Go around to local factories...

You will also see one or two tanks for heating the factory.  Having been in the propane business one or two tanks is right for a local propane dealer.  Sometimes when a LPG tank car showed up at the siding and I didn't have just enough room in my storage tank I would offload enough gallons into my 1000 gallon tanks stored in the yard. 1000 gallon tanks back then had liquid valves underneath.  I would also fill up all my delivery trucks.

Den

INDUSTRY

hello i have recently scratch built a model of fertilizer plant in "N" scale. it is a prototype of the industry in Waddell Az.

if you go to my blog page at http://www.bnsf6951.blogspot.com you will see pics of the prototype & my model of the industry. it's called "Fertizona"

hope this helps you

vinny

http://www.bnsf6951.blogspot.com

LPG cars

tanks

shortline by my apartment is trying too(already started to actually) They are putting in 4 120' long and 34' wide LPG tanks in. Looks to be served by either a single track or a 2 track spur with the unloading platform in the middle. Its not an indusrt as its rr owned but more a storage facility for local companies i assume

Propane tank positioning

I don't know the answers to that, but have one little detail for you.  The ends of the propane tanks can not be pointing at a building; if a tank fails, it's usually an end.  This little tidbit I found in a odel railroad magazine--don't recall which one.

Some info on Propane tank placement

In a discussion in this forum, there was a small amount of information shared by Dennis Austin (dkaustin), who was a Propane tank farm operator. Here is a link to the discussion with Rob Spangler:

https://forum.mrhmag.com/post/doin-the-desert-scenery-and-backdrops-on-the-8th-sub-12189811

The discussion is about 1/4 down from the top of this segment (probably one of the largest blogs in this forum).

Also, Alan (LKandO) contributed a nice drawing in his comment just following Den's.

Anhydrous

I can't help on LPG, but my prototype serves a Tanner Industries anhydrous ammonia transload at Council Bluffs, seen at http://binged.it/Y54P7b .  Tanner doesn't store anything on-site, but just uses the car to fill their delivery semi.  It takes them about a month to fully unload a car, and as soon as they do, the empty gets replaced with another load.  (What might appear to be a storage tank in the lower left corner of the facility at the link above is actually the remains of one of their semi trailers that was destroyed in an accident here many years ago.  No idea why they've hung onto it.)

Depending on your era, modeling such a facility can add some interesting operational twists.  After about 2009 (IIRC), IAIS crews had to start following special Toxic Inhalation Hazard (TIH) steps when dealing with Tanner loads, I suppose because of the fear of them being used in terrorist attacks.  Instead of a road crew tying their inbound train down on the main for the yard crew to later retrieve when they came on duty, as they normally would, any train containing a TIH car for Tanner has to be brought into the yard, and the load has to be spotted inside Tanner's fenced, locked facility immediately.

Unloading?

Anyone have information about unloading the tank cars? I assume it is not done by gravity feed.

I did find an abandoned facility on Google Earth that was once rail served. You can see some of the piping from where the spur used to be to the storage tank. It is a large round tank with a domed roof, now with the insulation coming off. The coordinates are 40°44'49.27"N, 91° 7'9.06"W. This might be do-able even on a small layout, though the 160+foot diameter tank may need to be compressed a bit.

I 'm now thinking seriously about adding this to my eventual (largely in the planning phase) layout, Scratch-build some of it, and maybe commercial kits for the office/shop and unloading area. Will have to do some more research.

Ben Carhoff

Tiffin, IA

Look at the model in February issue

So, I have let this post sort of mellow and then I was looking through the February 2013 MRH. Page 71 shows a large LPG facility. It does not appear to have a lot of super details such as piping, etc. but it has what appears to be at least 4 tanks that are in service and maybe two decommissioned tanks. Whatever they are, the number of tanks just seems to make this much more believable with fancy unloading racks and so forth.

It seems like this sort of facility would be a distributor to the owners of vertical tanks that are often found at trailer rental places, RV stores and some multi line fuel dealers we see in the posts just before this one.

When tanks bleve

kt9797, I've heard this before, but it's not true. The round ends are the strongest part of the tank, designed specifically for pressure applications. When a pressure tank like LP or NH3 bleves it pops like a balloon and rips open in the middle where it is weaker, usually near a flaw, fitting, bracket, or other thing. I'm not aware of any regulations sating which direction the tank points, when they go they go and it doesn't matter which way they are oriented. It's generally very rare, and usually requires extreme heat from a fire to cause the liquid to boil and blow the tank apart. Likewise, even a damaged tank that is leaking will not explode unless there is rapid expansion inside caused by extreme heat, more heat than if the leaking gas were to be ignited.

Tank size

So... size really does matter, huh?

John,

Thanks for your industry insight. So, I understand selective compression, but I my modeling is leaning toward fewer industries and fewer rail sidings in exchange for customers who would likely receive railcar shipments. Besides, the bigger buildings that dwarf the trains just look right.

So, do you happen to know where your supply comes from? Is it some kind of multi-products terminal? Perhaps they get their supply by pipeline? Do you know of any facilities similar to your locations that receive product by railcar?

Size Matters?

Well I'm not sure about that.

We get our bulk deliveries from a terminal in East St. Louis. The L.P. is pumped to the terminal in a pipeline and like I said delivered to us by tanker truck. My Father-in-law used to get rail deliveries at a plant in Southern Illinois. I had a picture some where of that or part of that facility. If I can find it I will post a copy of it.

John

@kalbert

Usually a BLEVE on a LPG tank is caused by something else such as an external fire and a flame impinging on the steel of the LPG tank.  It doesn't matter end or middle.  As the steel heats up, turning red, from the external flame the internal pressure builds, the steel weakens from both the external flame and the internal pressure until the steel tears.  The tear releases the building pressure inside the tank which quickly expands.  I liquid gallon of LPG will immediately turn into 20 times its volume as a gas.  So, imagine a 30,000 gallon liquid tank suddenly ripping out releasing it's content to the air.  If there is a source of ignition you have a BLEVE.  Most of the time that ignition is that red hot steel.

So, as it usually happens, imagine a train with many LPG tank cars that pile up while going through a small town.  One of the cars has a leak.  Something ignites that leak.  Now you have a flame, similar to a blow torch impinging on the tank next to it.  That flame starts to melt the steel and the gas on the other side of that spot is rapidly building pressure.  The pressure relief valve is now not useable as it is pointed down at the ground or damaged.  Soon that steel will tear releasing the liquid gas which will expand at such an incredible rate.  You will have a fire ball that will reach much higher than that town's steel water tank.  Anyone caught in the BLEVE will be incinerated.  The first BLEVE may cause tears in the other tank cars by additional flames and shrapnel.

Here is an instructional video of an actual BLEVE if you have never seen one.

http://www.poetv.com/video.php?vid=100838

This is a small tank.  Probably no bigger than 1000 gallons.  I am thinking more like a 500 gallon tank.  When it goes there is maybe 300 gallons left in the tank.  Watch the shock wave that is very visible.  Now imagine you are a volunteer fireman standing behind a fire hose 20 - 30 feet from the tank when this happens.  Now think about this happening with 10 rail LPG tank cars piled upon one another in a derailment and just one of them has a fire on it like in the video.

Den

Size..

Propane bulk facilities

6 years in the Propane industry and another 7 after that doing propane and fuel oil appliance service...

Here's a google map view of Tri-Gas & Oil on the eastern shore of Maryland. This is there Williamsburg facility. Each little square you see by the tracks is a tank car unloading tower. Each of the long white tanks is 30,000 gallons. The last tank is I think 40,000. Not sure on the tank behind the building. The other tanks further North are just stored. The smaller tanks in the parking lot are 500 gallon and 1000 gallon tanks. The white ones are above ground. The red ones are for underground use.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=williamsburg,+md&hl=en&ll=38.654571,-75.83262&spn=0.002543,0.005284&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=42.089199,86.572266&hnear=Williamsburg,+Maryland&t=h&z=18

TG&O oil bulk facility is at another location and is not rail served. This facility is their bulk facility for both their own retail business (residential, agricultural, industrial and commercial sales) as well as their wholesale sales to smaller LPG distributors. Their bobtail loading is done at another facility this one only has the tractor trailers and rail cars. In late fall and early winter the siding is sometimes completely filled with cars. You can see that it will hold a few more cars then there are loading racks. Also nearby unused sidings and spurs will be filled with cars too. I've seen dozens of LPG cars in the area when winter is anticipated to be very cold.

Hope some of that helps.

Matt