Here is the new Bachmann 3 dome tank . I posed it with the Micro trains tank to give an idea of the size difference. The tank is the same size as the Bachmann silver series 10,000 gallon tank. Taking into consideration internal bulkheads I estimate the capacity at around 9400 gallons. The PQX 606 was built by ACF in Aug 1930 from an order of 5 cars (603-607) . Its capacity was 6767 gallons. The PQX car did not have the side fillers on the dome. PQX 606 should have K brakes but the model has a representation of AB brakes. The couplers are body mounted accumates. Changing them to microtrains may be difficult. The bolsters have a shouldered boss that the trucks fit into and are held in with small pins, much smaller than a typical truck pin. Oddly enough the model has car end placard holders but none on the sides of the car. One word of warning , if you desire to add weight to the car (in my opinion it needs it) the car does NOT come apart easily. The 10,000 gallon single dome cars I have came apart with no problem but the new 3 dome cars have the tank halves glued together. Getting the tank off the underframe is nearly impossible without damage to either the frame or the tank. In all, its a nice looking car with great detail. The printing on the car is wonderful , I especially like the fine handbrake staff on the car. The profile of the car with the dome side fillers make it stand out as a transition era car. As far as I know no other manufacturer has made this tank dome. A little weathering on this car will go a long way to highlight the fantastic detail on this model !! Bachmann offers this car in 5 roadnames. The TROX car closely resembles the Bachmann car exept for tank size. When I get the TROX car and Carbide and carbon car I'll let you know. Randy
I see most of the Bachmann tank cars are available on a website where I often buy "woo woo woo".:wink:
Ordered 6 of the Bachmann Philips tankers today. Real good price, just under 13 bucks apiece. ( from that large mail order co. that advertises in M.R. ) .....Mike
If you want to renumber them you can buy a microscale railroad gothic alphabet set. The side numbers are really small but I usually only change one or two numbers. The Phillips cars are nice looking cars. You might try a little weathering on them, the detail is great but some weathering will really make it stand out. Randy
Thanks Randy, Not real worried about the numbers, just going for the "look". ( At my age, what numbers :startled I've been slowly starting to weather a few cars, mostly the roof areas , at this time. The Bragdon powders work real well. Working on some pictures...Mike
Modelling the early 50s, I have 2 Intermountains, 1 MTL single dome, 3 Rapido single domes, and an Atlas/Rrivarossi single dome repainted to GATX black. All cars have different company logos and reporting marks, only one is not black. The last car has a unique distinction: it's the only survivor from the very first N scale train set I bought in 1967. All the other set cars, plus those I bought in the next few years are gone now too, sold off. The next oldest freight cars I have are some of the original "boxcar red" Kadees (all the early cars were the same color, only the road names were different). The tank cars make an interesting mix when running in a string -- all basically the same design yet every one different from the other manufacturers. I replaced the thick plastic handrail on the IMs with .080 brass wire. The old Rapido cars came with strong flexible wire handrails, very advanced for their time.
geeeezzzzzzzzzzzz...how i miss your reply...lol. It must be my old age again :-( Most of my modeling is 1980 to present. I do run some older stuff around now and then...just because it all looks cool !! My fuel 'tank farm' will be up front near the yard so I kinda need to get me about (6) 1980-2012 petroleum tank cars to park in there.
Late to this thread, but the latest issue of Trains magazine has a story about how tank cars might be the best way to get fracked oil from the fields to the east coast in unit trains of tank cars. The Class 1's are apparently skeptical, figuring that they will be displaced by pipelines eventually, but maybe not . . . John C.
I got three of the new Bachmann 3 dome cars , they are not bad looking at all , as soon as I finish with one I provide pics. Randy
yup, Buffett and Ichan already have the lease for a bunch of cars to haul it .... and the smart get richer indeed..
BTW, where are these links to unrelated eBay auctions coming from? It's deriving me nuts! See posts #1 and #5 in this thread for examples.
I for one have not linked this thread to E Bay. It seems like sometimes it does it automatic. Your post does however link to eBay. It is automatic, it depends how you type E Bay. Randy
Yup...the autolinking is a bit annoying. There is another thread in which there is a line "....it ran like a brand new engine." The liink takes you to that auction site and an ad for <<THOMAS>> the TANK ENGINE~ TRAIN ~ 2 Pc Pajamas size 7 <<BRAND NEW>> Ret. $28. Its funny but at the same time annoying when you think the poster is linking to an N scale ad or a link to pics of an N scale "Brand new Engine". I know its a possible source of income for TB...and I'm cool with that...but in that same vain...I normally dont click 'links' unless the poster specifically states "Follow this link." or something similar. Ok...now back to Tank Cars...MMmmmmmmmm
My apologies for hi-jacking the thread. But it came to a head when I realized that's own comments were being altered to include links I had not entered. I do not support the eBay listings that appear in my own comments yet there inclusions makes it appear that I do. Does this not bother anyone else?
I've been married three times, multiple divorces put things in perspective... I take most things in stride these days.. On topic, I am waiting for trucks and wheels to complete the next batch of 30 cars. As soon as I get wheels under them I may post a pic or two. I also started on some Intermountain 8000 gallon tank cars that will have the Plano etched platforms on them. I found a 1937 prototype for Carbide and Carbon corporation 8000 gallon non pressure car. It will fit well with my new Bachmann 3 dome Carbide and Carbon car. I'm still looking for more examples of pre 1950 tank cars that have the more modern platforms on them. I may also change some domes to represent early pressurized chemical cars. One thing there is nearly a total lack of is decals for tank cars. Aside from the micro scale sets the selection is very limited. I did find a set of Oddballs decals I want to try someday for Champlin refining company. Another white car would be interesting. Randy
Evolution (and de-evolution?) of my tank car fleet I have 46 tank cars in my N scale fleet but I have not acquired any in the last six years because I have a lesser need for tank cars on my current layout. For some 20 years, I operated a 3x7 foot N scale layout that represented a small courthouse square town in the piney woods of East Texas. I had only 4 places a tank car might be spotted on the modeled part of the layout. A local bulk oil dealer got a tank from Phillips 66 every few days. http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/data/548/Phil66mod.JPG A wood preservation plant warranted modeling a special Koppers Chamical tankcar for delivery of coal tar creosote. http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/data/511/Koppers.JPG A lumber mill just outside of town had its own shortline railroad and a fleet of trucks and other logging equipment, justifying buying diesel fuel by the carload from a refinery. http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/data/554/log_reload.jpg A peanut butter plant also got an occasional delivery of corn syrup. I used an 3-compartment UTLX TM tankcar for that shipment. Despite the sparse local liquid traffic, the layout also had a roundy-round route from staging that modeled a Santa Fe secondary mainline that connected the petrochemical centers of Beaumont and Port Arthur with the rest of Texas, including major refinery of Gulf, Texaco and Magnolia. http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/data/552/JnDiagram.JPG So I had name-brand tankcars moving petroleum. Refineries also shipped anhydrous ammonia to be used in fertilizer in a SHPX tank, LP gas in a UTLX tank. They received tetraethyl lead antiknock compound in a tankcar lettered for Ethyl Corporation. I wanted to model a special acid tankcar for delivery of sulfuric acid used in refineries, but never got to that project. The Texas-Louisiana border area had paper mills. They received caustic soda in a PPG tankcar, and a car owned by A E. Staley delivered custom engineered starch to stiffen corrugated cardboard. Lignosulfite, a paper mill byproduct used as an dispersant agent for concrete mixing was shipped out in a Protex car. A Hooker Chemical car shipped chlorine both for industrial and municipal utility use. So I had plenty of through tankcar traffic. My East Texas layout was envisioned as part of an eventual giant house-sized “dream layout,” to be built when and if I ever won the lottery. http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/data/552/svDiagrm.JPG I wanted tankcars to represent the Texas brand names of national oil companies. Buying commercial models and lettering others got me cars for: Conoco Gulf (and Warren Petroleum, owned by Gulf) Magnolia Phillips 66 Shell Sinclair Texaco A few of them- http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/data/558/PetrTnks.JPG I was never able to acquire one for Humble/ Esso. My big layout would have an engine terminal, so I lettered a car for Santa Fe company service. http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/data/511/ATSF_TKN.JPG I cobbled a boxcar into a Linde box-tank for industrial gases http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/data/511/TrixFxLinde.jpg and I got a car already factory-lettered for National Cylinder Gas. While I acquired cars—a DuPont fertilizer tank, a Celanese tank for unspecified “chemicals,” a TM tank for edible oil, a Heinz vinegar tankcar and lots more, I never won the lottery. Maybe because I spent money on trains and not lottery tickets. I gave up on the giant layout, although I did build the Navy blimp base, which gave me a place to run helium tank cars and US Navy tanks for aviation gasoline. http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/data/553/LTAendramp.JPG My layout currently under construction has less place for tankcars. It is based on Galveston, an island seaport at the end of the line with no through traffic. It is set in the middle 1950s, and I move sulphur to Galveston in gondolas, not the tankcars that now carry nsulphur in its molten form. Texas City, on the bay ten miles from Galveston is the major oil port and petrochemical center. Galveston specializes in dry bulk cargoes, with little in the way of local process industries. I can relocate my Phillips 66 bulk oil dealer, and I can imagine there are bulk dealers for other brands on a backstage spur behind the big export grain elevator, a place to represent unmodeled industries. I will have an engine terminal that will need fuel deliveries. I can imagine the Navy blimp base onto the backstage spur. But in all, I will have a lot less place for tankcar traffic.
