I model the KCS (HO scale) in the Kansas City area (1981). I have a nice large fleet of grain hoppers, however I will be modeling the Cargill Soybean Processing plant in Kansas City which was and still is serviced by the KCS. I need to aquire a small fleet of tank cars which would be appropriate for this time and place to haul soybean oil. Most of the Walthers tank cars appear to be too modern for my modeling period.
Any recommendations?
JIM
Jim, Modeling the Kansas City Southern Lines in HO scale.
Atlas has a new release that you may want to look at - blurb says they were built in the mid-sixties and soybean oil was one of the products listed.
Although at their list price - your fleet might not be that big
http://www.atlasrr.com/HOFreight/ho20ktank.htm#
"No soup for you!" - Yev Kassem (from Seinfeld)
Hi,
I worked for Durkee Famous Foods - Edible Oil Division from '66 thru '73 at their refineries in Chicago, Louisville, and Joliet Illinois. We processed soybean, cottonseed, peanut, corn, palm, and palm kernal oil into cooking oils and shortenings.
Being a train nut, I got out to the load/unload facilities as much as possible and inventoried many a tank car over the years. But to the best of my memory, we only had two kinds of tank cars in use - a "standard" and a "jumbo". These were all leased unnamed cars with Gatx, Utlx, Shpx, and the like markings. If I recall correctly, the standard car was 100k lbs and the jumbo was 150 k lbs. I could be wrong about that - its been some time.
But I am certain that they were ALL black basic tankcars with one expansion dome and really nothing special about them at all - except of course they all had steam coils.
Loading was done thru the dome, and unloading was done via gravity thru the bottom outlet. After a car was "emptied", the steam would be disconnected and some poor guy would go in with an air mask and squeegee out the car. This was done fairly quickly, except when the car was destined to change service, and then it had to be spotless.
Oh, forgot that the Chicago and Joliet refineries also handled lard and tallow. Doing this required a USDA inspector on the premises. And of course those cars hauling the animal fats had to be super clean when they left us.
Durkees is long gone now, and in fact the Louisville refinery just "disappeared", with only the main office building still there (1300 Shelby). If anyone knows what/when all that happened, please respond!
Mobilman44
ENJOY !
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
mobilman44 wrote: Hi,I worked for Durkee Famous Foods - Edible Oil Division from '66 thru '73 at their refineries in Chicago, Louisville, and Joliet Illinois. We processed soybean, cottonseed, peanut, corn, palm, and palm kernal oil into cooking oils and shortenings. Being a train nut, I got out to the load/unload facilities as much as possible and inventoried many a tank car over the years. But to the best of my memory, we only had two kinds of tank cars in use - a "standard" and a "jumbo". These were all leased unnamed cars with Gatx, Utlx, Shpx, and the like markings. If I recall correctly, the standard car was 100k lbs and the jumbo was 150 k lbs. I could be wrong about that - its been some time.But I am certain that they were ALL black basic tankcars with one expansion dome and really nothing special about them at all - except of course they all had steam coils.Loading was done thru the dome, and unloading was done via gravity thru the bottom outlet. After a car was "emptied", the steam would be disconnected and some poor guy would go in with an air mask and squeegee out the car. This was done fairly quickly, except when the car was destined to change service, and then it had to be spotless.Oh, forgot that the Chicago and Joliet refineries also handled lard and tallow. Doing this required a USDA inspector on the premises. And of course those cars hauling the animal fats had to be super clean when they left us.Durkees is long gone now, and in fact the Louisville refinery just "disappeared", with only the main office building still there (1300 Shelby). If anyone knows what/when all that happened, please respond!Mobilman44
Thanks for the information. I have a railway equipment register and Cargill did not own any of its own cars during the period that I am modeling. Per your observation I will just use generaric leased tank cars. (Some of the leased cars may have been lettered with the Cargill logo.) It is still going to be difficult as many of the HO scale models are lettered for petroleum or chemical service.