Document K0VJq030BYYz1BNMQDMzzeDr

October 26, 1970 Debs: This is to inform you of some of the things I learned during my recent trip to Ponca City. A. General ._ 1. A. A. H. has passed a ruling whereby any tank car over 40 years old will be retired and this leaves Conoco with several hundred cars to dispose of in tho next few years. These cars are 8,000 to 10,000 gallons general purpose cars. They are rivited and nan-pressurized but are usuable as local storage cars and can be obtained with little cost. If we can use them, Mr. J. L. Barnthouse would be the man to contact* 2. The U. S..Senate has passed a law which states that after November 30, 19?0, tank cars that exceed a gross load weight of 263,000 lbs. wii not be built, Mr* Cleaver believes that the next step, if railroad wrecks continue, will be for the Senate to enact a law whereby all cars that exceed 263.000 lbs., will be taken off railroads. Needless to say this would hurt our transportation department. Mr. Cleaver also stated that if this law was enacted it would cost Continental Oil Company a loss of about 23 million dollars on cars they already own. B* Purpose of Meeting Mr. Barnthouse stated that the purpose of the meeting was "Maintenance of Rail Cars". He stated that since railroads are not taking care of the cars as they should, the responsibility is falling on the shipper and owner. He stated that the shipper was responsible for safety items of cars especially all hand holds, grab irons, running boards, ladders, platforms, and dome covers. These items should be tight before car is leaded. A list of 21 items to inspect on tank cars was given This was a general list and some items did not concern us because we h&ve newer cars which do not have side running boards and the under carriages are consolidated to the tank body. I havo re vised the list to include items for our cars. 1. Hand holds 2. Grab Irens 3. Running boards at ends of car 4. D#me Platforms and guard railings 5* borne cover 6. Unloading cap, bottom of car 7* Coil caps on internal heater coils 8. Air hose on ends of car 9. Coupling 34 inch from center of coupling to top of rail \allowable of about " when car is not loaded. 10. Hand brakes-wheel, staff and chain 11. Brake shoes- old cars from smallest port of shoe- new cars of cobra from metal to center ef sole. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. Dates: Tank test and safety valve test Placard holders tight and secure Brake beam ports on trucks. Leakage on welds, dents and lost pieces Paint and appearance stencilled on car. of metal in tanks. CWH OOOOO5479 Hand Brake "B" end LEFT _____ __________ TANKCAR "A" end RIGHT If an inspection shows that any of the first five safety items is defective, a defect card should be attached to defective item. The company is liable for safety of personell such as rail crewmen who may fall from a loose hand hold. C. Loading of General Purpose Cars 1. When loading these cars the unloading cap and heater coil caps should be left off until the car is loaded. This is to insure that the unloading valve is not leaking.. 2. Cars that have dome caps need to have a good seal or gasket on cap before being released for shipment. D. Anatomy of Tank Car Merle Hutchinson gave a lecture on inspecting the inside of a tank car. He said that a small magnet should be used to deter mine if corrosion has iron in it. The most common areas of corrosion are the vapor phase, rivits and welds. He said that in order for corrosion to take place there must be water and oxygen present. Oxygen that is dissolved in product could be a cause of corrosion. He brought out in his lecture that one type of corrosion which is magnetite is normally black. The cars I have seen, before they were leaned, have had black dust present. Mr. Hutehinscn also said that the chemical analysis- of magnetite is Fe^O^r. T# form magnetite, it takes 0j_, and normally a high PH. After hearing this, I wondered if the practice of injecting NaOH into diamond ears was not causing us more corrosion instead of less. E. Summary I enjoyed the trip- and an always amazed at the congenial attitude of the skilled people in this company,. They seem to go out of their way to teach me the things I need to know. Charles H. Kroske CUH 000005480