Saturday, November 13, 2021

US Record: Longest Train Ever In The US -- In North Dakota -- November 13, 2021

Updates

November 15, 2021: before reading the article below, see first comment and the link in the reply to that comment: I have no idea what "record was set" in Honeyford, but certainly not the record implied or inferred. Something tells me that a reader will tell me what I missed. 

November 15, 2021: after a reader commented on this story, I've posted a screenshot of the headline of the article, in fact, the entire "print" article. The rest of the story was on video which did not seem to clarify the headline.

Original Post 

From The Grand Forks Herald. The link has a great video. If stated, I missed it: how long it took to fill the 142 railcars. Great video at the link.

This was a practice run for CBR when Brandon shuts down Line 5.

The story:

  • a grain train
  • out of the Farmers Elevator Company at Honeyford
  • 8,500-foot-long unit train
  • 142 railcars
  • more than a mile-and-a-half long
  • corn from farmers within a 50-mile radius
  • corn headed to Canada for cattle feed
  • 44% more grain than average 112-railcar train
  • Canadian Pacific 
  • the Honeyford elevator is just a few miles west of Grand Forks, ND, and a few miles north of the further-most north fence of Grand Forks AFB
  • each car will hold 3,500 to 3,800 bushels, or in this case: one-half million bushels for the entire train
  • max corn per acre: about 175 bushels; or in this case: 3,000 acres
  • perhaps the average corn farmer in North Dakota might have 640 acres; someone can fact check me on that;
  • 50-mile radius: 8,000 square miles
  • 8000 square miles / 640 acres = twelve farmers or twelve sections of land
  • Note: I often make simple arithmetic errors. If this is important to you, do your own math.

2 comments:

  1. Might want to check on the figure's on the longest train we run 260 car trains with bnsf and kcs runs well over that 8500 foot trains on a day to day basis

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The reader is absolutely correct. See this post, setting the record straight;

      https://themilliondollarway.blogspot.com/2021/11/reason-1-why-i-love-to-blog-hearing.html

      I have no idea what "record was set" in Honeyford, but certainly not the record implied or inferred.

      Delete