EDMONTON — A mammoth 1.2-million pound reactor braced across a specially assembled railway freight car will make its way slowly, cautiously across Canadian Pacific Railway’s northern tier route through Alberta and Saskatchewan over the next four days, the railway announced in a press release.
The reactor is the heart of a $250-million expansion of the Consumers’ Co-operative Refineries Limited oil refinery in Regina, Sask.
It ranks as the second-heaviest load ever moved by CPR. The heaviest shipment was in 1987 when CPR shipped reactors needed for an expansion of the same Consumers’ Co-operative refinery. Those reactors weighed more than 800 tons — or 1.6 million pounds — each and were moved in five separate shipments from Duluth, Minn.
To accommodate the new reactor, CPR linked two 12-axle rail cars to create a single, articulated flatcar. The two-cars-in-one assembly provides 24 axles over which to spread the reactor’s weight, as well as the length needed to accommodate the 125-foot length of the load, including bracing. It towers 20 feet atop the flatcar, and at 15 feet in width, overhangs the sides of the car.
The reactor’s size and weight required that CPR check the entire 550-mile route from Edmonton to Regina for any potential impediments, including overhead wires and trackside poles, as well as weight tolerances and clearances on bridges.
CPR is recognized as an industry leader in applying ingenuity to meet the challenge of handling extraordinary and special-needs shipments such as the Consumers’ Co-operative reactor.
The shipment left CPR’s south Edmonton yard today and is travelling at a maximum speed of 20 mph, slowing to less than half that speed over bridges. It will travel south from Edmonton to Wetaskiwin where the shipment will begin to move eastward over CPR’s northern tier. At Lanigan, Sask., about 75 miles east of Saskatoon, it will turn south to Regina. The shipment will pass through close to 60 towns and cities along its route.
The expansion of the Consumers’ Co-operative refinery will increase crude oil processing to over 80,000 barrels per day, from 55,000 barrels per day. The reactor will convert low value, high sulphur synthetic crude into high quality petroleum products for the Co-operative Retailing System, which includes the Co-op food stores and retail gas outlets.
Its components were manufactured by Nuovo Pignone in Massa, Italy, and shipped to Cessco Fabrication & Engineering Ltd. in Edmonton for final assembly. Veco Canada Ltd. is the project engineer and construction manager for the refinery expansion.
CPR’s 14,000-mile network serves the principal centers of Canada, from Montreal to Vancovuer, and the U.S. Northeast and Midwest regions. Its track feeds directly into the Chicago hub from the East and West coasts. Alliances with other carriers extend CPR’s market reach beyond its own network and into the major business centers of Mexico. For more information, visit CPR’s website at www.cpr.ca .