PASSING TRAINS PT 30; EEXT97W PT 2

Ethanol Extra 97 West, aka EEXT97W is rolling through Hillsdale...

The long string of tank cars snake through Hillsdale Yard and around the curve out of town.
 

FHRX (Flint Hill Resources) 250814 is a smaller 25,000 gal car, verses the more common 30,000 gal cars in the train.

UTLX 204459 is one of the more common-sized cars in ethanol service, and is slightly larger than FHRX 250814 in front of it. It is leased by Eco Energy.

CTCX 731626 represents yet another operator of these cars. Endasa S.A. De C.V. is the owner of this reporting mark.

NATX 302816 has blue bearing caps, common to many contemporary freight cars. The NATX reporting marks used to belong to North American Freight Car, but now are owned by GE Leasing.

The "long black snake" continues through Hillsdale.

The black snake has a white tail; a string of white-with-black-bands tank cars brings up the rear. Originally built for crude oil hauling, these are now in ethanol service, due to the decline in oil shipments thanks to many domestic oil producers shutting down because of low oil prices (in 2020).

EEXT97W rolls out of town, with another BNSF hopper providing rear-end protection for the train. A sand-filled hopper with an EOT device doesn't match the nostalgia of a red caboose, but it's cheaper to maintain and a lot safer in the event of a rear end collision -no personnel on board and a load of sand to mitigate the impact!