International Railroad Discussion > Railfaning at Sabará tunnel - part 5 (Brazil)

Here it is the last train we saw that day at Sabará tunnel. We had the last light of the sunset and could watch the iron ore train M716 climbing the 2% grade in the direction of the tunnel.

1) A couple of Vale units leading the ore train that came from Azurita, MG;

2) A couple of VLI units pushing the train up hill;

3) The video.

That's all for today.

Pedro

Pedro Rezende
Vespasiano MG,

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Thank you Pedro,

If I am correct about this, why are your raw iron ore jennies always
loaded above the hopper sides? 

Are they not worried about wind blown air loss of iron ore? 

Myself I have only seen black american iron ore in hopper cars.  
 

Hi Leon,
They load as much as they can to reach the 100 gross tons for these GDE class ore gondolas. These cars were made to unload in car dumpers, that is faster than to unload them by the bottom as the hoppers do. The iron ore powder is also heavy,  but it receives some spray of starch along the way to prevent the dust.
leon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thank you Pedro,
>
> If I am correct about this, why are your raw iron
> ore jennies always
> loaded above the hopper sides? 
>
> Are they not worried about wind blown air loss of
> iron ore? 
>
> Myself I have only seen black american iron ore in
> hopper cars.  
>  

Pedro Rezende
Vespasiano MG,
https://youtube.com/c/minasgeraisrailways1

Hello and good morining Pedro,

I would imagine the humidity helps the starch stay in place much more easily? 

Do you know what type of starch they use Pedro?

We could certainly make use of a dense heated liquified starch solution spray on our coal trains to control coal dust. 
 

Yes, Leon
We use corn stach with water as a glue to prevent powder from thin iron ore, coal and limestone trains.
Here is a link to video showing Vale EFVM spray starch to a big ore train. Note that the last section of the train has a different kind of iron ore that do not need starch, so the spray is turned off.
https://youtu.be/xJg6k8GTubk
leon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hello and good morining Pedro,
>
> I would imagine the humidity helps the starch stay
> in place much more easily? 
>
> Do you know what type of starch they use Pedro?
>
> We could certainly make use of a dense heated
> liquified starch solution spray on our coal trains
> to control coal dust. 
>  

Pedro Rezende
Vespasiano MG,
https://youtube.com/c/minasgeraisrailways1

Thank you Pedro,

The video showing the flood nozzles working for dust control  at the Vale rail line was very interesting to watch.
Can I assume that the spray system is activated by the sensor boxes mounted on the signal frames?

The DPU locomotives on your ore trains must get very sticky during the dry periods if they make more than one 
trip a day between the loadout and the rotary dumper. 

Forgive me if I am asking this again but the is the white ore clay coated iron or pellets for export or finely ground
limestone for cement making??

Leon

Hi Leon,
The ore is called sinter feed. It is a very thin powder and has a blue color. It's beautifull to see the train shining under the sun light. When the passenger train had the old window we could open, our face get that blue color in the end of the trip.
The Vale spray is actived sensors on the tracks and also from the control room we see in the background in the video.
MRS rr has the most modern spray here, with three units on mainline, with other two under construction. These video here shows two of them. 
https://youtu.be/q2ZGXl2p_J8

https://youtu.be/oOkNS-Wfgo4


leon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thank you Pedro,
>
> The video showing the flood nozzles working for
> dust control  at the Vale rail line was very
> interesting to watch.
> Can I assume that the spray system is activated by
> the sensor boxes mounted on the signal frames?
>
> The DPU locomotives on your ore trains must get
> very sticky during the dry periods if they make
> more than one 
> trip a day between the loadout and the rotary
> dumper. 
>
> Forgive me if I am asking this again but the is
> the white ore clay coated iron or pellets for
> export or finely ground
> limestone for cement making??
>
> Leon

Pedro Rezende
Vespasiano MG,
https://youtube.com/c/minasgeraisrailways1



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/18/23 18:43 by pedrop.

Thanks for another NICE video Pedro.

Larry