Re: Earth Day and the Railroads???
Author: Lee Hower
Date: 04-22-2008 - 10:24
BOB2 - I have to agree with your first sentence completely. The railroads could be really tough on the environment.
Back in my train chasing days, I was on a trip to the midwest in 1976, and we stopped by the station of Tracy, MN on C&NW's Alco line. There were three units, the RS11, one of the rebuilt RS3s with an RS11 long hood, and an unmodified RS3 on the locomotive track. We walked up and noticed that this set was going back and forth on this 500' length of track. A hostler said to us, "watch out where you step". Turns out that they were draining the crankcase of the RS3, running back and forth, simply dumping the 200 or so gallons of oil onto the ground next to the track. What a black, gooey mess. But you know, that was really nothing really unusual about that back then, although this might have been a little more irresponsible than most. Might have had something to do with the small terminal at Tracy. Wonder if they'd have done it that way at Brookings, SD or if they'd have contained the waste oil.
Lee Hower
Sacramento, CA