They didn’t steal the ENTIRE carload. They siphoned off several barrels full.
An entire train car load is equivalent to about four trailer loads.
Based on actually reading the article, the UP railroad thinks that either they never actually loaded the car at the facility in WY or it leaked out in transit. Which does not make any sense seeing that the valves were all sealed when it got to southern California.
You would think that there would be a trail of fertilizer pellets all along under the tracks from WY to CA.
I have read stories of car oil changes where the oil is drained out but the mechanic forgot to put oil back in....
Then there is a story about not bolting in a door plug in an airplane....