Eastern Railroad Discussion > Molasses by rail

One of the guests at a Christmas dinner I was at owns a
rail-to-truck transloading company, and when he found out
I was a railfan he asked if there's such a thing as
a heated tank car available to haul molasses.

Apparently the stuff needs to stay warm in order to be
unloaded at it's destination. I've checked sites such as
GATX.com and didn't note any specific info, at least
publicly.

Speaking of warm tank cars, shortly after hiring on with
CR I noticed a tank car lableled "molten sulphur" and
"hot"...I touched it with my gloved hand and it sure was
hot! I belive the molten sulphur is loaded hot and the
temp is not maintained by any mechanical or other means.

MidFan

Yes, molasses is shipped via insulated tank cars. Even some "corn syrup" tank cars are used to haul molasses...

I'd contact GATX's sales office.

We have at least one, possibly two terminals on CSX here in Toledo that ship and/or receive molasses in tank cars. I don't know if the cars are just insulated, or if they have actual heating coils in them -- or how such coils work.

I've seen various standard tank cars (NATX reporting marks, if I recall correctly) bringing in carloads of Molasses to the Purina plant in south Wilson, NC, on CSX. Some of the cars had stencils relating that they were "Leased to Florida Molasses." Perhaps a web search might help relate contact info, and then a dialogue could begin with that company.

Here's one website LINK; I hope it helps.

http://www.floridamolassesexchange.com/main.htm

EDSTANLEY Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > One of the guests at a Christmas dinner I was at
> owns a
> rail-to-truck transloading company, and when he
> found out
> I was a railfan he asked if there's such a thing
> as
> a heated tank car available to haul molasses.

Most bulk transfer facilities have steam connections available in the unloading area. The steam "ground lines" are hooked up to either end of a heater coil inlet and outlet pipe on the underside of the tank car. When the steam circulates through the heater coil, it brings the load up to a sufficient temperature where it can be transferred out of the car. Between loading and unloading, the tank does not have to be heated as the cold won't damage the product.

bioyans Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> EDSTANLEY Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > > One of the guests at a Christmas dinner
> I was at
> > owns a
> > rail-to-truck transloading company, and when
> he
> > found out
> > I was a railfan he asked if there's such a
> thing
> > as
> > a heated tank car available to haul
> molasses.
>
> Most bulk transfer facilities have steam
> connections available in the unloading area. The
> steam "ground lines" are hooked up to either end
> of a heater coil inlet and outlet pipe on the
> underside of the tank car. When the steam
> circulates through the heater coil, it brings the
> load up to a sufficient temperature where it can
> be transferred out of the car. Between loading
> and unloading, the tank does not have to be heated
> as the cold won't damage the product.


Bioyans has it right. I do not recall ever seeing a tank car with mechanical heating for application in route. But steam coils in a tank car are very common. In addition to a product like molasses, heavy oils like No.6 Fuel require heat to be fluid enough to pump from the rail car. These cars are usually well insulated also. The product must be heated for loading, so keeping the heat loss in route to a minimum means it will take less time to bring it back up to temperature for discharge.

XMOP

As a packaging manufacturer we used to get in carloads of sodium silicate, which we used as an adhesive.

In the summertime, unloading the cars was no problem, but during Minnesota winters the silicate would sometimes freeze, or at least become too stiff to flow. Some cars had steam coils as described, but other times we'd have to give the loaded cars back to the Soo Line and they'd take down and put them inside the heated Shoreham Roundhouse for a day or two, then quickly bring them up to our plant so we could empty them before they cooled off again.

Probably one of the reasons railroads don't like loose carload shipments!

When I worked on the Q, likewise we'd sometimes have to put tankcars into the Dayton's Bluff roundhouse, too, but I can't recall what the product was being shipped.

We have a trans-load teriminal in my yard and they get tank cars of Parrafin Wax. It takes them about 4-6 hours for the wax to melt from the time they hook up the steam lines to the tank cars, so we give them a night shift. If you look at a tank car, on the bottom you'll see 2 or 4 pipes hanging down with about a 2 1/2 - 3 inch diameter for hooking up the steam hoses. Usually when you pull these cars, the water pours out the first time you Jerk the car.

Dupont does the same thing with car loads of Glycol / Glycerine.

Thanks for all replies. The person who owns the rail-to-truck
operation has had a 95% positive experience with the class-1
railroad he deals with and is motivated to order more cars.

The most negative experience has been the difficulty in
getting access to Quik-Trak to locate cars, it's hard to
get it now due to security concerns.

MidFan

For those who have never read of it, it's worth searching out the great Boston molasses disaster - a huge, apparently poorly engineered molasses tank ruptured and in the resulting flood, 20 some people were killed. And it's particularly interesting when you read how long the post accident legal maneuverings went on.

http://edp.org/molasses.htm

Where does your friend want to ship Molasses by rail? I've got some friends out in PA/NJ/NY/MA/DE who'd be happy to help with this sort of business.

As others have noted, the normal shipping mode is to reheat the cars with steam on arrival. Done all the time for molasses, corn syrup, no 6 oil, asphalt, etc.

As for Quik Trak acess, if your friend becomes a regular shipper, he can apply for secure access from NS or CSX.