Powder River Basin and Diesel Fuel

Hi
Who get the diesel fuel, which is inside the tankers at the head end of this empty Powder River coal train ?



Is it for the coal mines (they use huge trucks and earthmovers, which consume a lot of fuel) ?
Or is fuel for the locomotive shops along in the Powder River Basin, (at Bill, WY for example) ?

In Google Earth many coal loading facilities are in the Powder River Basin visible, but (until now) I didn't found any fuel unloading track.
So, did the mines get the fuel by truck ?
Did anybody know, why the railroads (BNSF & UP) apparently aren't in this buisness ?

Even if it is because that the earthmovers have to refuel by truck anyway, (because they didn't drive to the refueling station and the fuel have to come into the pit)
why didn't the railroads create a big external fuel depot in the center of the Powder River Basin, easily reach by every mine and so they need less fuel trucks to refuel their fleet of earthmovers and dump trucks ...
And the railroad can earn money while using the less expensive unit train concept (Using fuel tanker units trains or use the regular moving coal train to move the fuel tankers, like the picture above ...)

Bye

It may be possible that these cars will be transfered to another train at Gillette, WY or Alliance, NE where this train would be heading. Alliance has lines to the south, east and west. And Gillete has lines to the west, east, and south to the joint line. So it may not even be going to end at the coal river basin. Or it is and it would probably be rail fuel as I would see it.

The power companies greatly frown on revenue cars other than their own being transported in their unit trains. Therefore the cars are most certainly company diesel fuel for Alliance, NE or Guernsey, WY. There are (at least as of 2000) no fueling facilities at Gillette and Bill, WY is a UP facility that did not have fueling facilities as of 2000.

[quote="TB Diamond"] There are (at least as of 2000) no fueling facilities at Gillette and Bill, WY is a UP facility that did not have fueling facilities as of 2000.
[quote]
I was out in Gillette this year and I thought I saw fuel tanks at the east yard right before the joint line. But not a fueling pad though.

The BN/CNW (later BNSF/UP) joint operation on the Orin Line began at East Caballo Jct. as late as 2000, when I left the area. The Orin Line began at Donkey Creek Jct., a bit over 10.0 miles east of Gillette and went 127.3 miles to Bridger Jct. The CNW (later UP) departs the Orin Line at Shawnee Jct.

There well could be fuel storage facilities at Gillette. No doubt many changes in the past 8+ years.

Are there any other photo's that show the cars? Without seeing placards, there is no way to tell what those cars may be hauling. No offense to the photographer, but with no view of the placards, a head on picture of some black tank cars will not tell you much.

In the past year, BNSF has been in negotiations regarding the application of Surfactants to loads of coal coming out of the PRB. The issue is who should pay for it, the mines or the RR. Naturally, the Railroads think the mines should and then mines? take a guess. This was due to major maintinence issues with drainage from coal dust fouling the ballast. BNSF had a pretty big derailment not too long ago that was blamed squareley on coal dust fouled ballast. Now the mines and RR's have been experimenting with surfactants being applied to the coal loads to lock in the dust. These liquids would be sprayed on to the loaded cars. I would not rule out the idea that tank cars headed towards the PRB could be such chemicals.

They may very well be simply Diesel Fuel, but this is another possibility.

If your bored, read all about it:

http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/ ... ummary.pdf

I think it's diesel fuel. Sufactants were tested late last year, but I don't think any decisions have been made on which to use, so I don't think we'd be seeing carload quantities of the stuff just yet. The BNSF does refuel some locomotives at Donkey Creek, and may have installed a fuel tank to receive carload lots of diesel by now.

It's most likely magcloride, it keeps the dust down on the hall roads.

NV290 wrote:Are there any other photo's that show the cars? Without seeing placards, there is no way to tell what those cars may be hauling. No offense to the photographer, but with no view of the placards, a head on picture of some black tank cars will not tell you much.

In the past year, BNSF has been in negotiations regarding the application of Surfactants to loads of coal coming out of the PRB. The issue is who should pay for it, the mines or the RR. Naturally, the Railroads think the mines should and then mines? take a guess. This was due to major maintinence issues with drainage from coal dust fouling the ballast. BNSF had a pretty big derailment not too long ago that was blamed squareley on coal dust fouled ballast. Now the mines and RR's have been experimenting with surfactants being applied to the coal loads to lock in the dust. These liquids would be sprayed on to the loaded cars. I would not rule out the idea that tank cars headed towards the PRB could be such chemicals.

They may very well be simply Diesel Fuel, but this is another possibility.

If your bored, read all about it:

http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/ ... ummary.pdf

Here is an interesting video of the CP applying latex to keep the dust down.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFiV55zo ... L&index=11

Drove up to Gillette for the long weekend to visit old friends. At Donkey Creek Jct. there is a new yard complete with locomotive fueling facilities. Several BNSF tank cars (former fuel tenders) were in evidence on a spur.