Canadian Railroads > TankTrain loads

An interesting move in the Montreal area (though one that usually passes at night) is CN 585 heading west with TankTrain loads (refined fuel) for the generating plant in Maitland, Ontario. I was lucky to catch a daylight version yesterday morning in Dorval, Qc, with two strings (34 cars total) and an interesting lashup. Leading is GP40-2L(W) CN 9531, with SD40-3 GTW 5951 trailing.

Michael Berry

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A few shots of the train and the tail end.

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Nice catch. I "think" 1203 is gasoline, wonder why the pressure type tanks?
JB

1203 is indeed gasoline or petrol or motor spirit or gasohol -- at least according to the US Dept. of Transportation's 2016 Ememrgency Response Guide (ERG).  Even though I am technically a retired firefighter, I still have the ERG as an app on my cellphone.

Bruce
Columbia MO

Interesting photos. The 'TankTrain' is unloaded using pressurized nitrogen. A group of cars are inter-connected with hoses so that during the loading/unloading external connections at the first car and then the last car of the group. The set used in California moves a low grade crude oil on a route that would be difficult to build a pipeline. The set in Canada appears to be delivering finished product to a consumer, on a large scale.

The train in Michael's photos delivers gasoline and diesel fuel to the Ultramar distribution centre in Maitland.  From there the fuels are trucked to service stations in eastern Ontario.  It does not involve a generating plant.

KG



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/12/17 15:38 by kgmontreal.

These trains travel east of Montreal too (I think the refinery is actually in Levis).  There are regular deliveries to Ultramar's bulk plant in Miramichi, NB (south side of the river, in the former town of Chatham).  Here's a RAM of diesel or heating fuel (placard 1202) entering the siding at Birch Ridge on the Newcastle Sub, for a meet with the eastbound Ocean in 2012.  The tankers operate in interconnected 17-car cuts (a RAM), although they appear to have conventional couplers rather than drawbars between cars.  I assume that there is only one type of fuel in a RAM, so Ultramar must get alternating deliveries of gasoline and diesel/fuel oil.

​GTD



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/12/17 13:18 by cn6218.

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The Valero (originally Ultramar) refinery is in St Romuald, adjacent to Levis.  Compared to the refineries in Montreal East it's a relatively recent arrival on the scene.  It was built in 1971 and produces very high quality unleaded gasoline along with diesel fuel, home heating oil and jet fuel.  Ultramar used Tank-Trains to distribute the gasoline and diesel fuel to the Montreal market until it opened a pipeline in 2012.  Since then "Ultra-Trains"  have operated from St Romuald east to Miramichi and west to Maitland (Brockville).

The Maitland trains vary in length but are usually 34 or 51 cars.  Most often there is one 17 car set carrying gasoline and two sets carrying diesel.  But this can vary as dictated by need.  The diesel fuel is placarded 1202 and the gasoline 1203.

KG

kgmontreal Wrote:
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> The train in Michael's photos delivers gasoline
> and diesel fuel to the Ultramar distribution
> centre in Maitland.  From there the fuels are
> trucked to service stations in eastern Ontario.
>  It does not involve a generating plant.
>
> KG

Oops, thanks for the important correction.

Michael

cn6218 Wrote:
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> These trains travel east of Montreal too (I think
> the refinery is actually in Levis).  There are
> regular deliveries to Ultramar's bulk plant in
> Miramichi, NB (south side of the river, in the
> former town of Chatham).  Here's a RAM of diesel
> or heating fuel (placard 1202) entering the siding
> at Birch Ridge on the Newcastle Sub, for a meet
> with the eastbound Ocean in 2012.  The tankers
> operate in interconnected 17-car cuts (a RAM),
> although they appear to have conventional couplers
> rather than drawbars between cars.  I assume that
> there is only one type of fuel in a RAM, so
> Ultramar must get alternating deliveries of
> gasoline and diesel/fuel oil.
>
> ​GTD

TankTrain cars have conventional shelf couplers on all cars. There is a semi-permanent hose connection between the cars for loading/unloading.

If the train was carrying fuel to the power plant it would most likely be "Bunker C " which is  a thick refined product like molasses.It would have to be still "warm " to flow. A lot of ships use this product to burn in there engines because it's cheap compared to diesel fuel. It has to be warmed to be used most likely with steam. Thank god my ship never burnt that crap!