Western Railroad Discussion > Whats the commodity? Help needed

All These have been appearing in increasing numbers recently at West Colton destined for Searles they go out on LOP91 the Mojave Flyer Can anyone help by looking up the commodity carried . Looks like dredged or prepared gravel?
Thank you
Andy

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Looks like gravel to me
Then again
I may be wrong.

Posted from Android

Cinnamon sugar for the toast.

Whatever it is, I saw several of those cars up on the Trona at Oxy on my last visit. They have a trans loading operation of some kind there, again, not sure of the commodity.

Cheers,

Zachary
http://www.z-trains.com

Can someone do a car trace to see where the origin is?

Maybe Decomposed Granite

Trace says a load of gravel from Dudley, AL to Trona, CA. Must be some pretty special gravel to ship that far.

ble692 Wrote:
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> Trace says a load of gravel from Dudley, AL to
> Trona, CA. Must be some pretty special gravel to
> ship that far.

​Maybe. Looks like river gravel - small rounded pebbles used for paths and other landscaping purposes. Alabama is a long way from California. You would think that there was a closer source.

That might explain the cost of some of those "specialty"  rocks for landscaping.  The "black ice" granite stone I use on my walkways is a $140 a cubic yard with me picking it up at the supplier. That's why there is only a thin layer on top of river rock that sells for about $17.00 a ton



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/29/16 17:19 by junctiontower.

But, but, but, what the heck is it? If indeed it's loaded out toward Trona there isn't a whole lot of
stuff with that color in one place. It almost looks like the screenings off desert topsoil, or at least
the layer immediately on top of the ground. It's only 126 deg F out there, somebody run out there
and wander around until they come up with a good answer (Professional smartass, do not try this
at home),

Out

I suspect it's what the earlier posts indicate: some sort of specialty landscaping rock.

I was stunned to see a cut of 20 loaded "Southern" stone hoppers head out on a westbound UP freight in Las Vegas last month, hauling some sort of gravel similar (if not identical) to this. Figured it was some sort of specialty aggregate not available in the Pacific Time Zone, but didn't bother to try to have it traced.
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/29/16 13:45 by toledopatch.

mopac1978 Wrote:
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> Cinnamon sugar for the toast.
Smart Ass

ble692 Wrote:
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> Trace says a load of gravel from Dudley, AL to
> Trona, CA. Must be some pretty special gravel to
> ship that far.
Thank you

toledopatch Wrote:
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> I suspect it's what the earlier posts indicate:
> some sort of specialty landscaping rock.
>
> I was stunned to see a cut of 20 loaded "Southern"
> stone hoppers head out on a westbound UP freight
> in Las Vegas last month, hauling some sort of gray
> gravel. Figured it was some sort of specialty
> aggregate not available in the Pacific Time Zone,
> but didn't bother to try to have it traced.
>  

They seem to be either routed via Texas or North Platte

Is it fracking sand? I saw a train of it on the Dunsmuir Cam a while ago.
 

wjpyper Wrote:
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> Is it fracking sand? I saw a train of it on the
> Dunsmuir Cam a while ago.

Probably not.  Frac sand is almost always hauled in covered 2-bays to keep it from blowing out, getting contaminated, freezing in the car (in the winter - doubt that's an issue in Trona right now), etc.

Guessing like others have said, it's some sort of specialty landscape gravel.   As an example, the SLRG here in Colorado used to pick up open hoppers of volcanic rock here in Colorado and ship them all over the place as landscaping material.  I'd often see the same cars in Antonito and at the landscape supply yard on IAIS's Milan Branch back in Illinois.  When aesthetics rather than material properties are important, they'll haul the crap a long way and charge accordingly.

Landscape gravel would seem to make sense, but not headed to Trona.   Maybe they use smooth gravel pebbles in their processes? 

Being that there are 3 (at least) cars of this stuff headed to Trona, I highly doubt it is for landscaping. Could it be some kind of special ballast?

It is not landscape or ballast rock. It is a special type/grade of gravel for a project on a nearby military base.

Posted from iPhone

MarsLight Wrote:
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> It is not landscape or ballast rock. It is a
> special type/grade of gravel for a project on a
> nearby military base.

Thanks for clearing that up.

​Frequently river pebbles are used in concrete to give texture say to a paved walkway or drive. It would be intresting to know how this material will be used.