I was chatting last night with a gentleman who used to be a conductor and brakeman on the CB&Q / CRI&P joint line between Dallas-Ft, Worth and Galveston. He spoke of moving short "candystriped" tank cars containing anti-knock compound from the chemical plants in Galveston and Texas City. He said that when these cars were moved the DOT and FRA always came out to observe because of the incrediable toxicity of the product. An hour of work on Google and I was able to come up with this site describing a candystriped car for hauling Hydrogen Cyanide, but not a refrence to short cars. United States Fire Academy tank car page So my question is, does anyone have pics pics of these cars? I'd reallu like to see them./ THanks, CHris
My guess is that the tank cars carried tetraethyl lead, the anti-knock compound added to gasoline for decades before it was declared toxic to the population because of the pollution in the air. Of course, this compound has gone the way of asbestos and other dinosaurs. They were effective but also dangerous. Ed
Unfortunately, the replacement for lead additives in gasoline, MTBE, (Methyl Tertiary-Butyl Ether), is at least as bad, if not far more deadly....... So how is MTBE safely transported? I'm sure that rail tankers are part of the process? Is there a list somewhere that would give the placard numbering for this substance? Hey- cthippo- Aren't you a fireman? Maybe you could find out? Boxcab E50 [ 15. April 2003, 06:51: Message edited by: BoxcabE50 ]
The DOT number for "Motor Fuel Anti-knock compound" is 1649, Guide number 131 in the North American Emergency Response Guidebook, 2000 edition. There is no listing for MTBE or Methyl Tertiary-Butyl Ether, so I'm assuming they're grouping it together. The NAERG lists this substance as a flamable liquid - toxic, and gives the normal, generalized advice for dealing with spill or fire.
cthippo- Just curious- A bit off topic, but how would you handle a spill if a rail car was leaking into a stream? MTBE is absorbed into water. (Soluble?) How could that possibly be "cleaned up?" Seems like a horrendous mess to contemplate! Boxcab E50
Well, it depends on a lot of factors. First off would be the size and flow rate of the leak. If it's just a small leak we might be able to do somthing as simple as put a bucket under it. Another option would to build an earthen dam ahead of the spilled material and let it absorb into the ground. Once the spill is contained the contaminated soil would have to be removed, but that's preferable to getting it in the water. Assuming we couldn't prevent entry into the stream, we might try damming the stream if it was small enough. The retained water could then be pumped into trucks for later disposal. As part of such a program it would be advisable to dam or divert the water upstream from the spill to reduce the amount of contaminated water requiring disposal. Finally, if it's a large leak into a lage stream or river, all you can do is notify public health authorities and monitor the contamination plume. Because MTBE is highly soulable in water the actual downstream concentration would be fairly low and the natural current would carry it away fairly quickly. All these decisions would need to be made by the Incident Commander based on the actual situation and in consultation with local, state and fedral representitives. Hope this helps.
the only thing transported in candystripers is hydrocyanic acid, that is what is placarded on those cars along with stencilled name and un number. i am sure mtbe can be hauled in a standard chemical tank car. we use to pull stripers everday through decatur on the ns but they had to be at the rear of train only.
It is. I was an Emergency Management volunteer during the Whatcom Creek incident when a 16 inch gasoline pipeline burst and exploded in Downtown Bellingham. I served in the Emergency Operations Center for the entire first week of the incident and by the end of it the entire staff required Critical Incident stress debriefing.
