G'day from Australia... and a question

[Don from Down Under]

Hello everyone... I'm Don and I'm a big fan of North American trains. I've just found this forum which will be fantastic to work my way through. I watch a lot of youtube train videos and browse photo collections on flickr and just had a question about placard loads on tank trains. I've noticed a lot of tank cars that aren't displaying placards and had assumed that they might have been empties but I recently read that class 9 shipments don't always require placards, so I'm just wondering if no placard means class 9 or empty please?

 

[Bill Anderson]

Welcome aboard. I would love to see photos of trains from Down Under if you get out and photograph them.

Until some knowledgeable members chime in, this may help you get started on your question:

https://www.aar.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/AAR-US-Hazmat-Instructions-Rail-BOE.pdf

 

[Don from Down Under]

Thanks very much for the welcome and answer Bill. I'll check out the link shortly, thank you. As far as photos go, I haven't been out for years but there's a couple of great channels on youtube I'd recommend.

Schony747:

https://www.youtube.com/user/Schony747

Greensleeves94:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIP86keFpgerA0kdt4tq53Q

There's also a lot of very high standard photo collections on flickr. A good place to get an overview of them (and then track individual photographers) is through the Railpage collection:

https://www.flickr.com/groups/railpage/

Thanks again!
Don

 

[JeffLH]

Only hazmat loads, and empties, require to be placarded. Loads like corn syrup, corn or bean oil, etc, don't require placards.
Many, many years ago there were empty residue placards for empty hazmat cars. Now a tank car assigned to hazmat display the required placard for the load it carries, even when empty.

 

[Don from Down Under]

Thanks very much for the reply Jeff and that clears my question right up. I knew corn products (for instance) didn't need a placard but I still wasn't sure about the status of empty tank cars. Now I am!

Thanks again for your answer.
Don