Western Railroad Discussion > Halliburton Cement Cars

I took this photo of Halliburton cement car #107 in a BNSF westbound freight in Escalon, CA on 5/28/2017. It's the first one that I have seen in a couple of years. Researching on TO, I found that there was originally 150 of these cars, and four years ago they were saying that they had reached their 40-year life span and would all soon be out of service. Well, at least one of them is still on the road! How many others are still out there?

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It must have an AAR Rule 88 rebuild to eliminate the 40 year restriction. There is still a 50 year limit unless they get permission from the FRA.

I have not seen any of these in a long time, not even at the Halliburton facility in Bakersfield. Do you know if it was on a MRVWC, MWCRV, MRVFR, or MFRRV?

Just saw one exactly like this three days ago in Seattle on Harbor Island.

Posted from iPhone

Wow! I didn't know they still existed. Good catch!

Posted from Android

Still a few of them here in Alaska.

I have been gone from Halliburton now for 8 years and my contact in the traffic department retired so I no longer have information on these. However, with the current mis management in the company I would guess these are dwindling rapidly and many still serve Alaska needs with very few running in the lower states.

EricSP Wrote:
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> It must have an AAR Rule 88 rebuild to eliminate
> the 40 year restriction. There is still a 50 year
> limit unless they get permission from the FRA.
>
> I have not seen any of these in a long time, not
> even at the Halliburton facility in Bakersfield.
> Do you know if it was on a MRVWC, MWCRV, MRVFR, or
> MFRRV?

This was on a BNSF Highline train! Either a HBARVAW or HBAKPAS.

dcfbalcoS1 Wrote:
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> I have been gone from Halliburton now for 8 years
> and my contact in the traffic department retired
> so I no longer have information on these. However,
> with the current mis management in the company I
> would guess these are dwindling rapidly and many
> still serve Alaska needs with very few running in
> the lower states.

Harold,
The last time I saw these cars was at Hugoton, KS with you back in 1992.

I saw one a few weeks ago on a BNSF Gateway Sub (Highline) northbound.

TJY

UMLER shows 15 cars left in the series. Used to see these cars at a Halliburton facility outside of Bakersfield.

Not cement but bentonite for oil well drilling mud. This is slippery when wet to lubricate the drill pipe and expands to fill cracks around the hole.

They also hauled fly ash from power plants, to be mixed
in with the other substances they used in the drilling.

Lehigh Cement (Mountain Gate CA) would on occasion get loads of fly ash in those cars and send
them back empty! You'd think a cement plant could convince someone to let them load the cars with
cement.

Out

Valleyman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> EricSP Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > It must have an AAR Rule 88 rebuild to
> eliminate
> > the 40 year restriction. There is still a 50
> year
> > limit unless they get permission from the FRA.
> >
> > I have not seen any of these in a long time,
> not
> > even at the Halliburton facility in
> Bakersfield.
> > Do you know if it was on a MRVWC, MWCRV, MRVFR,
> or
> > MFRRV?
>
> This was on a BNSF Highline train! Either a
> HBARVAW or HBAKPAS.

Thanks. For some reason I thought you saw it in Lodi.

Some flat cars are eligible for a 60 year life now. Thats basically a modified flat car.

Posted from Android

While in Alaska last year, saw about 6-7 of them in the Anchorage yard parked on a siding.

> Not cement but bentonite for oil well drilling mud.

These could be used for whatever was needed at the destination at the time. When these cars were common around here, we would see many of them loaded at Ashgrove Cement's Montana City plant.
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