Hazmat Placards

Hazmat Training

This was another posting that got wiped clean when I did a ^Z to undo a mistake after I had written a lot of it. Since the bulk of the info was the pictures of tank cars and their placards, I'm letting the pictures do most of the talking this time.

I had gone to town to take a picture of the depot, so a mixed freight coming through on the close track at probably 60 mph caught me by surprise. The pictures are not good, but the numbers are big and even when speed-blurred, can be read. A DOT guidebook allows me to interpret the numbers: (Update: I'm adding other tank cars that I have found since then.)

• 1267: 128 Petroleum crude oil
• 2227: 130P n-Butyl methacrylate, stabilized
• 1760: 154 Ferrous chloride, solution
• 1280: 129 Propyl chloride
• 1993: 131 Compound, cleaning liquid (flammable)
• 1017 124 Chlorine  
• 1832 137 Sulfuric acid, spent  
• 3463 132 Propionic acid, with not less than 90% acid
• 1086: a, b, c 116P Vinyl chloride, stabilized
• 1301 129P Vinyl acetate, stabilized
• 1063 115 Methyl chloride

I analyzed another mixed freight. I shot pictures of five cars at the time because I was interested in the type of car, not the signs on the car when I took the pictures. So the resolution is not good enough to read the numbers. But two of the tank cars had blue cards and one was Type 9.

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I analyzed a westbound mixed freight that went through Downers Grove on April 27, 2015, and I found the following:

• 1075: 115 Butane,  ten of them in two cuts
• 1267: Crude oil, it is strange to see just one of these in a train
• 3257: 131 Nitriles, poisonous, flammable, n.o.s., two of them (Facebook)

I include a closeup of one of the 1075 cars. Evidently Butane is also Liquefied Petroleum Gas. I find it disturbing that it is non-odorized. That probably means if a tank setting on a siding springs a leak, it will be hard to detect until a fire or explosion happens.

3257 is nasty enough that they include an 800 number on the car to call in case of emergency.

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In a train in Evansville, IN, there were several of these Molten Sulfur cars. Why isn't the number 2448 in a colorful placard? I guess if a car is going to haul just one type of commodity, they can paint the number on the car instead of using a placard. But that puts the number in a non-standard place and it does not have the visual presence of a big diamond. Maybe the development of the 800 CHEMTREC service has effectively made the placards obsolete.

• 2448: 133 Sulfur, molten, five of them
• 3082: 171 Environmentally hazardous substances, liquid, n.o.s., nine of them

Update: I passed a Sherman-Williams semi-truck trailer on I-57 hat had both flammable and corrosive placards.

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• 1010: Butadienes, stabilized 116P
• 1010: Butadienes and hydrocarbon
  mixture, stabilized
  116P 

Dennis DeBruler posted on Facebook:

• 1017 Chlorine
• 1136 Coal tar distillates, flammable (again)
• 1202 Diesel fuel; fuel oil; gas oil; heating oil, light (again)
• 1295  Trichlorosilane     Alan Roeben: "Gives off hydrochloric acid when it gets in contact with water.  Used in silicon conductors when ultrapure."
• 1832 Sulfuric acid, spent
• 1993 Combustible liquid, n.o.s.; Compounds, cleaning liquid (flammable); Compounds, tree or weed killing, liquid (flammable); Diesel fuel; Flammable liquid, n.o.s.; Fuel oil
• 2428 Sodium chlorate, aqueous solution (again)
• 3257: 131 Nitriles, poisonous, flammable, n.o.s
• 3475 Ethanol and gasoline mixture, with more than 10% ethanol  (again)

Railfanning:

• 1203 128 Gasohol, Gasoline, Motor spirit, Petrol

ERG 2106 (Emergency Response Guide 2016) is now available for download. I learned of this link from a Facebook posting to a closed group by Jimmie Fisher. He says the guide is issued every four years. The 2012 version I had was 4,250kb, this version is 4,780kb. I'm glad I noticed this link because I have discovered that the 2012 link I had at the beginning of this posting was a temporary link and is now broken. I have updated that URL to this URL. Hopefully this URL is more permanent.

Jimmie Fisher posted
Bristol, Virginia, November 28, 2009, 11:52am.
ETCX 84001: Tank car, 4 compartments, owned by Eastman Chemical Company.
Compartment 1: Capacity 5,724 gallons, methyl isobutyl ketone, hazmat placard number 1245.
Compartment 2: Capacity 5,734 gallons, methyl isobutyl ketone, hazmat placard number 1245.
Compartment 3: Capacity 5,734 gallons, unspecified flammable liquid, hazmat placard number 1993.
Compartment 4: Capacity 5,729 gallons, unspecified flammable liquid, hazmat placard number 1993.
Light weight: 87,500 pounds.
Load limit: 175,500 pounds.
Coupled length: 61 feet 1 inch.
Built March, 1997, builder unknown.
John W. Coke 1993 (Diesel n.o.s.)Flammable Liquid
Jimmie Fisher Hazmat placard 1993 refers to several different combustible/flammable liquids, including, but not limited to, diesel fuel, fuel oil, herbicides, and cleaning fluids. Reference ERG (Emergency Response Guide) 2016.

The new URL is more permanent, but it is harder to find the .pdf. I finally found the 2020 version.

March 31, 2021 in Downers Grove, IL

The video and some screenshots of interesting cars including the tank cars carrying these loads

New codes:

• 2031: 157 Nitric acid, other than red fuming, with not more than 65% nitric acid
• 1987: 127 Alcohols, n.o.s.
• 3295: 128 Hydrocarbons, liquid, n.o.s.

Codes that have already been documented in these notes:

• 1760: 154 Ferrous chloride, solution
• 1993: 131 Compound, cleaning liquid (flammable)
• 3257: 131 Nitriles, poisonous, flammable, n.o.s.   It is labeled HOT ASPHALT.
• 1075: 115 Butane