My boys and I went to Ayer today to see the grain extra. When we arrived, we drove down Nemco Way and saw the train pulling through what I assume is the unloading shed next to the concrete silos. They were pulling forward slowly and intermittently towards the east, one car at a time, it looked like. We could see the three BNSF locomotives in the distance through the trees on the opposite side of the oval pointing west. After a few passes around public roads to see whether we could get a better view, my son noticed that there were only two hoppers left to go through the unloading shed. We assumed that unloading was nearly done and drove downtown to see the train head west.
After waiting nearly an hour, we drove back to Nemco Way at a few minutes before 5. When we got there, we saw the train pulling slowly but steadily through the unloading shed. We saw what seemed to be the trailing locomotive through the trees from the turnaround at the end of Nemco Way, not nearly as far around the oval as it had been an hour or so earlier. The train then seemed to stop, about where it had been before, with about two hoppers remaining to go through the shed. It was by then too dark to see if the locomotives were back on the far side of the oval from Horizon Milling. We were out of time and light and had to go home.
My question is, how does the unloading process work? Does the train need to pass through twice, and if so, why? Was there a second section of train, and, if so, where were they stashing it it the first time? How long does the unloading typically take (per car, if you know that better.
Thanks
