Huge Railroad Car

[syscom3]

I saw this on the railroad website I frequent.

This is "something" going up to a refinery in Canada.

http://www.lswci.com/schnabel2005.html

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

holy crap i've seen two scammels tow a 200ton+ trailer but that's taking it a bit far how much does that thing weight when empty?

 

[Pisis]

that's a big HO model!

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Wow

 

[JCS]

Wow. That would be something to see

 

[syscom3]

that's a big HO model!

 

[evangilder]

Wow! that thing is humungous! Not very often you see cabooses used anymore either.

 

[reddragon]

Wow! that thing is humungous! Not very often you see cabooses used anymore either.

Looks like they've got a pretty large crew on this train since many crews now only consist of an engineer and conductor. Perhaps the caboose is being used to "house" them during the trip.

 

[syscom3]

Yes, the caboose is for the crew for the Schnabel car and probably someone from the manufacturer of the refinery "vessel".

The RR changes the engineers at scheduled stops, so they dont need a caboose to live in.

The largest Schnabel car in operation, owned by ABB, carries road number CEBX 800, and is used in North America. It has 36 axles (18 for each half). Each half contains nine trucks which are connected by a complex system of span bolsters. Its tare (unloaded) weight is 370 tons. When empty, this car measures 231 ft 8 in (70.6 m) in length.

I looked closer at the pictures and this is CEBX800

Heres some more views of this.

http://southern.railfan.net/schnabel/cars/cebx800/cebx800.html

Figures this was built by Krupp!

 

[Gnomey]

That is rediculously big!

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Figures this was built by Krupp!

Well they have experience from building the large railroad cannons in WW2!

 

[dysonsphere]

That is outragous and what the hell is the load

 

[Erich]

nerve agents ! 8) do not be too shocked it could possibly be, though the container would be made of different alloys

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

HOOO WEEE HOOOO

 

[Erich]

yep, take a whiff and you'll know it ain't Jiff

 

[syscom3]

The load looks like a pressure reactor used in refineries. Maybe for some catalyst refining methods?

 

[syscom3]

I found some info on what it was hauling.

"STORY SUMMARY: (Edmonton, Alberta) OPTI Canada Inc. ("OPTI") announced today that a specially modified version of the world's largest capacity rail car - carrying a 1.5 million lb. reactor for the Long Lake Upgrader - is anticipated to reach the Project site, 40 kilometres southeast of Fort McMurray, on Sunday, Jan. 8. The combined weight of the reactor, including fixtures, skids, and the "Schnabel" rail car, totals 2.33 million lbs. This constitutes the heaviest rail load ever to travel to Canada's Athabasca Oil Sands.
The reactor's arrival onsite at the Long Lake Project concludes a
worldwide journey by sea and rail that began in August 2005 in Kobe, Japan. The reactor arrived by ship in Duluth, Minnesota in mid-November, along with other major OPTI Upgrader components, following a journey of nearly 20,000 nautical miles.
The Long Lake Project is a 50/50 joint venture with Nexen Inc. and is
expected to be Canada's fourth and next integrated oil sands project to come on-stream. First steam for the steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) portion of the Project is scheduled for later this year with Upgrader start-up in mid- 2007. The Upgrader will use OPTI's proprietary OrCrude process and commercially available hydrocracking and gasification technologies. Through gasification, this configuration significantly reduces the exposure to and the need to purchase natural gas."

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Cool interesting.

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

good god over 2 million lbs!

 

[syscom3]

I wonder where Trackend has been