Was leaving Boone today about 1430 hrs and noticed a westbound unit train of UP bathgons that had covers similar to the ones used for steel gondolas. Does anyone know what kind of product is hauled with these units? Also in Des Moines at 1700 sitting at Hull Ave. were 2 wide-cab NS units pointing to the south. It was getting dark and all I saw were grain cars & autoracks. They're were not any UP locos in the consist. Lease units? I know NS has tracks from Albia to DSM but BNSF operates those trains and not usually on the Spine Line unless there's a detour involved.
Probably ore concentrate or somthing similarly obnoxious. They carry these commodities in covered cart because toherwise they blow out of the car and contamiate the Right-of-way. Many of these ores are now regulated as hazardous materials and so a cover is a cheap way to avoid a costly lawsuit down the line.
Thanks Cthippo. We learn something new everyday. I've been watching the UP here in IA for quite some time and had never seen such a setup and never read anything in the couple of publications that I read monthly. Thanks for the heads up.
