Rail cars are referred to as yellow-balled when they are sufficiently old or damaged to preclude their efficient operation on long-haul or main line routes. For most coal carrying railroads, their alternative value is salvage. This, however, does not necessarily preclude their effective use, on a limited basis, by small mines located near existing trackage. Because of age, the sizes of these hopper and gondola cars are currently 50 and 70 tons rather than the 100 tons commonly built at the present time. As a gathering system, yellow-ball rail could provide an alternative, particularly in Kentucky, western Pennsylvania and West Virginia, to coal trucks, conveyor belts and pneumatic pipelines. Rail service of this type provides a limited alternative to track abandonment, a possible financial return to a railbank, a direct contribution to service demand on main lines, and a means by which many small eastern coal mines could retain or regain competitive viability. In terms of energy efficiency, compared to trucking coal, the total direct energy impact (fuel) of yellow-ball rail can be expected to range from 280 to 990 Btu/ton-mile while that for trucks ranges from 1850 to 3120 Btu/ton-mile. It is primarily as a gathering, rather than a distribution system, that yellow-ball coal transport has an impact. (ERA citation 04:038117)


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    Title :

    Comparative Coal Transportation Costs: An Economic and Engineering Analysis of Truck, Belt, Rail, Barge and Coal Slurry and Pneumatic Pipelines. Volume 8. Yellow Ball Rail. Final Report


    Contributors:
    M. Rieber (author) / S. L. Soo (author)

    Publication date :

    1977


    Size :

    13 pages


    Type of media :

    Report


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English