Random Update On Tank Cars for CBR Out Of The Bakken

A huge "thank you" to a reader for sending me this story.

ChicagoBusiness is reporting:

Manufacturers making trucks and dozers, like Navistar International Corp. and Caterpillar Inc., may be struggling. But companies producing rail cars used to haul crude oil and other liquids can't churn them out fast enough. If you order a crude oil tank car today, know this: There are 48,000 ahead of you, and it'll be nearly three years before you see it.

The flood of orders started with the ethanol boom. Then an abundance of crude oil was found in North Dakota, out of reach of a viable but underutilized pipeline—industry folks call it “stranded oil.” And so, for nearly a decade—minus a yearlong recessionary dip—tank car makers such as Chicago-based Union Tank Car Co., owned by Berkshire Hathaway, have seen record high sales.

“It's a dream for a tank car company,” says Gordon Heisler, senior logistics consultant at PLG Consulting Inc. in Chicago. “They can't make them fast enough.

This short video is of the Epping CBR facility east of Williston. Note the tracks are raised on a "dike" surrounding the operations which are inside, completely out of view of passer-by; the tunnel leads to the operations.

Epping, North Dakota, CBR Terminal