Western Railroad Discussion > Railroad Salvage Laws

Not sure the law but out on Interstate 80 in N Nevada when trucks spill their loads the locals sometimes get phone calls to come help salvage what spilled 

Not vehicles but all sorts of other stuff and it's under the watch of the local authorities. 

Seems the insurance signs off on it and says make the load disappear? 

What are the salvage laws for the railroads? Are the loads in railroad cars only salvaged by contractors?

Chuck

Years ago, residents along the Jersey shore down into the Carolinas would build false lighthouses to draw ships onto the rocks at night.

Excellent opportunities for freelance salvage companies.

Posted from Android

RailDawg Wrote:
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> Not sure the law but out on Interstate 80 in N
> Nevada when trucks spill their loads the locals
> sometimes get phone calls to come help salvage
> what spilled 
>
> Not vehicles but all sorts of other stuff and it's
> under the watch of the local authorities. 
>
> Seems the insurance signs off on it and says make
> the load disappear? 
>
> What are the salvage laws for the railroads? Are
> the loads in railroad cars only salvaged by
> contractors?
>
> Chuck

The only time govemenment authorities will remain at the sight of a highway accident (once whatever site investigations needed are completed) is if there is hazardous materials involved or for scene protection until the clean up is complete. I imagine it is the same for railroads. For example, many many years ago when I was a professional truck driver and was working for a bulk products transporter, we got a call one day to empty a covered hopper railcar that was involved in a derailment in Santa Ana. When we got there, there was no one around. The RR contractor had cleaned up everything except the one railcar was was derailed and leaning. They had throughly braced the car to prevent it from moving. We sucked out the plastic pellets from the hatches as the bottom was completely trashed. Once we were done, we notified our customer which was the buyer of the salvage material in the car. They then notified the railroad, the railroad notified the contractor, the contractor came out and moved the car aside and then scrapped it onsite. The railroad then showed up to fix the track.

Out of curiosity, was the car loaded at the (now gone) BASF polystyrene plant in Santa Ana or was it delivering plastic pellets to the area?

EricSP Wrote:
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> Out of curiosity, was the car loaded at the (now
> gone) BASF polystyrene plant in Santa Ana or was
> it delivering plastic pellets to the area?

It was on the curved track that goes between the SP Santa Ana branch and the ATSF main line and between Cerritos Ave and Lewis St. It was an SP train either going to or coming from Santa Ana. 

For some reason I remember Santa Ana on the paperwork but that area is all Anahaim. 

I don't remember if it was PS or MDPE or LDPE or LLDPE, but if it was PS then it had slip in it because PS without slip does not flow easy and from what I recall, we salvaged everything but a total of about 3,000 pounds between 4 compartments. Interestingly too, H Muelstien was the salvage buyer and we had just emptied a car at our yard between Walnut and Collins in Orange that was consigned to them so we blew it into that car in our yard.

I pulled plenty of loads out of both Mobil/BASF and the Dyer Storage tracks.

longliveSP Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> EricSP Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Out of curiosity, was the car loaded at the
> (now
> > gone) BASF polystyrene plant in Santa Ana or
> was
> > it delivering plastic pellets to the area?
>
> It was on the curved track that goes between the
> SP Santa Ana branch and the ATSF main line and
> between Cerritos Ave and Lewis St. It was an SP
> train either going to or coming from Santa Ana. 
>
> For some reason I remember Santa Ana on the
> paperwork but that area is all Anahaim. 
>
> I don't remember if it was PS or MDPE or LDPE or
> LLDPE, but if it was PS then it had slip in it
> because PS without slip does not flow easy and
> from what I recall, we salvaged everything but a
> total of about 3,000 pounds between 4
> compartments. Interestingly too, H Muelstien was
> the salvage buyer and we had just emptied a car at
> our yard between Walnut and Collins in Orange that
> was consigned to them so we blew it into that car
> in our yard.
>
> I pulled plenty of loads out of both Mobil/BASF
> and the Dyer Storage tracks.

Thanks

In the mid to late 1970's I worked for a railroad salvage contractor in Minnesota.
We had an open contract with the Soo Line, but did jobs for BN, C&NW and RI.
Who got loads depended on bids or on how the railroad's Claims Agent wanted
to handle it. Our Boss got concerned about the agent at C&NW, and we stopped
taking jobs from them. About six months later the Claims Agent and the Contractor
who replaced us were arrested and charged with defrauding the railroad. We 
handled every kind of product from Lumber to Grain to Potash to Canning Salt, 
and even a carload of Charmin. The worst job was three carloads of commercial
grade Molasses in -10 F weather.

Someone can fill in the details but with boats and shipping if a boat and/or it's cargo are saved from certain peril the rescuer is entitled to one-half of the value of the ship/cargo. 

That applies on the inland waterways too. 

Not sure if there is anything similar in railroading or trucking?

Chuck

Beer, alcohol of all types, tobacco products,are some of the ones that have special handling.   Because of the Federal tax involved they have to be handled in a certain manner to prove how they are taken care of because of the wreck.  You generally have to have a RR or local police to keep watch over the items until the people are done with the site. My dad worked for the local DOT and even a tractor trailer accident would have all kinds of people out there for that.   He told me of the time a few containers were broken open in a derailment and how many cops were there until everything was taken care of by the clean up crews and they even went with them to the land fill to make sure it was covered up in a timely manner.

RailDawg Wrote:
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> Not sure if there is anything similar in
> railroading or trucking?
>
> Chuck

Nothing at all like that with the railroads.
The Railroad buys the cargo and then
resells what it can. The only exceptions 
is Automobiles, by contract they must be
destroyed. Making more money since the
1970's when I worked in the industry, the
Railroads now just bury what ever they
can, they just can't be bothered. They
would bury everything if they could.

The carload of Charmin wasn’t down by Kansas City was it?

Regards

Posted from iPhone

Drknow Wrote:
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> The carload of Charmin wasn’t down by Kansas
> City was it?
>
> Regards

No, it was in Northtown Yd. in Fridley, MN. Me and
one other person unloaded the cases into a truck
many times and reloaded it into a different boxcar
It took nearly fourteen hours. It was in a 60ft Plate F
boxcar.

did it supply mgmt for it's needs for a few hours?