Athearn Chemical tank

Model Railroader Prototype information for the modeler
1

Hi

I am trying to establish in what time period are this Athearn tank cars prototopical

ATH 73901 SF

ATH 7304 UP

ATH 73205 ULTX

thanks very much for your reply

stefano

2

I have heard that the older Athearn tankcars may have been close to resembling a prototype but had none. UTLX cars similar to that would have probably been common from the 1940s to 1970s. I am pretty sure neither ATSF nor UP ever had cars like it.

3

The Athearn model is not a common size and the dome is too short compared to similar prototypes.

The UP model would be of a tank car used to haul diesel fuel from Rawlins WY to UP diesel shops. It would only be seen on the UP and only moving between Rawlins and major fueling facilities. The UP only had a couple dozen of these.

The ATSF tank is pretty much the same.

Your best bet for accuracy or some of the other tank car models and your best bets for a general service (in the sense of one that coupld be seen at more places) tank car is one with UTLX, SHPX or GATX initials or the initials of a big oil company.

4

Eric and Dave

Thanks very much for your always greatly apreciated reply

regards

stefanp

5

Also in your opinion would be Bachmann 3 dome tank car Shell 17134 accurate or more appropriate ? For what period is this shell tank representative ?

thanks again

stefano

6

I checked the Athearn web site for information on these cars.

ATH 73901 is shown as Santa Fe ATSF 98476, model of a 20,900 gallon capy prototype manufactured by Richmond Tank Car Co.

I checked the Santa Fe car number in the book, Santa Fe Tank Cars (Santa Fe Rwy RollingStock Reference Series- Vol.5) Hendrickson & Pelouze, Santa Fe Rwy Historical & Modeling Society (SFRH&MS), 2004. The number is in ATSF series 98400-98524, class TK-R, built by Richmond Tank Car, 1974, 20,800 gallon capy. It has no running boards, end platform, heavy cradle over each truck comes almost to mid-point of tank, no center sill, gray bands on right end of each side identifies them as being in diesel fuel service. These features appear identical to the model photo on the Athearn website, and photos look identical. It was in Santa Fe company service from 1974 until the merger w BN. HOWEVER, remember that as a company setvice car, it will operate ONLY between the refinery or oil dealer than supplies ATSF and Santa Fe’s diesel terminals, probably not running on any

I do not have much information on UP freight cars. However, as a company service car, it would mostly be found ONLY on UP.

ATHEARN 73205 ULTX is NOT a chemical tank car but a nonpressure general service tank car with an expansion dome, with appearance sim

7

WoW Leighant

You are a living encyclopedia.This is amazing i spent hours reserching this informations and yet every time i struggle to come up with what i want to know and the way get even more complicated some times due to the great variety of precise infos

So on the Athearn one the owner code is mispelled ? and the Bachmann one is correct except for the number ? if i understood correctly

Thanks very much indeed for the mine of informations you have provided me and also benefited other members that like me are on a steep learning curve,Much appreciated

stefano

8

Errrrr. What I meant was YOUR listing about the Athearn “ULTX” tankcar was incorrect in your query. The Athearn website shows the car as the proper UTLX. You also asked about certain models being prototopical and I believe you meant to say “prototypical” (with a Y).

I do not have a photo of the prototype Shell tankcar, but the information on the Shell 3-dome tanker in the April 1954 Register seems to match the Bachmann model.

9

Dave, I suspect you are referring to this type of tankcar. Athearn calls this the chemical tankcar.

10

I’ve noticed Steffan’s other topic about prototypical modeling so it appears he is searching for models which match real freight cars.

Just a general comment Steffan, freight cars by Athearn and MDC, especially their older tool cars - many don’t match any prototype but have a “general” look of common freight cars of the 50’s, 60’s and some 70’s era. It can be quite a challenge to match many of the Athearn blue box and MDC kit cars to any prototype! So just keep that in mind. I did post a list of HO freight cars I have matched up with prototype cars or found to be very close with some minor differences in the Prototype Modeling thread.

Some of Athearn and MDC’s more recently tooled freight cars, tooled in the 80’s and 90’s are more likely to match a real freight car. Accurail is another company who’s freight cars often are not exact matches to real cars. Walthers is better but still hit or miss, you have to check them out on a case by case basis. I have many Walthers freight cars but I did my homework before buying most of them. Atlas tends to be better about matching their models to real freight cars but they do use some “license” to offer more variety. From past experience, I’ve seen discussions just like this one where someone is trying match a model they found from Athearn (blue box) or MDC, and the real experienced people come on and say sorry charlie, that is just a generic “cludge” model which has no real analog in real life. That is the world of plastic models.

On a final note, I think Proto 2000 made a nice detailed tank car which fits the 1950’s time frame and may very well be an accurate model true to a prototype.

11

Eric Leighant and Rio grande

Thanks very much for your advice much appreciated

The reason why more often i ask for the comparison with Athearn models is because this make is realatively easy to find here so other makes are rare and the variety poor

I also like to do my homework but i understand the predicaments of the modeling world

thanks again

regards

stefano