I have seen in past posts occasionally where someone refers to a field guide or some other authoritative catalog in answering a question about a style of boxcar or tank car or flatcar, such as whether this style would have existed in the '30s or whether that style would still be in use in the '70s. I keep seeing models for sale of this Jack Frost Sugar Cane car and I like it a lot.
How would I find out when it started appearing on the rails? What book would tell me? I found the AAR's Field Guide To Tank Cars, but that was more like a specification. I'm looking for a very well illustrated history that is likely to include a lot of portraits of tank cars with advertising on them.
Thanks.
-Matt
Returning to model railroading after 40 years and taking unconscionable liberties with the SP&S, Northern Pacific and Great Northern roads in the '40s and '50s.
Matt:
If I were looking to establish a reference library on tank cars, the first two acquisitions would be Morning Sun's "Tank Car Color Guides" Volumes 1 and 2. These two 128 page, all color, hardbound books, divided by whether or not the car has a center sill are ISBN 1-58248-311-6 and, ISBN 1-58248-322-1 respectively. Because color film didn't become affordable enough to use in recording "ordinary" freight cars until after World War II, there aren't many prewar cars included. Both books were copyrighted in 2010 and 2011, making it simple to deduce the time span they cover.
Morning Sun makes the effort to provide infomative captions containing such information as car builder, gallonage, when and where photographed, use, and sometimes, the number of like cars in the group or order. Like any human endeavor, errors do creep in occasionally but, the photograpfs don't lie.
Two more books, by Signature Press, "American Car & Foundry, 1899-1999" and, "Tank Cars, American Car & Foundry Company, 1865-1955" are also useful although they are narrower in scope, addressing the cars of only ACF. Because of the time span covered, black-and-white photographs are predominate although both books have color sections. Along with corporate history, shop locations and such, the photo captions provide the number of cars in the order, reporting marks and number series, ICC car type designation, as well as capacity in gallons and tons. Unlike other car types, the number of single car orders is astounding! Also of interest is the number of cars from competitors that wound up as second hand purchases by ACF's leasing arm, Shipper's Car Line (SHPX). American Car & Foundry, 1899-1999 is ISBN 0-9633791-0-0, and Tank Cars, American Car & Foundry, 1864-1965 is ISBN 1-930013-09-4.
During the 1970s-1980s,we had three model railroading magazines that paid attention to what came after the locomotives. There was a freight car group devoted to the study of freight cars and later, intermodal equipment, that was known as the Society of Freight Car Historians. They publshed a magazine known as Freight Cars Journal. They all folded by the middle of the first decade of the 2000s. A large number of the magazines are available to read for free on the www.trainlife,com website. They are Rail Model Journal and Model Railroading. The Cadillac of them all was Mainline Modeler which, the entire 25 year run is available on CD, from the Chesapeake and Ohio Historical Society (www.cohs.org). The CD is a bargain for the amount of information given on whatever subject MM was addressing. None of these publications were devoted solely to tank cars, but depending on your era of interest, could provide a lot of information.
One final source of published information would be the RP CYC, a series of soft bound books using excerpts from prototype literature to address a subject. It was not a model building magazine in the traditional sense but, it provided roster data, photos, and utilization info on the prototypes of cars manufacturers were or, had produced. They were published on an irregular basis running from the mid 1990s, up until the mid 2010s.
It is wise to establish a reference library, because, it is yours for life, you can access it whenever, as much as you wish. Trying to chase down a title that interests you now, instead 30 or 40 years from now is going to be much easier and one "H" of a lot cheaper, so...........!
Hi Matt.
To my recollection I don't think there is one. Some will argue with me but the railroads themselves owned very few tank cars. Either the shipper or a leasing company owned most of the can fleets. Unlike other cars, tank cars are mostly a single commodity unit. You get zero backhaul out of a tank car.
If there is a particular car your interested in. Try researching the company that owned it. They may have photos or drawings of the artwork. I wish I could help you more.
Pete.
Thanks Guys. Pete, great information and a good idea. I've actually learned a lot today about Jack Frost (a.k.a. The National Sugar Refining Company) and it's rival, Domino. They were both around a very very long time.
NHTX, I was just at a model railroaders' swap meet where there were hundreds of old books for sale, but at that moment I was focusing on other items. My LHS has boxes of musty old tomes -- I'll be he has some of those you mentioned.
Thanks,
wrench567To my recollection I don't think there is one. Some will argue with me but the railroads themselves owned very few tank cars. Either the shipper or a leasing company owned most of the can fleets. Unlike other cars, tank cars are mostly a single commodity unit. You get zero backhaul out of a tank car.
Yes, it's rare for railroads to operate tank cars other than company-service diesel fuel, oil, and water tank cars.
Chris van der Heide
My Algoma Central Railway Modeling Blog
cv_acrYes, it's rare for railroads to operate tank cars other than company-service diesel fuel, oil, and water tank cars.
This is a fact I wish I knew before I painted five of these.
-Photographs by Kevin Parson
-Kevin
Living the dream.
And for most of those cars' lives, the placard would have been white or manila with a red "dangerous" across the face. The red flammable/combustile placards didn't happen until the 1970's.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
I only have two tank cars. One is a custom club car painted and lettered for cranberry juice. The other is a PRR company service car for steam oil. It has the buff colored S inside the white square on the left end of the side denoting a non revenue car for company business. If there was anyone that used a lot of steam oil, it was the Pennsy. It's small compared to other tank cars of the era. I believe it's a 7000 gallon tank.
One of these days I will get my rolling stock out of storage. On the shelf in the workshop there are a pair of Proto riveted tank car kits that are about twenty years old and not opened.
dehusmanAnd for most of those cars' lives, the placard would have been white or manila with a red "dangerous" across the face.
Those placards are just brush painted Testors Gloss Red.
There will be decals... eventually... I plan... no promises.
SeeYou190This is a fact I wish I knew before I painted five of these.
crossthedogKevin, those models are so beautifully done, I think no one on earth would fault you for invoking Rule #1 in their case.
Thank you for the kind words Matt.
These will absolutely be run, and I will be proud of them always.
-Photograph by Kevin Parson
The only thing is that I try to be plausible and model what is typical. I do my best to avoid something unusual, but it happens.
Hi,
I painted the placards white on my HO tank cars, in lieu of actual decals for most of them. BTW, I have two official placards for propane & residue (tank bottoms) that I got while visiting a Mobil Oil underground storage facility in Hattiesburg, Ms.
ENJOY !
Mobilman44
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central