Subj : Re: Trains
To   : KY MOFFET
From : Mike Powell
Date : Fri Feb 24 2023 15:58:00

> [puts on chemistry hat... many decades back, that was my major]

> A single chemical can be dealt with -- add something it reacts with to
> become relatively inert (in this case, vent it through a hose into a
> tank of whatever would make the least toxic result; salt water probably
> would have worked), and haul away the precipitate.

> But burning it creates all manner of nasties that you can't just deal
> with in bulk, and scatters the results far and wide. That's what the
> black smoke is -- incomplete burn products because it was combining with
> air to make random particulates. Basically similar to burning plastic.

That explains a lot, thanks!

> There are about 4500 trucking-related deaths every year, about 3/4ths
> being the car in car-vs-truck.

> That's probably a good indication of the relative frequency of accidents
> that matter to the populace at large.

They are the ones that matter to me for sure.

> Also, in pounds per mile, trains are 4x to 9x more efficient than trucks.

Yeah, because they can haul so much more.  I was using roughly 4 semis to 1
rail car based on the shipping weights we used to ship out where I used to
work.  The product loaded into full tank car of lard, for example, would
weigh about 4 times more than the product weight on a "legally-filled" semi
trailer would.

We always legally-filled our own trucks, and would plan legally-filling
contract loads.  It was pretty regular that a truck would show up that was
supposed to be empty but was hauling something on the side hoping the load
we had for them would not be a full trailer (but it almost always was!).

Mike


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