I found the photo in Rio Grande Diesels Vol 2 of the fire train which was shadowing a steam excursion in 1965.
It consisted of:
SD9 #5311
Former steam engine tender X-2842
Tank car 11004
Heavey weight baggage car 740
Black caboose 01426
In the photo the tank car appeared ordinary. It was the mow gray tender the had a man standi g on top at the ready with a fire hose.
Looks like the tank car above is fantasy.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
I've got Rio Grande Color Guide by Jim Eager and a bunch of other Rio Grande color books, as well as Rio Grande Diesels 1, 2 and 3 and that tank car looks like a foobie.
There is a photo of a short D&RGW fire train in one of my books but I don't think any tank car looking like that was in that consist. I'll check later when home if I can remember.
The Rio Grande had a lot of tank cars in MOW and other company service, mostly hauling water. This was due to the largely dry terrain it traversed. Jim Eager's Rio Grande Color Guide provides a basic set of pics in color, although relatively late with many examples already off the roster. Look around and you can find pics.
Interestingly, AX-2946 is illustrated in Eager's book on page 108. The real thing was actually an old wine tank car damaged and retired to company service with six domes. No firefighting gear, though. It would be easy enough to bash a stand-in for it from a model of a wine car, naturally enough.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Here's one owned by a logging company near North Bay, Ontario...
The photo was taken in the '60s.
Wayne
The best photos I can find (NOT DRGW though and this car exactly) are at
http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=63&t=165483
Nice video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ut9JGMjPteU
It appears to be based on a model from Cox.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/COX-BIG-PINE-LUMBER-FIRE-FIGHTING-TANK-CAR-X-07-HO-Scale-Train-mint-/131541807378
Cox was in business from 1971-1977. In 1978 it was annouced that Model Power would be marketing the Cox line and some, formerly Cox cars, appeared with AHM labels in the 1980's and as Walthers Trainline in the 1990's.
http://tycotrain.tripod.com/coxtrainsresource/id12.html
It apprars to be a plausable conversion of a tank car. From Google I found several prototype cars that resemble the model, but none exactly like it.
I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.
I don't have a leg to stand on.
There are some youtube videos of other firefighting trains. Some go back to the steam era. I did not see any pics of this particular car that weren't of the model itself.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Well, not exactly. I think. The model is pretty crude, with not enough railings. I think.
But BNSF has a pretty similar set-up. Here's a shot. The farthest car is the one with the "fountains".
http://www.railpictures.net/photo/532781/
Ed
Looking at Walthers D&RGW Fire Fighting car AX 2946 - is there a prototype for this?
https://www.walthers.com/firefighting-car-ready-to-run-denver-rio-grande-western-ax-2946-silver-black?ref=1