Behind the Scenes

Our nearby freight railroad makes one trip north and a return trip south each day with perhaps 25 cars of various capacities and contents behind two diesel locomotives. Along the route from Danbury, Connecticut, to Pittsfield, Mass., they drop off and pick up cars at sidings in towns and private customers, whose consumption and production range from lime to fertilizer to lumber to garbage to sundry liquids.
We recently spotted this transfer of ammonium nitrate prills from a bottom-dumping car onto a conveyer and up into a diesel truck, which then carried the 10 truck loads in the car to an agricultural products retailer in nearby Armenia, New York. The products company mixes the slow-release fertilizer with other products and sells it to farmers in the area.
Few Berkshire residents see the many flows of materials from producer to consumer as the train makes its way among communities and customers.
In this instance, the car had three sections, each requiring that the car be moved to position the bottom opening over the conveyer screen. The last photo shows a manual lever coupled to the track that enables a single person to position the car and its tons of fertilizer as the product is transfered to the truck.