Hi All,
I'm not really big into the postwar trains, I'm more into newer, scale-sized O-gauge offerings. With one exception: I really like the postwar Lionel single-dome metal tank cars. I'm referring to the 2555/2855/6555 series produced for a handful of years after the war. Except for the dome on the tank, they are basically all metal construction, so they have some heft.
Due to the tremendous variety of prototype tank car sizes produced between the wars, these Lionel cars can easily be considered 1/48 scale, at least in my opinion. The few add-on details are metal and quite durable, unlike molded plastic details on other brands, which can and do break and flake off simply by sticking your tongue out and making a face at them (don't ask me how I know 
).
Another thing I really like, is the price I paid for these. I now have 3 of these tank cars, paying $15 for the first one at a hobby shop, and $10 each for my last two (one at a train show, and the last at a another hobby shop). All three were in quite decent physical condition when aquired, albeit cosmetically rough, dusty, and grimy. But hey, for $10 or $15 each, I'll definitely pick up more when I stumble across deals like that!
Since the late steam/early diesel era is my favorite era, and I like newer manufactured scale-sized equipment, it only makes sense to bring these old tank cars up to date in order to blend in with the newer stuff. Pretty easy to do, just clean them up, paint and decal them, and replace the old post war trucks with new trucks. As two of my three tank cars are not done yet, I thought it might be a good time to share a few pictures.
Above is a pic. of my latest $10 tank car a few days after I bought it, shown along with my first PW tank car, which has been re-done and finished.
And here's another shot of that latest $10 tank car. At this point, I have replaced the original postwar trucks with new Lionel trucks. Notice the yellowed and dis-colored decals, which apparently a lot of these old postwar tank cars suffer from. Kinda' makes them not worth much, from a collector's standpoint. But sure helps me out a lot! 
Here's my second of three tank cars. The tank has been wire-brushed and along with the plastic dome, has been prime painted gray. Although hard to see in this shot, I have added placard sign brackets and corner stirrups (steps) to the frame. Ready for finish painting.
Speaking a adding a few extra little parts if necessary, here's most of them. The 2555 and 6555 tank cars, according to information I found, and observed on the cars I bought, did not come with a complete set of placard sign brackets, nor any corner stirrups at all. I make extra placard brackets by cutting out some sheet brass (7/32" square) and soldering on some 1/32" x 1/16" brass bars for the posts. Virtually a perfect press fit in the existing frame holes. For the stirrups, a box of Arrow T50 1/2" staples provide more than a life-time supply. Just have to squeeze them down a tad in width, drop them in the frame holes, and add a tiny little sliver of wood to wedge them in place. Not shown: Replacement brake cylinders. I use brake cylinders removed from Menard's and WbB boxcars, because they hang down too far and thus look silly, at least in my opinion.
And finally here's my very first PW metal tank car which I purchased approximately 3 years ago. All cleaned up with new trucks, primed, painted, decal'd, and in service on the layout. Actually, it's been done for a few years now, anyway. I was quite happy with the way it turned out, and hope the remaining two turn out just as well. I'm probably going to paint and decal them in the same scheme with different road numbers.
It's been a reasonably easy, straightforward process to fix up and modernize these tank cars. Painting them is cheap and easy, too. Inexpensive Walmart flat black and primer gray rattle-can spray paints are used for priming and painting, and Krylon gloss clear and matte clear are used for the decal under & over coats.
Just thought I'd share with you. Hope you have enjoyed this little excursion into my somewhat low-buck and slightly frugal world of 3-rail O-gauge model railroading. 
Odd. They show up for me.
I thought I had it in there!!!
