Western Railroad Discussion > From Wyoming Coal to San Francisco Dirt

The contaminated dirt transload operation at San Francisco's Pier 96 has just received
an upgrade in terms of the freight equipment in use.  100 former coal service aluminum
rotary gondolas from the series ITFX 533401-533640 have entered the pool made up mostly
of older steel hoppers.

Built for BN Powder River Basin coal service(same numbers) by Bethlehem Steel in 1990
and currently owned by Infinity Transportation they serve as another example of equipment
repurposed to haul other commodities.  There are about 350 cars in the dirt pool so they
still represent less than a third of the fleet in use.

Today's UP YSF70 job with the UP9986-1433-532 for power is seen climbing up to Caltrain 
main one with a short train of dirt loads with several of the "new" ITFX cars in the consist.
The complete unit dirt trains (both loads and empties) between South San Francisco and
Columbia Jct., UT now appear to have been discontinued with this traffic now moving entirely
on locals and manifests.

In related news there will shortly be a change in the rail operator at Pier 96.  In an April 30
filing with the STB Waste Solutions Group's San Francisco Bay Railroad will transfer its lease
on the trackage owned by the San Francisco Port Commission(the lease runs until 2034) to Republic
Services, Inc. who will run the operation as the San Francisco Bay Railway.  From the STB:

https://www.stb.gov/filings/all.nsf/ba7f93537688b8e5852573210004b318/62322f79e471d6af852583ec0057a935?OpenDocument



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/14/19 16:30 by milepost20.

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ITFX 533434 and 533592 are seen at South San Francisco.  With a tare weight of just 44,000 lbs.
and a load limit of 242,000 these cars can carry a few extra tons per carload than the older hoppers
now in use.  The old BN logo has been green patched out but traces can still be seen on a few cars.
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/14/19 16:31 by milepost20.

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Do they have a rotary dumper at the hazardous waste dump?

If service ever reversed, the hoppers will need to be scoured clean; carbon consumers don't like any contaminants in their fuel,as I learned when disposing of pet coke for an independent refiner in SoCal a few years ago.

Steve Donaldson
Pacific Grove, CA



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/17/19 07:29 by SteveD.

PHall Wrote:
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> Do they have a rotary dumper at the hazardous
> waste dump?

Yes. Scroll down to "handling systems" at the following site:

https://www.wbrinc.com/ecdc/

To give an example of the transit times involving this type of carload traffic the ITFX 533587 left
Pier 96 at 11:00 on 5/14 and is estimated to arrive at Columbia Jct., UT at 14:45 on 5/21.  Just
over 7 days for a 900+ mile haul.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/15/19 10:57 by milepost20.

Republic Services appears to another waste management company. I wonder what's going on here. Can't find any connection between Waste Solutions Group and Republic Services. 

Maybe WSG is being sold to Republic Services??? Republic Services looking to start a garbage train LOL...?