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Liquid asphalt?

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Posted by Murphy Siding on Thursday, May 20, 2021 8:06 AM

SD60MAC9500
 
 
Murphy Siding

Is liquid asphalt by train really a thing?

 

Sure is and has been for decades. SD70Dude pointed out its viscosity. It has to be heated around 250-300F to liquify. 

 
 

I don't want to sound like euclid here, splitting hairs and dissecting semantics,Stick out tongue but... if you have to heat it up a bit to get it to flow out of the car, it's not liquid asphalt. It's just asphalt.

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Posted by SD60MAC9500 on Wednesday, May 19, 2021 9:51 PM
 

Murphy Siding

Is liquid asphalt by train really a thing?

Sure is and has been for decades. SD70Dude pointed out its viscosity. It has to be heated around 250-300F to liquify. 

 
Rahhhhhhhhh!!!!
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Posted by jeffhergert on Wednesday, May 19, 2021 8:36 PM

SD70Dude

Liquid asphalt is about the consistency of tar, thicker than heavy fuel oil.  Fairly difficult to ignite compared to lighter fuel oils, but obviously not impossible. 

In Canada it is not placarded as a dangerous good.  

 

It's placarded "hot" but there are no placement restrictions on it, loaded or empty.  

There's a receiver at Tama IA that gets it.  They attach steam lines to heat it up to empty the tank cars.

Jeff

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Posted by SD70Dude on Wednesday, May 19, 2021 5:44 PM

Murphy Siding
SD70Dude

Liquid asphalt is about the consistency of tar, thicker than heavy fuel oil.  Fairly difficult to ignite compared to lighter fuel oils, but obviously not impossible. 

In Canada it is not placarded as a dangerous good.  

Is it thin enough that it flows out of the tanl car when someone turns the spigot?

I've never tried, but I suspect not at room temperature.  

Lots of tank cars have steam coils to heat and thin the product before attempting to unload it.  Glue, sulphur and corn syrup also come to mind, and I'm sure there are many, many more.

Greetings from Alberta

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Posted by ORNHOO on Wednesday, May 19, 2021 4:39 PM

tree68
SD70Dude Liquid asphalt is about the consistency of tar, thicker than heavy fuel oil.  If I remember correctly, we were discussing heating coils in cars not long ago.  

There is a tank farm just across the track (the one Amtrak 27/28 uses) from the Amtrak station in Vancouver, WA. Whenever I have visited the station, about half of the time there is a tank car on the stub track with a steam hose attached and hissing away to get the asphalt out of the car.

 

 

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Posted by Murphy Siding on Wednesday, May 19, 2021 4:26 PM

SD70Dude

Liquid asphalt is about the consistency of tar, thicker than heavy fuel oil.  Fairly difficult to ignite compared to lighter fuel oils, but obviously not impossible. 

In Canada it is not placarded as a dangerous good.  

 

Is it thin enough that it flows out of the tanl car when someone turns the spigot?

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Posted by tree68 on Wednesday, May 19, 2021 4:09 PM

SD70Dude
Liquid asphalt is about the consistency of tar, thicker than heavy fuel oil. 

If I remember correctly, we were discussing heating coils in cars not long ago.  

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Posted by SD70Dude on Wednesday, May 19, 2021 4:07 PM

Liquid asphalt is about the consistency of tar, thicker than heavy fuel oil.  Fairly difficult to ignite compared to lighter fuel oils, but obviously not impossible. 

In Canada it is not placarded as a dangerous good.  

Greetings from Alberta

-an Articulate Malcontent

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Posted by BaltACD on Wednesday, May 19, 2021 4:05 PM

Murphy Siding
     Side note: a goofball I work with heard about it over lunch on Monday. He went outside expecting to see a big plume of smoke in the eastern sky, 60 miles away. He just wouldn't accept the concept of curvature of the earth.

And I guess he votes to?

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Posted by tree68 on Wednesday, May 19, 2021 4:05 PM

Murphy Siding
Is liquid asphalt by train really a thing?

Absolutely.  There's a large facility near Cortland, NY that's served by the Susquehanna.  Much of the asphalt used in central NY probably comes through there.  It's here:  N 42 35' 29" W 76 9' 9"

LarryWhistling
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Liquid asphalt?
Posted by Murphy Siding on Wednesday, May 19, 2021 3:07 PM

     UP derailed a train about an hour east of me in Sibley, Iowa on Sunday. The news said that a car full of liquid asphalt had caught fire, causing some evacuations. It's reported that they firemen were letting all the liquid asphalt burn itself out. That was causing a huge plume of black smoke. Is liquid asphalt by train really a thing?

     Side note: a goofball I work with heard about it over lunch on Monday. He went outside expecting to see a big plume of smoke in the eastern sky, 60 miles away. He just wouldn't accept the concept of curvature of the earth.

Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.

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