Coast oil can tank train - Trains Magazine

The impending loss of the equipment due to age is plausible.  These aren't just ordinary tank cars--they're TankTrain (TM, R, C, whatever) cars that are connected together by hoses in such a way that the entire train (or an entire portion of the train) can be loaded and unloaded through one valve.  Cars like this haven't been built for 30 years or longer.  I'm not sure anyone has built them since General American exited the carbuilding busines in the 1980s.

The technology is sound, but I'm sure that these days it would require one of two things:  redesign of the TankTrain cocept to provide added protection in the event of a derailment, or total redesign of the terminals to permit car-by-car loading and unloading.

Carl

Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)

CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)