Kinder Morgan Coke Train in Pasadena

Running with Kinder Morgan (KMTX) locomotives and hopper cars, the PTRA coke train shuttles petroleum coke (a refining byproduct) from Lyondell Basell's Houston oil refinery to Kinder Morgan's Deepwater Terminal export facility, about 6 miles away. The crew first takes the loaded train from the refinery over to Deepwater, then jumps onto a second trainset that has already been unloaded for their return trip (a KM crew will unload the first train later to then return the following day).

 

Formerly an afternoon job, the on-duty time was moved back to 2359 a few years ago and the coke train rarely sees daylight these days. However, on this cool Christmas Eve the train is running a bit late. After dropping the loads at Deepwater, the empty train is seen here running on UP's Strang Sub through Pasadena Jct on its way back to the Lyondell Refinery.

 

Leading the train is KMTX 2022, a rebuilt SD45 painted for Kinder Morgan's 25th Anniversary and acquired by the company in 2022.

 

PTRA Job #343 (Lyondell Basell to Kinder Morgan Deer Park & return))

KMTX SD40M-2 #2022

KMTX SD40-2 #3002

 

Pasadena, TX

December 24th, 2024

Done