D765 Derwood - Dickerson intermodal trash turn
six days a week the Washington Grove Pacer Farm is passed by an unusual short haul intermodal train.
the cargo is municipal solid waste, and it's moving in dedicated equipment just a hop skip and a jump down the line.
the train is headed for an incinerator/cogeneration facility.
the origin and destination, only 17 main line miles apart, are both located in Montgomery County MD.
process
throughout the day, trash collected from around the County is trucked to the Shady Grove Transfer Station, where it is placed in intermodal containers (only rarely have we seen containers entering the facility by truck).
the transfer station enjoys the advantages of a central county location and direct rail access.
it also features a convenient drop-off for the benefit of county residents who prefer to take a hands-on approach to their disposal needs, and a recycling collection centre.
the containers, when filled, are drayed to an adjacent vest-pocket intermodal terminal in which they are sorted by "piggypacker" and loaded by straddle crane onto single-well stack cars.
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| vest-pocket intermodal facility
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tracks are (L to R):
- engine storage track (note track pans)
- runaround track
- four loading/unloading tracks in groups of two, separated by roadway for container drayage and storage
the trash is then stored overnight awaiting removal.
this has the added advantage of providing a multisensory experience to passengers using Metro's end-of-the-red-line Shady Grove station, located immediately downwind.
train time
around 06:30 the trash train crew reports to the transfer station (referred to on railroad radio as "the trash plant") and begins putting its train together.
four tracks of cars are collected into two cuts, the power runs around, and the whole assemblage then prepares to back onto the Metropolitan subdivision.
on weekdays the trash train has to thread its way through the parade of inbound MARC trains, like a fish swimming upstream, as well as whatever through freights are contending for track time.
double track and reverse-signalled CTC are helpful, but given the volume of traffic the crew is always careful to advise the AU dispatcher well in advance of their desire to pull onto the main line and head west.
since both the origin and destination sidings are on track 2 (the preferred track for eastbound movements) D765 can generally count on dodging the eastbounds by using the crossovers both at Derwood and Buck Lodge.
on a good day D765 can be on its way between P878 and P882.
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| trash train passing Washintgon Grove at dawn.
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note liquid spilling from the 3rd car.
no, it wasn't toxic waste; it had rained the day before and the curve superelevation was enough to complete the "rinse cycle" for the top of the lower container.
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saturday trash train
track 1 is o/s for maintenance
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at Dickerson
the Dickerson incinerator shares its siding with the adjacent Pepco generating station.
D765 runs past the Dickerson station and onto the Monocacy river bridge (poking briefly into Frederick County) before backing into the plant, where the train is broken up and the inbound loads are exchanged with empties from the previous day.
not all of the return containers are empty, though: a few contain cinders produced by the incinerator.
these are returned to the transfer station for disposition elsewhere.
when the consist has been made up the locomotives run around and shove back out onto the main line for the return trip.
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| trash train backs across Mouth of Monocacy Road
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in this bucolic setting the lead to the cogeneration facility crosses Mouth of Monocacy road at grade and joins the main line just before the Monocacy River bridge.
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| trash train pulls forward off the Monocacy River bridge, past the Pepco lead
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| trash empties running East on the main line under Mouth of Monocacy Road
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this view from above shows a difference between containers: those numbered above 100 have a roof hatch, a feature absent from their lower-numbered counterparts.
back to Derwood
D765 generally gets back to the transfer station some time between 11:00 and 13:00.
as soon as it is off the main line and in the clear, the crew notifies the dispatcher and goes about breaking up the train and stuffing the tracks with the stack cars and their empty containers.
after about 45 minutes of switching the crew ties up the units on the layover track and marks off for the day.
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| putting away the empties
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the crane operators then spend several hours amusing themselves by exchanging loaded and empty containers in preparation for the next day's cycle.
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| crane operators exchange loaded and empty containers
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maintenance
during the week the trash train power lays over on an engine storage track in the intermodal yard.
on Sundays, when D765 does not operate, the locomotives are taken to Brunswick MD for fuel and inspection.
if a passing westbound freight is at leisure, Jacksonville may task its crew with collecting the units.
a forward-thinking dispatcher will see to this some time Saturday evening.
otherwise, a B21x helper will collect them after cutting off from whichever eastbound it has shoved over the hill.
if neither of these opportunities has become available by Sunday morning, a B21x helper set will run light to Derwood to fetch them.
once the weekly maintenance is complete, the units (or a fresh set if they have been swapped out) are returned to Derwood.
this is generally accomplished by tacking them onto a helper set, and can occur any time from late Sunday afternoon on.
when things go wrong
an operation like the trash turn thrives on tedium.
railroad shippers' most commonly-expressed desire has always been "please bore me with reliability".
by far the most common source of undesired excitement for this train is motive power failure.
the trash train is most frequently assigned a GP40-2/slug set.
based on radio traffic intercepts and trackside observation, they seem to suffer from low reliability.
even when working properly they are hard pressed to make it over the hill with a full 38-load consist.
life is easier for the crews when they luck out and get a pair of GP38-2s.
although several locomotive sets are based at Brunswick, they are also used to protect several locals and the Rock Runners.
when trash train locomotives fail it often takes more than a week to get them replaced, especially if the failure is anything less than fully catastrophic.
a crew forced to double the hill (by units not loading or failing outright) may risk dying on the hours-of-service law (for a 17-mile run!).
we are not aware of any incidents in which the trash train has ever derailed, or spilled any of its lading.
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