd

[edblysard]

We get them down here a lot too...used for contaminated top soil removal, and clean up out at a few older refineries.

For the most part, the ones we get are pretty clean, tarped real well, and stickered all to heck and back with warning stickers about keeping the top tarp snug....

Four containers, stacked two high per car...

 

Ed