GLC in Fife Lake

[KVERBERK]

GLC 393 came through Fife Lake today, running light. They picked up a box car in Kalkaska and headed back south. On the way up the crew encounterd a plow stuck near the tracks. They slowed and were able to creep by.
Photos are in the Gallery

[AARR]

They shipper in Kalkaska gets a box car of bagged drilling sand now and then for as long as I can remember. It gladdens my heart to see a small shipper still getting service in these modern days of railroading.

[JANGAJONGA]

is that kellogs place still getting boxcars? up in TC

[GreatLakesRailfan]

GLC 393 came through Fife Lake today, running light. They picked up a box car in Kalkaska and headed back south. On the way up the crew encounterd a plow stuck near the tracks. They slowed and were able to creep by.
Photos are in the Gallery

Hmm...looks like a Road Commission grader...I didn't think those things get stuck too easily...

[Racer]

Mike's gotta learn to put the tractors back where he found them.

[CAT345C]

I don't touch Cat Graders. Only Volvos. He must be really stuck, seeing how all the weight on those machines is on the drive wheels.

[GreatLakesRailfan]

Maybe he got into a soft spot (with a deep ditch underneath) and didn't realize it until it was too late...

[AARR]

is that kellogs place still getting boxcars? up in TC

Kellogg's still receives an occasional car of particle board. If the economy picks up I'm sure we'll see more cars delivered there.

[MIGN-Todd]

Bagged drilling sand? Never heard of anything like that..... how is it used? Like a type of sand blaster?

[KC]

Not really sand, Bentonite Clay, looks like bags of cement.
Back in my oil field days we mixed bags and bags of this stuff.
Most drilling fluid companys keep/kept a semi-trailer full right on rig location for drilling crews to use, thats why all those older trailers are around the "mud" warehouse track in Kalkaska.

Not sure what other, if any, products would be shipped to Dynamic's in Kalkaska.

Kelly

From Wikipedia/Drilling fluid

Drilling a very deep hole is a very costly business. The hole size is kept very small as the drilled depth increases because it is to cased and cemented after wards. The larger hole will require huge amount of steel casing, and other problems like caving and collapsing of the hole during the drilling. It is not possible to bring out the cuttings generated by drill bit manually from such depth as can be done while digging a well. To bring out the cutting from such depths, drilling fluid (or drilling mud) is used. Drilling fluid is generally a viscous, heavy fluid designed to perform a variety of functions. It is like the lifeline of a well.

Salient functions of Drilling Fluids a drilling fluid are given below:

To prevent the formation fluids from entering into the hole and result in disaster as a blow out by exerting sufficient pressure against the formations being drilled.
Keep the drilling bit cool & clean during drilling.
Bring out the cuttings generated by the bit.
Should be able to keep the cuttings in suspended form during the trips.
Should have minimum interaction with the exposed formations.
Drilling fluid also functions to minimize reservoir damage and limit corrosion.

Water-Based Mud (WBM) - A most basic water-based mud system begins with water, then clays are incorporated into the water to create a homogenous blend resembling something between chocolate milk and a malt (depending on viscosity). The clay (called "shale" in its rock form) is usually a combination of native clays that are disolved into the fluid while drilling, or specific types of clay that are processed and sold as additives for the WBM system. The most common of these is bentonite, frequently referred to in the oilfield as "gel". Gel likely makes reference to the fact that while the fluid is being pumped, it can be very thin and free-flowing (like chocolate milk), though when pumping is stopped, the static fluid builds a "gel" structure that resists flow. When an adequate pumping force is applied to "break the gel", flow resumes and the fluid returns to its previously free-flowing state. Many other chemicals may be added to a WBM system to achieve various effects, including: viscosity control, shale stability, enhance drilling rate of penetration, etc.

[AARR]

Thanks KC. I've always wondered about the stuff, too. Do they come in small bags or those big Gaylord sized ones?

[KC]

Don,

Heres a shot from November 2008, at Kalkaska. I can't remember the weight of each bag, but 60-80lbs seems right.
By Gaylords, do you mean those large boxes on a pallet thats used for plastic pellets?
Never seen drilling mud come any other way besides bagged, although Kalkaksa use to get pressure covered hoppers durning the late 80's, but not sure what they had in them...?

Kelly

[AARR]

Dang KC, you're everywhere! Thanks for the picture!

By Gaylords, do you mean those large boxes on a pallet thats used for plastic pellets?

Gaylord is not the proper word. I think they call them totes. But they're as big as a gaylord. Some of my chemical plant customers use them to ship out instead of gaylords.

[MIGN-Todd]

Hmmm looks to me like the local crew shoved pretty hard on that car as all the pallets look to be falling over.

[AARR]

Hmmm looks to me like the local crew shoved pretty hard on that car as all the pallets look to be falling over.

Could be that but the stacks don't look stable to begin with.

Funny story. When P&G had the diaper plant in Cheboygan heard their product would sometimes arrive damaged or in disarray. I always thought it was funny that a carload of diapers could be damaged since it's a soft and fluffy product.