How come nobody models more tank car trains from the 40's and 50's?

For me; a solid train of any particular car type/commodity is simply less interesting than mixed freight.  I will admit to deviating from this occasionally and running a coal train but, 99.9% of the traffic on "my railroad" is mixed freight.

Curt

For me, the price of the beautiful 8000 gallon tank cars offered by Atlas, have simply become WAY TOO EXPENSIVE for me to model a 30 or more car, late 1940s, tank train! Plus, I never could get anybody at Atlas to offer 6 or 12 car sets of UTLX and/or GATX 8000 gallon tank cars. They seem to be caught-up constantly producing all those private road name tank cars, yet they totally ignore the two largest tank car owners from the 1940s & 1950s, i.e. GATX and UTLX.

Thus, I finally gave up.

For me it's because those nice Atlas tanks are so dang expensive. I haven't bought any yet, but need a few for a mixed freight.

There are a lot of colorful tank cars and I like them but I guess we just don't see those kinds of trains around here John so we just don't usually do them.

Currently I have 65 tanks in one train. Still collecting. I prefer the Drake brass variety. 

I love tank car trains. 

J Daddy,

    I thought about doing it, however I opted to Collect Christmas Box Car instead, I do believe I made a good choice.

PCRR/Dave

I have been slowly starting to collect 8000 gal tankers as I was hoping to use many on the layout im currently trying to build. I wanted to do more switching than loop running but I still buy more tankers than any other type.

The two Mike's in my video are custom built some a Sofue from the 90's. Anyway I was testing this consist at a friends place where you can rent space on a multi gauge track. 

I run tank car trains but must use bunches of the same model tank cars, same road numbers to make the consists appear more realistic instead of looking like rainbows on track.  So I would say the reason is that there are not enough tank cars made for the same shippers or railroads of any era.

What, me worry?    

Drake brass tanks are so awesome! My friend Bill McClung imported these in the 90's  

i don't really have any good footage of the "glow worm" after some checking I have maybe 125 tank cars. I have run 65 and double headed ATSF steam sadly I don't have  any video maybe I need to dispatch and get some.

Alfred E Neuman posted:

I run tank car trains but must use bunches of the same model tank cars, same road numbers to make the consists appear more realistic instead of looking like rainbows on track.  So I would say the reason is that there are not enough tank cars made for the same shippers or railroads of any era.

What, me worry?    

All of my cars are separate road numbers no duplication.  What me worry? Yes.. So-- I've also custom painted maybe 45 at this point in UTLX the primary carrier in my consist when in full form. It was common to see many carriers in my era. 

I am not a 3 Rail out of the box modeler.. I build paint customize whatever it takes the make a project happen  

Ive bought 

Intermountain 8000k single dome cars by the dozens and made them all UTLX

similar and Bill McClung's Red Caboose tanks.. 

San Juan Car Co ran 15 individual numbers of UTLX I've bought all those and custom painted another 10 or so. 

Drake imported many cars but at $400-$500 a car I only own 6 

PSC, US Hobbies, imported many cars I bought maybe 20-25 and custom painted them also. 

Atlas sadly has made very few I can use. I have bought 20-30 of them; Atlas likes rainbow schemes. I prefer black cars. Such as UTLX and GATX etc. 

as I work on this post I'm tending to a very active 2 year old and it's rather difficult forgive my jumpy nature in my writings. 

The consist testing in this video was early on when I first started. I apologize I don't have video of the train now. 

I've been gently prodding along over the years for someone to offer a model of the UTLX X3 tank car which was a staple of the breed up through the diesel era.   Tens of thousands of the real ones but most if not all in boring black.

So far no luck in getting any done, just the same ACF type 21/27's  though there is supposed to be a resin tank car coming out but not an X3.

Hope springs eternal!

J Daddy posted:

I noticed that many people don't model this kind of consist and its early industry. Maybe because of the environmentalist taught us it was bad industry and that it has became a dark stigma to model?

Ummm..........

I was going to do the same and noticed there are some good buys out there... most tank cars from the manufactures don't sell very well so you can pick up some scale tank cars on the cheap! I am going to start my 40 car consist, 

Cheap?  40 cars?  Even at the "cheap" price that I can score the occasional USH brass car, a 40 car train is still ~$2500 before trucks, couplers, paint & decals; plastic Red Caboose cars might drop that a good bit, but that's still not "cheap".  The San Juan cars are nice and I have a few that I snagged - 3/$100 at Indy last year...and forget about 40 Drake cars, .   Never mind that 40 cars would wrap about my layout 4-5 times,

Another point about the tank cars from Atlas O, they purchased the tooling for the 8000 gallon car, previously produced by Red Caboose. However, what happened to the Red Caboose tooling for their EXCELLENT 10,000 gallon tank car? Those kits for the 10,000 gallon cars show up fairly often at O Scale meets as well as on eBay. Sure would like to see some of those 10,000 gallon tank cars for GATX and UTLX hit the O Scale market.

Hey Doc! 

We both know the fuss in finding and repainting and correcting and fussing of these models. 

Have you seen that Lionel tank Gene made on the P48 forum? Imagine doing 50 of those! 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/m...ype-21-tank-car/amp/

Wow 

OP:

One could say the same about modern crude oil/ethanol trains...

/offtopic

---PCJ, "one can never have too many sinister-looking black tank cars"

.

Most of my tank cars are Lionel Postwar 40's and 50's Sunoco versions like 2555,2755,2855,6555.

Third vote after Hot Water and Erik for 8000 gal. UTLX and GATX black tanks. Wonder how many Menard's could sell if they put them on Bettendorfs?  And Menard's does multiple numbers, and they would be affordable in quantity! T

I like tank cars but my consists are relatively short(space) so I run a mixed consist, usually,  with a tank car. I have Standard gauge tank cars, pre-war and post war.  Not only petroleum products but food and chemicals too.

J Daddy posted:

So this tank car made by Lionel does not represent anything operated in the 40's and 50's?

Could we call it close enough?

 

This looks like it is from the AMT/KMT/Kusan/Williams/K-Line/K-Line by Lionel  molds. It's a beautiful scale model and there are a lot of them out there.

I probably have 40-50 black tank cars, mostly of this type, but with a few MTH RailKing thrown in.

colorado hirailer posted:

Third vote after Hot Water and Erik for 8000 gal. UTLX and GATX black tanks. Wonder how many Menard's could sell if they put them on Bettendorfs?  And Menard's does multiple numbers, and they would be affordable in quantity! T

I few questions/thoughts concerning Menard's 8000 gallon O Scale tank cars:

1) Would they be prototypically scale?

2) Would the be as well detailed as the Red Caboose/Atlas O tank cars?

3) Would they have the correct Bettendorf plain bearing trucks.

4) How easy would it be to up-grade them to Kadee O Scale couplers?

Cloverdale, Va. 1943

Erik C Lindgren posted:

Hey Doc! 

We both know the fuss in finding and repainting and correcting and fussing of these models. 

 Yup. And, doing 40 is a year's work....well, faster if I actually ever retire,

Have you seen that Lionel tank Gene made on the P48 forum? Imagine doing 50 of those! 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/m...ype-21-tank-car/amp/

Wow 

Saw it and again, I don't have that time available to take that many cars to that level or even close to that level - those are good raw materials, but I don;t know that many that can appreciate what goes into that level of work.

In any case, I've stopped buying almost all types of cars as I have too many to build, finish, rebuild, or whatever.  After today, I may retire a lot faster than anybody thinks.

Hot Water posted:

colorado hirailer posted:

Third vote after Hot Water and Erik for 8000 gal. UTLX and GATX black tanks. Wonder how many Menard's could sell if they put them on Bettendorfs?  And Menard's does multiple numbers, and they would be affordable in quantity! T

I few questions/thoughts concerning Menard's 8000 gallon O Scale tank cars:

1) Would they be prototypically scale?

Doubt it

2) Would the be as well detailed as the Red Caboose/Atlas O tank cars?

Doubt it more

3) Would they have the correct Bettendorf plain bearing trucks.

Doubt it even more

4) How easy would it be to up-grade them to Kadee O Scale couplers?

RoyBoy posted:

J Daddy posted:

So this tank car made by Lionel does not represent anything operated in the 40's and 50's?

Could we call it close enough?

 

This looks like it is from the AMT/KMT/Kusan/Williams/K-Line/K-Line by Lionel  molds. It's a beautiful scale model and there are a lot of them out there.

I probably have 40-50 black tank cars, mostly of this type, but with a few MTH RailKing thrown in.

Nicest available applicable adjective - cluncky. Cut off all cast in details and replace, and then add a correct underbody. and you've got a start.

J Daddy posted:

What are your favorite tank cars?

Hot Water posted:

Plus, I never could get anybody at Atlas to offer 6 or 12 car sets of UTLX and/or GATX 8000 gallon tank cars. They seem to be caught-up constantly producing all those private road name tank cars, yet they totally ignore the two largest tank car owners from the 1940s & 1950s, i.e. GATX and UTLX.

I certainly can understand your frustration, but for small operators like me .... all those private road name tankers are appreciated.

Such as these 11,000 tank cars I have on order from Merlyn at Caboose Stop Hobbies. My research indicates that only two of these specific cars were built for GAF, yet Atlas produced it .... both road numbers. I like Atlas,

(Its also cool having rolling stock with my home town listed on it .... [GAF Linden, NJ.  ]  )

mwb posted:

RoyBoy posted:

J Daddy posted:

So this tank car made by Lionel does not represent anything operated in the 40's and 50's?

Could we call it close enough?

 

This looks like it is from the AMT/KMT/Kusan/Williams/K-Line/K-Line by Lionel  molds. It's a beautiful scale model and there are a lot of them out there.

I probably have 40-50 black tank cars, mostly of this type, but with a few MTH RailKing thrown in.

Nicest available applicable adjective - cluncky. Cut off all cast in details and replace, and then add a correct underbody. and you've got a start.

Agreed but for 15 dollars a car... with one eye squinted and the other one closed   

you could never tell...  as it traverses around the layout...

Honestly though I do see the Atlas ones going on the bay for 40 dollars which is a deal compared to the 60 dollars they originally were priced at.

"Honestly though I do see the Atlas ones going on the bay for 40 dollars which is a deal compared to the 60 dollars they originally were priced at."

Or the $73/$78 dollars they are priced at now! It won't be long before they are priced in the $80s. I like tank cars too. Whenever I see them at a good price at shows I always pick up one or two.

I agree about the black tank cars. It would be great if Atlas did a run of those. I would order one or two but at $80 a piece I probably couldn't afford to buy any more than that.

One of my layout objectives was to have 4 or more cars of one kind to make a train.  I have trains of tanker cars, box cars, cattle cars, space operating cars, operating cars, cabooses, coal cars, log dump cars, alumina covered hoppers, etc. and of coarse giraffe cars.  The kids really like the action of the giraffes ducking their head at bridges and tunnels.

Charlie

Giraffe train (bottom train) and Operating car train (second from the bottom) are usually always on the layout.

Big Jim's photo says it all.  Now somebody needs to post a countering prototype photo of a similar train of Lifesaver cars (or just one?)

You can buy all the tank cars, you just have to not spend the dollars on any other model railroad item for years.

Tank cars built after 1970 are what fit my time period.

Andrew

1940 and prior here, can use a few Conoco's, and if l can find a 1940 and prior photo of a Frontier Oil tank, l will bash the stinkin' thing . (or several)

J Daddy posted:

So this tank car made by Lionel does not represent anything operated in the 40's and 50's?

Could we call it close enough?

 

If'n I was still in 3-rail... and I had a hankerin' for a goodly number of tanks for a tank train, then my answer for me personally (and only me, I make no insistence that you, or any other person, regardless of ethnic background or religious background, age, or gender) adapt my personal answer, and my answer is:

Yup.

I always thought that was one of Lionel's better efforts from back in the days when they were only a "toy" manufacturer.

Steamer posted:

.

That's what I'm talking about!

These are K-Line with die cast frames, trucks and couplers.  The work plate and railings at the dome lift off.  I have them listed in the For Sale Forum, unopened factory boxes.  Black car's DOMESTIC WATER can be easily painted over.  The silver car may be used in MOW service as is or repainted.  Good cars at a fair price.   John in Lansing, ILL

JDADDY, I agree with you although I do like mixed freights I would love to have a number of older type tank cars for a unit train. I would be happy if Menards would do it because I could get enough of them without having duplicate numbers..................Pic of what I would like............Paul