03-30-2011, 11:13 AM
I was just checking on Bing Maps for an oil dealer that used to be located across the street from Overseas Shipping Terminal where I used to work before the owners sold out and the Evergreen terminal took over the property. It looks like the oil dealer has moved the storage facility and unloading depot, and all that is left are the large storage tanks that are filled by tankers at the dock. I presume that they are for crude oil and have underground piping to take the crude to the refineries in Wilmington. They had an unloading terminal across the street from Overseas Shipping where they unloaded tank cars at a system of pipes similar to the Walthers oil dock kit. There were two spur tracks that could receive probably a maximum of 8 tank cars. There was also a sheet metal building across the street and next door to Overseas Terminal where they stored cases and 55 gallon drums of Quaker State oil. They would sometimes receive tankers to be unloaded into the storage tanks that are still there. Other times they would receive box cars loaded with either case lots of oil on pallets or 55 gallon drums that would be unloaded by fork lift and taken across the street to the metal building. In the ten year that I worked at Overseas Shipping Terminal, I never ever saw the railroad pull car out and spot fresh ones at the same time. I think most of the unloading was done in the evening. The railroad would send a crew over to pick up cars (I think empty) between 9:00am to 11:00 am. Then if the railroad had more cars to spot, they would show up @ 3:00pm to 4:30pm. I think they typically worked that industry about 3 times per week. I think the reason that they didn't remove cars and spot new ones at the same time is that they would have tied up Earl Street at a time when the container terminals were moving a lot of truck traffic in and out. Since the company has since moved out of that area, the spurs have been removed and Evergreen Terminal is using the space where the oil terminal used to be to store containers and chassis, so it is difficult for me to remember whether the tracks crossed Earl St. 20 years ago or not.