Jet fuel?

In the Amtrak yards north of Washington Union Station, near the Metrorail Brentwood employee platform, there are two fuel tanks sitting next to the tracks. One is labeled "diesel". The other is labeled "jet fuel". I know that jet fuel and diesel fuel are similar - the military can run humvees and other equipment off either - but the question remains: what does one use jet fuel for on a railroad?

Plasser Snow melter ??

jkovach wrote:In the Amtrak yards north of Washington Union Station, near the Metrorail Brentwood employee platform, there are two fuel tanks sitting next to the tracks. One is labeled "diesel". The other is labeled "jet fuel". I know that jet fuel and diesel fuel are similar - the military can run humvees and other equipment off either - but the question remains: what does one use jet fuel for on a railroad?

They are similar, diesel is essentially Number 2 oil like home heating oil and jet fuel is essentially Number 1 oil, also known as kerosene. Besides the melter the other commenter posted, I can think of one other possible use which is to run a combustion turbine electric generator, perhaps as emergency power for a large shop or yard facility in the event of a grid outage. Maybe even traction power for the subway in the case of Metrorail.

DutchRN is right. Here is a link to a picture of an Amtrak jet snow blower:

http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/amtk_ice.jpg

DAW