Shortline Railroad Stays Prepared with Husky Pans

Goose Lake Railway is a short line rail company in south-central Oregon that transports lumber and wood chips from a local lumber mill and perlite from a mining company about 55 miles to a mainline railroad in northeast California.

In 2020, they acquired an additional locomotive. Goose Lake Railway also received a grant to begin a track rehabilitation program. And, there’s a potential new biofuel customer in the area who may begin utilizing their services, which would add several new runs per week.

With a staff of just nine, including the conductors, everyone has plenty to do: from ensuring that rail beds, bridges, switches, and crossings are secure to maintaining each locomotive so that it’s ready for the next run.

One thing that’s certain is that there will be oil leaks. That’s one reason why Operations Manager Quinton Swank started using Husky Pans. “We love them because we don’t have to empty out the water. There’s no mess. We just change out the pads when they’re saturated” Swank says.

Eliminating messes is important for the railway because they can’t compromise on good housekeeping when VIPs could show up at any time. “There’s no time to rush around cleaning up oil and shoveling out contaminated dirt.” Placing Husky Pans under anything that leaks or drips helps them to keep the site looking great.

Capturing oil leaks and drips with Husky Pans before the oil hits the ground saves the railway time and money because all they have to do is change out the Husky Pads when they become saturated instead of having to deal with shoveling oil-soaked dirt and shale or pumping out trays that are filled with oil and water mixtures.

So, when the Railway needed something to catch nuisance oil leaks and drips around their waste oil collection totes that were stored outdoors, they called on HalenHardy for a solution that did not involve building a permanent secondary containment system or using a portable secondary containment device.

The operations and maintenance crew could now protect the pavement, shale, or soil under and around the collection totes from oil leaks and drips, no matter where the oil collection totes are located. That meant no more time-consuming shoveling or expensive remediation products.

When it rains, weep holes in the edges of the Super Husky Pan allow ten gallons per hour of filtered, clean rainwater to drain from the pan, so no one has to manually drain each unit to prevent overflows. And, because each Pan absorbs more than 15 gallons of oil, they’re covered even if an entire pail of oil misses its mark when it’s being poured into the collection tote.

Now it doesn’t matter when VIPs show up, because Swank and the rest of the crew knows that they’ve got oil leaks and drips in check. That frees up time to focus on keeping the locomotives, station and tracks in top condition, and makes oil leaks “one less thing to worry about.”