Napa Pipe becomes temporary home to hundreds of train cars (2024)

Jennifer Huffman

Napa Pipe is expected to become home to hundreds of residences and apartments, along with parks, retail, new streets and even a long-awaited Costco.

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In the meantime, something else recently rolled into the area below the Butler Bridge — 200-odd round black train cars, parked in two long parallel lines.

Viewed from the bridge, the cars look like toy trains that could easily be plucked up by a giant hand or pushed down the tracks toward American Canyon.

But these aren’t playthings.

They’re tank cars, typically used to transport products such as chemicals, petroleum products or lubricants, said Tom Ciuba.

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He would know. Ciuba works for Genesee & Wyoming Railroad Services Inc.

The Napa tank cars belong to a Genesee & Wyoming customer that he declined to name. The holding company has a hundred-plus individual railroads in North America, including California Northern Railroad.

California Northern Railroad leases the use of the tracks from Union Pacific, the company that owns the railroad right of way.

It’s quite common for freight railroads to store rail cars on unused tracks, explained Ciuba.

“Rail cars are either owned by a railroad itself or are stored as a service to customers who do not have space at their facilities,” he said.

The California Northern Railroad rail cars in question “are being safely stored, pursuant to common carrier obligations,” said Ciuba.

Ciuba could not be immediately reached last week to say what, if anything, is in the tank cars.

In a previous interview, he said the tank cars arrived at Napa Pipe in August.

Were they the same black tank cars that were spotted in American Canyon in recent months? No, said Ciuba.

Tank cars don’t always stay in one place for very long, the train expert noted. In fact, “Area residents may notice the cars being moved out of storage in the coming weeks,” he said.

According to Union Pacific, most tank cars have up to five times the capacity of trucks, holding between 6,500 gallons to more than 31,000 gallons of liquid. Tank cars can stretch 40 to 60 feet in length.

Tank cars are inspected on a 10-year qualification cycle to maximize safety during transit and while stationary. Most tank cars are used to transport only one commodity and are built according to the specifications required for that particular product, said the Union Pacific website.

Keith Rogal, managing partner of the Napa Pipe project, is aware of the trains.