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Tanker cars: HO scale

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Posted by jmbjmb on Monday, May 5, 2014 10:02 PM

I'll have to ask some of my air breathing buddies, but I think there is an effort to get the DoD off various blends and onto JetA as much as possible to simplify logistics around the world. 

Wonder how Fischer-Tropsch would move?  Right now I'd assume truck, but if it ever got into practical production, would we see strings of tank cars moving it to airports?

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Posted by jrbernier on Monday, May 5, 2014 6:23 PM

  DODX tank cars still deliver fuel to military bases, it all depends if there is a pipe line terminal close enough to be able to truck the fuel.  Military jet fuel is 'different' than civil aviation fuel:

JP1 - JP4 -Early fuel, and has been replaced by JETA and JETB for civil aviation(JETB is for 'cold' climates)

JP5 - USN aircraft(different 'flashpoint' than JP8)

JP7 - SR71 'Blackbird' fuel

JP8 - USAF

JP10 - Cruise missile fuel

  Most commercial and military users switched off of JP4 by the mid 90's.

Jim

Modeling BNSF  and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin

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Posted by 7j43k on Monday, May 5, 2014 4:31 PM

BRAKIE

 

 

Wrong type of "tanker"..Your tanker is cannon and aircraft fodder.

 

 

 

One of my favorite Bill Mauldin cartoons:

 

 

 

Ed

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Posted by softail86mark on Monday, May 5, 2014 2:24 PM

Tanker

Lest we forget...

 

I submit that these, too, are tankers...

WP Lives

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Posted by BRAKIE on Wednesday, April 16, 2014 5:14 AM

7j43k
Which ends get the propeller? Ed

 

Wrong type of "tanker"..Your tanker is cannon and aircraft fodder.

 The real tanker is the prize ship any worthwhile sub skipper goes after.

WhistlingLaughSmile, Wink & Grin

Larry

Conductor.

Summerset Ry.


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Posted by mbinsewi on Tuesday, April 15, 2014 10:21 PM

Here's something I found a couple of years ago, on a Google search, while detailing some tank cars, it came from a link through the NMRA.org,  and I hope I'm not in conflict with any copyright stuff,  but it was interesting info on tank cars for modelers:

http://www.mcor-nmra.org/Publications/Articles/Tank%20Cars%20101%20for%20Model%20Railroaders.pdf

Mike.

 

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Posted by desertdog on Monday, April 14, 2014 6:24 PM

tomikawaTT

A point of semantics:

I have seen tank cars standing on flanged wheels on steel rails.

I have seen tank trucks (and trailers) standing on rubber tired wheels.

The only tankers I have ever seen have a point on one end and a screw (propeller, to you landlubbers) on the other.

I know that technologically challenged journalists use the term 'tanker' for anything with a tank that can be moved.  They also use 'left over WWII Britspeak' ('marshaling yard', 'tarmac') for things that have valid names in American English (classification yard, ramp) that are understood by the people who work there.  It would be nice if journalists were expected to find the correct term, not just parrot some earlier journalist's errors.

As for petroleum products moved in tank cars, those would be the most ordinary of tank designs, with round ends and domes.  Earlier, some would have had two or three domes and divided tanks, to carry several products.  That disappeared when shipments to smaller towns moved from rail to road.

One exception.  Cars meant to carry heavy fuel oil, #6 (bunker C) or #7, have heating coils and connections for same.  Bunker C flows like cold molasses if it isn't quite warm.  #7 fuel oil doesn't flow at all at ordinary temperatures.

Chuck (Long ago engine cadet modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with ToKi3000 8-wheel tanks for petroleum products)

 

 

Glad you brought this up. The term "tanker" applied to railcars is incorrect, although becoming more common over time as the misuse continues, especially in the media.

John Timm

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Posted by ericsp on Saturday, April 12, 2014 12:10 AM

"No soup for you!" - Yev Kassem (from Seinfeld)

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Posted by tomikawaTT on Friday, April 11, 2014 11:12 PM

Frank,

When driving in my neck of the cactus, you have to remember, to "Always start with full tanks."  People who run out in the approximate heart of nowhere (which describes most of Nevada and adjacent California) might have a serious problem...

I wonder where tha Las Vegas and Tonopah found water for their locomotives.

Chuck (Modeling soggy Central Japan in September, 1964)

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Posted by zstripe on Tuesday, April 8, 2014 5:18 AM

I was a ''tanker yanker'' for awhile when I drove. You have to remember, to ''always be tankful''.Whistling

Frank

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Posted by gmpullman on Tuesday, April 8, 2014 3:14 AM

tomikawaTT
A point of semantics: I have seen tank cars standing on flanged wheels on steel rails.

I agree with Chuck! It makes me cringe when the talking heads refer to "tankers" when attempting to describe a tank car.

Let's not forget the "flatbed cars" as well!

Interesting to note the DOT111 Athearn car that the other Ed posted the link to. It is stenceled "Leased to Proctor & Gamble", SO that's how they get the whites so white! Left over jet fuel mixed with the latest shipment of TIDE! Yuk-yuk... Ed 

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Posted by tomikawaTT on Tuesday, April 8, 2014 1:23 AM

7j43k

 

 
tomikawaTT

A point of semantics:

I have seen tank cars standing on flanged wheels on steel rails.

I have seen tank trucks (and trailers) standing on rubber tired wheels.

The only tankers I have ever seen have a point on one end and a screw (propeller, to you landlubbers) on the other.

 

 

 

 

 

 

tankers

 

 

Which ends get the propeller?

 

 

Ed

 

 

Reference was to inanimate, but movable, objects.  I will admit that I've never personally met any tankers (from any army.)  Maybe we could issue propeller beanies...Whistling

Of course, if the tank was a 'swimming Sherman' the screws were between and below the rear tread sprockets.

Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

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Posted by mbinsewi on Monday, April 7, 2014 11:54 PM

It was 2003 to 2007 when we made regular visits to Ft. Bragg / Pope AFB, and there were tank cars.  They used tank trucks to get it from the storage area to the air field.  There was no refinery or major distributor for a pipeline system.  CSX brought it in through one secured gate.

Mike.

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Posted by 7j43k on Monday, April 7, 2014 2:48 PM

tomikawaTT

A point of semantics:

I have seen tank cars standing on flanged wheels on steel rails.

I have seen tank trucks (and trailers) standing on rubber tired wheels.

The only tankers I have ever seen have a point on one end and a screw (propeller, to you landlubbers) on the other.

 

 

 

 

tankers

 

 

Which ends get the propeller?

 

 

Ed

 

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Posted by dehusman on Monday, April 7, 2014 1:40 PM

Your basic type 111A tank car like the one pictured in a previous post.  Back in the 1980's the MP/UP used to haul silver DODX tank cars out to Bomber, TX (guess how it got its name) that served Carswell AFB.  They were an older type predessor to the DOT-111 cars.

 

Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com

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Posted by tomikawaTT on Monday, April 7, 2014 12:59 PM

A point of semantics:

I have seen tank cars standing on flanged wheels on steel rails.

I have seen tank trucks (and trailers) standing on rubber tired wheels.

The only tankers I have ever seen have a point on one end and a screw (propeller, to you landlubbers) on the other.

I know that technologically challenged journalists use the term 'tanker' for anything with a tank that can be moved.  They also use 'left over WWII Britspeak' ('marshaling yard', 'tarmac') for things that have valid names in American English (classification yard, ramp) that are understood by the people who work there.  It would be nice if journalists were expected to find the correct term, not just parrot some earlier journalist's errors.

As for petroleum products moved in tank cars, those would be the most ordinary of tank designs, with round ends and domes.  Earlier, some would have had two or three domes and divided tanks, to carry several products.  That disappeared when shipments to smaller towns moved from rail to road.

One exception.  Cars meant to carry heavy fuel oil, #6 (bunker C) or #7, have heating coils and connections for same.  Bunker C flows like cold molasses if it isn't quite warm.  #7 fuel oil doesn't flow at all at ordinary temperatures.

Chuck (Long ago engine cadet modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with ToKi3000 8-wheel tanks for petroleum products)

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Posted by fwright on Monday, April 7, 2014 11:00 AM

Rail service for airports pretty much disappeared in the '60s, as airports were built/rebuilt for jet service.  Pipelines took over.  Military and joint military/civilian airports retained rail service as an emergency backup, but the labor costs of handling tank cars are quite high if the quantity of fuel used can justify a pipeline from the refinery or distribution point.

Small airports usually never had rail or pipeline service - building the infrastructure couldn't be justified for the fuel quantities.  Truck service is still the norm at these airports.

Traditional avgas disappeared in the late '70s as the last of the multi- radial-engine prop planes gave way to jets and turbo-props.  Low octane, LL avgas is still used in small piston engine prop planes.  But the quantities needed are easily handled by trucks.

Using tank cars to ship petroleum products pretty much dried up in the '60s as the pipeline infrastructure was built out.  However, the development of fracking has led to a resurgence in shipping crude by rail from site to refinery.  The government(s) has throttled build out of pipelines (and refineries) to the fracking locations, which has benefitted the railroads immensely in the past 5 years.

based on my experiences as a now-and-then fuel farm operator for the Coast Guard from 1978 to 1993

Fred W 

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Posted by 7j43k on Monday, April 7, 2014 9:31 AM

Something like this, I believe:

 

http://www.athearn.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=ATHG96537

 

 

Ed

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Posted by mbinsewi on Monday, April 7, 2014 7:32 AM

Of all the times we spent visiting our son at Ft.Bragg, Pope AFB, I never took a picture of the tank cars.  We'd always drive past a siding that had a string of tankers with Avgas and jetA, and I do remember most of the had Procor lettering,  they could be a dirty/off white or black in color, and they unloaded from the bottom.  What kind of surprised me, was that they seemed to be nothing special, just a regular tank, and with the bottom unloading valves, they wouldn't be anything that was pressurized.  Not that I know anything about the different types and specs on tank cars.  It should be an easy search, like what Frank provided.  Maybe try different wording to get more pictures.

Mike.

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    September 2008
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Tanker cars: HO scale
Posted by NILE on Sunday, April 6, 2014 10:33 PM

I have a large collection of freight cars, but no tankers.  It never really interested me until recently is learned that jet fuel and aviation fuel (avgas) can be transported in them.  What type of modern tank cars would transport jet fuel or avgas?

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