Curious what industries would be receiving or shipping material in a Philadelphia Quartz Company tank car, and what that material would have been. Online info I found is not very specific on this point.
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.
How about silicate of soda? Which, I gather, is also known as waterglass.
https://www.protocraft.com/category.cfm?ItemID=1170&Categoryid=36
The company slogan was "Mind your Ps & Qs" OK, not really.
https://berkeleyplaques.org/plaque/philadelphia-quartz-company/
The cars I have are lettered for Soluble Silicates:
Philly_Quartz-2 by Edmund, on Flickr
Philly_Quartz-1 by Edmund, on Flickr
Chances are the cars were used to bring raw materials to the PQ plant(s) rather than for shipping out finished product.
I'm waiting for the Philly Cheesesteak car to come by
Good Luck, Ed
Thanks, Ed! That makes sense. I saw two of those pages earlier but I hadn't picked out that it was all about the sodium silicates. But from your first link, I did a buncha reading about water glass and it was really informative -- even gave me some ideas.
Those are beautiful cars. Did they come lettered from a manufacturer or did you letter them yourself using the Protocraft decals?
gmpullman Philly_Quartz-2 by Edmund, on Flickr Philly_Quartz-1 by Edmund, on Flickr
If it were not for the fact that the air hoses were not connected I might have believed that these were prototype photos.
From the PQ Company website
When I first started reading about model railroading in the early Sixties -- from material much older -- water glass was discussed as a common scenery material, for example in attaching ballast permanently or making 'real' coal loads.
Interesting, Overmod. Even more interesting that I've never even heard the term water glass and it appears to be a component in just about everything.
maxmanIf it were not for the fact that the air hoses were not connected I might have believed that these were prototype photos.
Thank you to the max, Maxman I sure appreciate the positive support.
I gotta get some weeds in there someday. Or did all the leaking soluble silicate kill them off
Regards, Ed
crossthedogThose are beautiful cars. Did they come lettered from a manufacturer or did you letter them yourself using the Protocraft decals?
I'm pretty sure these were "vintage" Life-Like P2K kits. I'll bet there are still a few out there that haven't been built yet. Found a completed one here:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/403351798759?epid=593749665&hash=item5de9a403e7:g:XuYAAOSwDT1htlCS
I believe Bachmann also offered one in HO.