Show Me Your Oil Tankers

how about these? The 2755 is fully restored. It is a very early 1945 model with four corner steps, "flying  shoe" couplers, and swirly wheels! The 3-dome is a custom job lettered for "Becco Peroxide" I chose this brand because I think it sounds dangerous!

Here are a few of mine. The 6665 is a restoration I did a few years ago. The new expansion of my layout will have an oil dealer spur.

A few I have.

Arnold...I admit to being a "tank-a-holic so here are a few miscellaneous ones from my colleciton.

Here is a prewar American Flyer (Chicago Flyer) from 1938

A Bing 2 dome prewar tanker

Three "Allstate" Tank cars from Marx all postwar plastic.  The 3 dome and the flat with tanks are so called "deluxe" cars from Marx and the blue 1 dome is a "lightweight" car, the lowest price line Marx offered.

Two Chad Valley tankers from the UK.  Postwar production from the 50's  Sorry for #1 its "milk" not "oil"  hope that is ok

Great thread Arnold, hope we can keep it going.

Don

I only have a couple (sob) but the ETS one counts as two due to the paint job.

Jim K

Arnold - you're threads are the best. The topics are always interesting and attract responses from people with a variety of interests and skill sets.

Here's one of my modern favorites - the "Area 51" tank car based on the top secret military prototype.

Much like Don M. I am a tankaholic too!

American Flyer, c. 1914, featuring wooden tank, nailed to the frame with decorative red straps.

1928 American Flyer 3210 in blue

A 1/2 dozen box of 1118 tank cars

NWL

All very interesting and fun to look at photos. Thank you all for your contributions.

An early Postwar Sunoco oil tanker in decent condition like those in the above photos is almost irresistible for me at my LHS or at a train show, and the prices for them are usually quite reasonable. In fact, I have posted numerous videos of Sunoco oil tanker unit trains, usually with the smaller traditional sized cars that are usually even less expensive. This video shows such a Sunoco oil tanker unit train:

One of the neatest things about such unit trains is that they are so real. Although I haven't done what I'm about to say for several years, I can drive for 20 minutes across the Bear Mountain Bridge spanning the Hudson River near where I live and see an oil tanker unit train, probably being pulled by a CSX diesel. Last time I saw that, it took my breath away: the power, the sounds, the trembling of the ground as it passed me by - so awesome.

I suspect many of us have experienced that - and we can re-create that in our own basements and attics. Arnold

Weaver Sinclair tank car.   I love the Sinclair logo!

Nice work, Arnold, I’m a fan of tank car unit trains, and as posted above restored a post war metal tank because it was cheap, and relatively easy to restore as far as removing the existing paint, cleaning up the metal, priming and repainting (I think I used Krylon spray, which matched the silver best on my more recent cars). Decals came from Underground Train Shop in PA. I used to hike around Iona Marsh just on the West side of the Hudson below the Bear Mountain Bridge, and photographed trains out on those trestles just before the island. My main layout has a Sunoco pump, and my new addition will include an oil dealership for those cars to run to.

Tankers are my favorite, well right after depressed-center/heavy-duty flats:

A few favorites.

@Don Winslow posted:

I have one of those but the fluid leaked out. Oddly the car was stationary for several months and there was absolutely NO trace of the fluid on the car or the carpet! Maybe the aliens came back to reclaim and reconstitute their "people".

I have an MTH Sinclair Operating Gas station and at one time thought about a small refinery, so I picked up these. The refinery idea went away -- maybe a fuel dealer instead.

@Norton posted:

A few favorites.

I'm not familiar with the gray version 4 pics from the bottom. Nice. Is that custom or what version is it?

The gray one is a version of the 2855. Some, maybe all, had no numbers. These are all repaints but have the correct trucks and detail for their road number.

The beauty of the single dome tank cars is they are one of few that can be accurately restored since the originals used actual decals instead of stamping.

The 715 is actually an Intermountain 8000 gallon car with 715 decals.

Pete

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

I did a brief Forum search and was surprised that I did not find this topic.

Speaking of model railroading enabling us to appreciate something most others don't,  whenever I run this engine with oil tankers, I imagine smelling the stinking oil refineries while driving along the NJ Turnpike.

@Arnold D. Cribari

Arnold:

While I was finishing my undergraduate degree, I made round nightly round trips from Baltimore to Bayonne. I was a tractor trailer driver for Englander Matress. The plant was on Avenue E. 5 nights a week, I passed said refineries twice. and remember the aroma only too well. 

My nightly runs were very aromatic. I drove a Mack tractor. The exhaust from the Mack had quite an odor. Also, crossing the Delaware Memorial Bridge, I was greeted on the Jersey side by Dupont Chemicals. There was a different smell every night. At least that added variety. Initially, we did not have license to go through Staten Island, so, we took exit 14 and came into Bayonne on Avenue A from which, every night, I saw the back of the Statue of Liberty.

I realize this dissertation has zero to do with model railroading. Your comment above stirred lots of memories from another life.

P.S.: If you want to add the scent dimension to your oil train, load the smoke unit in your Trainmaster with Mega-Steam, "Diesel Exhaust". I was a Mega Steam dealer at one time and stocked that scent. It is beyond me as to why anyone would want to make their train room smell like the butt end of a transit bus.

OIL...

OIL...

OIL...

NOT OIL...

Randy, I enjoyed your dissertation about the various smells while driving a truck.

Point of clarification: I mentioned before how I imagine the smell while driving past oil refineries on the NJ Turnpike. I have no desire to experience that real smell.

I appreciate your recommendation of diesel exhaust smoke fluid. However, my favorite smile fluids are Protosmoke Coffee and Lionel Premium Hot Chocolate. LOL, Arnold

@Norton posted:

The gray one is a version of the 2855. Some, maybe all, had no numbers. These are all repaints but have the correct trucks and detail for their road number.

The beauty of the single dome tank cars is they are one of few that can be accurately restored since the originals used actual decals instead of stamping.

The 715 is actually an Intermountain 8000 gallon car with 715 decals.

Pete

Great job

Paul those are gorgeous tanker cars, particularly the colors of them.

Matt and Patrick, the Sinclair oil tankers are among my favorites I don't yet have, and hope to get one.

Don, love your Area 51 oil tanker and everything else related to Area 51. I hope all the speculations/beliefs that intelligent life from somewhere else in the Universe made it here.

Norton, thanks for sharing your beautiful Sunoco oil tankers, which you already know I love from my above video of my Sunoco oil tanker unit train.

Dave, thanks for sharing your tankers, and now I'm a Yankee with blackened soul because today the team extended their losing streak to their last 5 games.

K-liner and Artie, your Sunoco oil tankers and other tankers in your photos are beauties.

Don, your pre-war tankers are wonderful, and I suspect they are quite valuable because they look like their own in excellent or better condition and probably quite rare.

Kevin, thanks for contributing your photo.

Bogart/Jim, your reply tankers also look great.

Arnold

PS: I had great fun on the Forum today. Thank you all for your compliments.

Always loved the color on this one and there was an Atlantic station several blocks away when growing up.

I really like the old fashioned black tanker cars. I still remember many times (50 plus years ago) driving along the SP’s Bayshore yards in San Francisco and seeing a line of black, single dome oil tankers. So for the last three or four months I picked up various junker tank cars and fixed them up, painted them, and applied either dry transfer or decal lettering. I don’t have any great pictures to share yet, but here’s a couple of photos. Sorry I don’t  have better photos. First is my repainted and relettered SP SW1 engine pulling  a train showing part of the first car. Then a photo of the 7 SP tanker cars with an SP caboose at the end.

Could a CSX diesel haul oil tankers through an Upstate NY town similar to what is shown in this video?

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Could a CSX diesel haul oil tankers through an Upstate NY town similar to what is shown in this video?

I think most of those are too small and colorful. Mostly seen today are larger tank cars most all painted black carrying either oil, ethanol, or corn syrup.

Those cars might have been pulled by a Mohawk or F3 long before CSX took over these rails.

Pete

@Norton posted:

I think most of those are too small and colorful. Mostly seen today are larger tank cars most all painted black carrying either oil, ethanol, or corn syrup.

Those cars might have been pulled by a Mohawk or F3 long before CSX took over these rails.

Pete

Thanks, Pete, although I know little about real trains, what you say makes sense. I have F3s and a Mohawk to run with those cars.

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Thanks, Pete, although I know little about real trains, what you say makes sense. I have F3s and a Mohawk to run with those cars.

This was taken a few miles from me. CSX mainline, former New York Central water level route. Pretty typical of modern railroading.......ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzz

Pete

The MTH modern 'kesselwagens' are beautifully detailed models.  They aren't in my modelling era at all, but since MTH made the electric TRAXX motors (I landed the SBB CARGO version while back, and re-acquired recently), it needed a consist.

Let me take you in a time machine back to 1969 (a great year for NY sports fans). We are railfanning along the majestic Hudson River.

Suddenly, we hear the distant rumblings of a Penn Central F3, it gets louder and louder until its upon us, only a few yards away, and we experience its awe and wonder, hauling a long oil tanker unit train:

Arnold

@Pantenary posted:

@Pantenary

Your tank fleet is great! Your catenary is intriguing. Did you build it yourself? If so, do you have plans that you would be willing to share?

Thank you.

A venerable classic, a B&M in the foreground and one that failed to negotiate the curve ...

@Richie C. posted:

...snip... and one that failed to negotiate the curve ...

HOOKER, now that is appropriate!

Speaking of tankers, did anyone successfully assemble a Walthers beer can tanker? I had bought one and got a beer can from a friend but never put the parts together. These were offered when beer cans were steel, but the problem (to me anyway) was the end with the ring pull; there just was no way to hide it. I probably should have looked for a much older can that needed a can opener to open it. Instead of using that, punch two very small holes in the side, one near the top end and one at the bottom end to drain out the beer. Then use that side as the bottom.

I think that finding that kind of can today would be impossible, at least at a reasonable price as one would be a genuine collectors item.

Tanker Tuesday

Tank cars waiting to be unloaded.

I have a number of tank cars by Lionel, K-Line, MTH, Williams, etc., but my 1930s-era Hornby red Shell tank car is probably my most unusual, having European buffers. Its on the track outside my Hornby #2 train shed, next to a clockwork Hornby tank engine, from 1928 or so.

found another one!

K-liner, yours is a similar color to this Lionel Gulf Oil tanker:

This one is my favorite. Arnold

MA & PA water tank car.  In this scene water is being delivered via rail to fire fighters fighting a forest fire.  ( I didn't model the fire ... LOL! )