Property, Plant and Equipment

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]

Property, Plant and Equipment

3. Property, Plant and Equipment

The components of property, plant and equipment are as follows:

	December 31,
(in thousands)	2011		2010
Land	$	17,655	$	15,424
Land improvements and leasehold improvements		47,958		45,080
Buildings and storage facilities		150,461		141,349
Machinery and equipment		191,833		181,650
Software		10,861		10,306
Construction in progress		13,006		2,572
		431,774		396,381
Less: accumulated depreciation and amortization		256,687		245,349
	$	175,087	$	151,032

Depreciation expense on property, plant and equipment amounted to $20.4 million, $18.7 million and $17.4 million in 2011, 2010 and 2009, respectively.

Railcar assets leased to others

The components of railcar assets leased to others are as follows:

	December 31,
(in thousands)	2011		2010
Railcar assets leased to others	$	272,883	$	234,667
Less: accumulated depreciation		75,746		66,184
	$	197,137	$	168,483

Depreciation expense on railcar assets leased to others amounted to $13.8 million, $14.0 million and $14.1 million in 2011, 2010 and 2009, respectively.

During the fourth quarter of 2010, a group of railcars were found to have major defects and were written down to scrap value which resulted in a $1.2 million loss. There were no significant impairment charges incurred in 2011.