I was at the hobby shop today & became intrigured by an old HO Ambroid 1 in 5000 tank car kit. The car has a semi-circular tank and lettering for some company in Sisterville, West Va. I think it represents a pre-1914 car but am unsure. Can anyone tell me anything about whatever prototype this car is to represent?
Did you note the COMPANY NAME or the reporting marks on the car? That information could be used to trace a car through an “Official Railway Equipment Register”, IF the car is OWNED by the company whose name is on the car. (If actually owned by a leasing company and leased to the shipper, could be in ORER under owner, not shipper…)
I have ORER for 1954 and 1971. Lots of “freightcarologists” have old ORERs and one may have something that fits your car.
I have not tracked down the prototype of the car you saw, but I know most of the cars in the Ambroid 1 in 5000 seires as real railroad cars, have seen several of them in prototype “live” in museums, etc not just photos.
I found a website with information on the history , identification and PHOTOGRAPHS of Ambroid 1 in 5000 kits…http://home.att.net/~pers_home/index.html
It shows that car as an early insulated tank from Riverside Oil Company, reporting marks ROTX 118.
There is a similar car illustrated in the 1943 Carbuilder’s Cyclopedia - apparently built by Alcoa for Monsanto Chemicals of Boston, Ma. Cheers, Mark.
“There is a similar car illustrated in the 1943 Carbuilder’s Cyclopedia - apparently built by Alcoa for Monsanto Chemicals of Boston, Ma.”
That Monsanto tankcar sounded familiar. I looked it up in my database of private owner and leasing company tankcars to see if I a reference more easily found than a 1943 Cyclopedia (collector’$$$ item) Doggone, turns out I have my own original photo of the car at of Transport, taken in 1994.
Is it? I found my copy amongst a pile of very usefull books being thrown out when one of our wagon works was closing down. Lucky me!
Excellent, thanks for posting that photo, Kenneth.
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Possible, but I reckon it’s much more likely that the Riverside car has a corrugated aluminium jacket over its insulation, rather than exposed wooden logs.
Cheers,
Mark.
Thanks so much to all of you for your help. I checked out the website mentioned & emailed Per Harvey. I also checked out my copy of the ORER from Jan 1915 (a cd from Westerfield) & found info about the company & its reporting marks, but not about that specific car. The company had its head office in Pennsylvania & the road no. on the kit is a legit no. for the co. I went ahead & bought the kit (better to be safe than sorry.) The photo one of you provided is great because now I know such cars really did exist & the comment about Ambroid cars following protoype is important to know. The corrugated siding in the kit is supposed to be painted aluminum which suggests that it was to have some kind of reflective quality.
Again, thanks to all of you for your help & to MR for providing this forum. I continue to be amazed at the speed with which the net allows modellers to help one another.
The corrugated aluminum siding is probably exterior sheathing to protect a layer of insulation on the outside of the pressure tank.
Regards
Ed
Richard M wrote: <“Again, thanks to all of you for your help & to MR for providing this forum. I continue to be amazed at the speed with which the net allows modellers to help one another.”> No worries, Richard - we’re glad to help. I’d love to see a photo of the model when it’s finished! Cheers, Mark.
Hi all,
Per here [:)]
I just wanted to let y’all know that the web site has moved, just in case you still want to check on the Ambroid kits: http://www.trainweb.org/ambroidkits/
Per
That website mentioned in an earlier posting
http://home.att.net/~pers_home/trains/woodkits/Ambroid_5-Cars.htm
also state: “This kit was later sold by Northeastern as kit #HT-4. To make things a bit more complicated, this kit has also been sold with a Northeastern instruction sheet, marked HT4, in the Ambroid box.”
Dave Nelson