Eastern Railroad Discussion > Soybeans grease NS tracks

http://www.roanoke.com/roatimes/news/story147410.html

This is an interesting story from the Roanoke Times today.

Galen Wright
Lynchburg, VA
K4CnO

Wednesday, April 02, 2003

NS finds another use for soybeans

The railroad finds that using soybean grease to lubricate its tracks saves money and helps the environment.

By LOIS CALIRI
THE ROANOKE TIMES

All the new grease that bugs have been eating on Norfolk Southern\'s tracks amounts to a hill of beans - soybeans, that is.

NS is not complaining, mind you. It likes the idea of not having to clean up lots of leftover grease from petroleum-based oil.

"We had a big mess," said Robert Blank, director of research and tests at NS in Roanoke. Soybean grease, however, decomposes or is eaten by insects within weeks, unlike petroleum-based grease that takes a year to 18 months to decompose.

The soy-based products are less toxic than traditional products and are less likely to catch fire.

NS is the first large railroad to turn away from petroleum-based oil and begin lubricating its tracks with grease made from an oil extracted from soybeans. The lubricant reduces wear on rails and wheels when trains go around curves.

Soybean oil attaches itself to metal surfaces, providing more tenacity for lubrication. It\'s not easily washed off, so the grease made from soybeans can be carried five miles down the tracks, and the railroad uses less grease.

"In some ways the soybean grease is equal to, and superior to, aspects of the petroleum-based grease," said Don Cregger, manager of project engineering at NS in Roanoke.

Petroleum grease the railroad used in the summer would stiffen in cold weather and wouldn\'t pump, so a winter grease was needed. The soy grease is being developed for all-season use.

The new lubricant also helps NS grease its way toward savings worth tens of millions of dollars because soybean grease is expected to make the rail last longer. NS officials declined to specify potential savings because of competitive reasons.

Soybean lubricant is no more expensive than petroleum-based products, said Lou Honary, professor and director of the University of Northern Iowa\'s Ag-Based Industrial Lubricants Research Program.

Small railroads buy soy grease at the same price as petroleum grease, said Honary, while the larger railroads get hefty discounts.

More than 24 smaller railroads use soy grease at a cost of $1.90 to $2.50 a pound.

Extracting oil from the soybeans is a fairly simple process and the concept is at least 50 years old, but the oil was never formulated to meet railroad demands.

That changed when NS, Portec Rail Products and the University of Northern Iowa invested three years of research to develop a grease that met NS\' approval.

Portec Rail is the exclusive distributor of the soybean lubricant and seller of equipment that pumps it from holding tanks to the tracks.

Protein Technologies International, a subsidiary of DuPont, developed a genetically modified soybean that would produce an oil with stability for a variety of uses. The university then discovered that the oil could be used as an industrial lubricant.

Soybeans are crushed into an oil-and-meal substance. The oil is processed into grease and lubricants, and the meal is used as feed for animals. Oil from these soybeans is too rich for the animals\' digestive systems, Cregger said.

More than 3,000 lubricating pumps are strategically placed along NS tracks throughout its system, including the old Virginian line near 17th Street Southwest.

When a 120-car train passed there recently, every 16th wheel that passed over a magnetic sensor activated a pump, sending a thick, black grease to a wiping bar on the tracks. It happened so fast that it could barely be seen.

When the wheel passed over the bars, it wiped off the grease, which stayed on the wheel until it touched sides of rails in curves.

The grease is "gooey, slippery, like slightly melted butter," said Cregger. "The more durable the grease, the longer it lasts under the wheel."

The rail doesn\'t wear as much, saving the railroad money.

The grease, which will be used to coat the sides of the rails on curves in the track, marks the latest product to come from the University of Northern Iowa\'s research program.

SoyTrak, the product\'s brand name, is produced by Environmental Lubricants Manufacturing, an affiliate of the university\'s foundation program.

The university\'s research began in 1991 with the idea of using soybeans to make hydraulic fluid. When the research program started, its budget was $25,000. Last year, a federal grant increased its budget to $1.5 million.

University officials said soy grease provides a steady income for farmers, reducing their dependence on farm subsidies.

Five-gallon buckets of the black, gooey lubricant are being turned out by the thousands at Lanehaven Farms near Waterloo, Iowa, according to the Iowa Farm Bureau. By selling grease and feeding the leftover soybean meal to Lanehaven\'s 26,000 hogs, the owners hope to add 30 to 50 cents to the value of a bushel of soybeans.

About 3.1 billion gallons of soybean oil produced in the United States is half of the 6.2 billion gallons produced worldwide, Honary said.

But a surplus of soybeans depressed prices and the federal government barred farmers from growing soybeans on much of their land. That\'s why the university wanted to expand the market for soybeans and other U.S. crops.

That potential market would provide a steady income for the farmers, reducing their dependence on government subsidies. Companies, including DuPont, contract with farmers to grow a specific type of soybean.

NS\' leadership was needed to make other railroads look at the soybean grease more seriously, Honary said.

Great Idea!

...and it reduces cholesterol and menopause symptoms in the train crews. harhar ;-))

Later...
Jollymon

Not to mention mid-life crisis in rr management..

Phil

Sounds like a great place to take pics of a curve with a soy sprayer in the warmer weather. Wonder if it attracts any wildlife besides insects?

3rdRail wrote:

> Sounds like a great place to take pics of a curve with a soy
> sprayer in the warmer weather. Wonder if it attracts any
> wildlife besides insects?
>
> [%sig%]


Wild and crazy railfans ;)

Will this replace KY-Jelly as the lube of choice for management too?

Tom H>

Well besides wild and crazy railfans who like insects and vermin, I was thinking of like flys on S***. Great place to film a train rounding a curve.

Well if anyone has ever worked on the railroad or around grain elevators they know about "soy sh*t" and how bad it smells.... Especially if your conductor steps in it on a hot humid evening and tracks in up in the cab.

I can only imagine how many creatures will be nailed by trains now, because they are attracted to the stench being let off by the greasers, I mean "soyers"...

I\'d rather see them use the beans to grease the tracks than eat (or drink) the nasty things - although the PETA freaks think otherwise.
Larry