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What would be delivered or shipped in a Baker's Chocolate Tank Car?

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Posted by mvlandsw on Wednesday, January 5, 2022 2:40 PM

Baker's Chocolate tank cars showed up at the Clark Candy plant in Pittsburgh,Pa. They made Clark Bars among other candy.

Athearn sold their "chemical tank car" lettered for Baker's Chocolate even though it is not the correct type of car.

Mark Vinski

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Posted by dehusman on Wednesday, January 5, 2022 7:56 AM

wrench567
The railroads would just move and maintain them under contract.

They would be moved and maintained just like any other car.  Movement was under a waybill and charged at tariff rates during the period of the cars in question.  Running repairs would be done by the railroad, heavy repairs would be the responsibility of the owner/lessor and done at their shops or a contract shop, just like any other private car.

Tank cars had and still have special rules for use and movement. You wouldn't want a tank hauling gasoline and the next load be canola oil.

HAZMAT tank cars have special rules for movement.  A non hazmat tank car is just another car.  You can put a tank car of chocolate next to any car you like, there are NO restrictions on its placement.  There are NO restrictions on placing hazmat next to food products.

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

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Posted by wrench567 on Wednesday, January 5, 2022 7:38 AM

 Just an FYI. Railroads didn't own tank cars. The shipper or recieving company would own the cars for their own products. The railroads would just move and maintain them under contract. Tank cars had and still have special rules for use and movement. You wouldn't want a tank hauling gasoline and the next load be canola oil. Any type of thick liquid would need an outer jacket for steam heat to help unload. Molasses and crude oil shipments come to mind. I once saw a documentary on gelletin manufacturing. Cattle bones were brought in by open top hoppers, rendered down by acid brought in by tank cars and shipped out by another tank car and in powder form in bags on pallets in box car. That's four different cars just for one product.

    Pete.

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Posted by NVSRR on Wednesday, January 5, 2022 6:16 AM

That tank car mostly would bring in vegetable oil or cocoanut oil or corn syrup.  that is what is brought in to modern food processing plants today.

 

Shane

A pessimist sees a dark tunnel

An optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel

A realist sees a frieght train

An engineer sees three idiots standing on the tracks stairing blankly in space

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Posted by "JaBear" on Wednesday, January 5, 2022 12:54 AM

crossthedog
Bummer that all the links to photos, book covers and articles in that thread are already dead links after just four years.

Gidday Matt, yeah, it’s annoying when searching the interweb and thinking that you’re on to a good thing, only to find the links are “dead”!!
 
I did some more digging only to find that the New Haven Railroad Historical & Technical Association "Shoreliner" magazine, Volume 18 Issue 4, that Paul referred to, is no longer available through the Association.
 
That said, depending on how “deep” you want to dig, it could be available by other means.
 
Sometimes being a "Good Enough Modeller" is indeed, good enough!!
 
Cheers, the Bear.Smile

"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."

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Posted by crossthedog on Tuesday, January 4, 2022 11:25 PM

Here’s a link to a previous discussion… https://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/13/p/261509/2943186.aspx

@the Bear, thanks for this link (wouldn't you know it -- the one time I DON'T do a search to see if the topic is already threaded, and it's about the Baker's tank car). So I see from the previous thread that the conclusion was that Baker's shipped liquid chocolate all over the U.S. Good enough for me. As I noted above, I'm not picky about inventory control, so this car could be spotted at any chocolatier or cafe or candy factory in my town. 

Bummer that all the links to photos, book covers and articles in that thread are already dead links after just four years.

-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.

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Posted by crossthedog on Tuesday, January 4, 2022 11:14 PM

Ablebakercharlie
I have that baker's chocolate tanker car on my layout. It makes deliveries to the small bakery / cafe that is located in the little town that I have on the layout. It would absolutely make no sense at all in the real world but it makes me smile

Ha! I love this. Great minds think alike; I have the Walthers Cornerstone book store (Robert's Used Books, though I will name it differently), and I plan to have a spur leading to the back of it so that a weekly boxcar can bring in impossible loads of books to be sold.

-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.

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Posted by NHTX on Tuesday, January 4, 2022 10:40 PM

     I would have a candy bar manufacturer that made that product.  You could also have PFE reefers bringing in coconut from the Pacific.  Also peanuts from the south, in boxcars or reefers.  There would also be tankers carrying molasses.  Products shipped out would require refrigeration so, more reefers or, insulated boxcars.

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Posted by "JaBear" on Tuesday, January 4, 2022 10:13 PM
Here’s a link to a previous discussion…
 
 
…hope it helps.
Cheers, the Bear.Smile
 

"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."

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Posted by Ablebakercharlie on Tuesday, January 4, 2022 9:42 PM

I can't give you a prototypical answer but I will mention that I have that baker's chocolate tanker car on my layout.

It makes deliveries to the small bakery / cafe that is located in the little town that I have on the layout.  It would absolutely make no sense at all in the real world but it makes me smile when I run it so that's why I have it.   

You might say I was taking an unconscionable liberty.

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What would be delivered or shipped in a Baker's Chocolate Tank Car?
Posted by crossthedog on Tuesday, January 4, 2022 9:00 PM

You guys will laugh, but I'm asking anyway, because someone will know. I've been considering buying a tank car or two and thinking what kind of industry I might want in my little town at the end of the branch. Something fun, I was thinking. Then I saw that Walthers offers (and many manufacturers have offered throughout the years) a tank car emblazoned with the Baker's Chocolate logo and its famed femme, Jean-Étienne Liotard's La Belle Chocolatière. So taken was I with the idea of spotting this car at some factory on my branch line that I started doing research. In the back of my mind I was wondering, how on earth can any one factory use that much liquid chocolate at one time? And as I read about what products Baker offered, I started thinking, maybe these cars didn't haul liquid chocolate, maybe they hauled formaldehyde and gasoline and kaolin like the Gulf and Sinclair and other cars. Maybe this car was just an advertising opportunity. 

That got me wondering how tank cars are used in general. When did a factory get spotted tank cars bearing the name of their product and when did they get spotted cars bearing the logo of the railroad serving them? Was it a function of the size of the factory (or the company that owned it)? What if it was a small, one-off factory? Or did tank cars just get moved around will-i nill-i so that you'd spot the Baker's Chocolate car at a cheese factory while picking up their empty GATX car or a Conoco car?  

I realize this is a bonehead question with too many subquestions, but if anyone cares to throw a few clues my way I'd be appreciative.

-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.

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