What is this car?

BoxcabE50 Dec 28, 2021

  1. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    I posted this in a TB railfan topic late last week. (I caught this in British Columbia, over forty years ago.) Directly behind the second engine. Nobody seems to know for what use this car was intended. It is not the typical one we have seen for helium. But sure looks like some sort of compressed gas cylinders. If it is simply pipe, I have never seen any load bolted in such as this example. I have doubts it has been modeled in any scale. Can someone identify it?

    [​IMG]
     
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  2. Grey One

    Grey One TrainBoard Supporter

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    Pipes? Natural gas?
     
  3. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    If pipes, I have never seen them strapped and bolted in such as with this load. You can see what might be banding around them, plus there is metal structure across their top. Such a sturdily built car for loose pipe sections seems a bit unusual. Had an email back from a freight car buff correspondent and his first impression was some sort of compressed gas cylinders.
     
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  4. DanRaitz

    DanRaitz TrainBoard Member

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  5. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    That is what we thought at first. But that one pictured is a different configuration. It has seven tier, instead of the standard five of helium car. The tanks, (if that is what they are?), are also a bit smaller.
     
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  6. GP30

    GP30 TrainBoard Member

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    It almost looks like large compressed gas cylinders laid vertically inside frame work. Perhaps they are modular and can be removed with a large forklift / telehandler and set on flat bed trucks for transport.

    The one thing I’m not seeing are chains or straps over the load, so it must be a special car designed or modified to handle these.

    Small volume cylinders inside modular frame work. Welding / torch gases for an industry or large construction project?


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
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  7. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Pat- Look closely at the car top. There appears to be two cross pieces, you can barely see a bit of each one.
     
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  8. Mr. Trainiac

    Mr. Trainiac TrainBoard Member

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    Are they removable containers? The flat car looks like it has stake pockets, which is unusual for a car with a permanent superstructure. It reminds me of the classic Evans Auto-Loader of Lionel and Athearn fame, where the NYC modified an existing flat. The top corners of the cars look a bit like IBC corner pockets that modern containers have, although the length doesn't look right for a multiple of 20 feet.

    Do you have any guess as to reporting mark? That could narrow it down a bit
     
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  9. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    No ideas. This was the only view of it I captured that day. And until this past week, I had never looked that closely. I was more interested in the refueling scene when I took it.
     
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  10. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Well, while we do not know the car and likely never will, a known car fan has confirmed that this load is a stack of three individual sections. Not helium. And these usually held some sort of gas used in welding.
     
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