Where to find 33K gallon tank cars for a small LPG/AA dealer suitable for an early 1980s rural layout? I only need a small number of cars to service the industry. It appears that Atlas makes them (Athearn also does but the build dates are 2000+). I found the Atlas on ebay. Anywhere else?
Thanks!
I’ve never researched he progression of LPG tank cars. Perhaps the 33,000 gallon cars weren’t around in the eary 80s. I model the mid to late 60s and found 11,000 gallon tank cars from Atlas ready to run. I have a Pyrofax Bottled Gas car, item #1064-1 with a build date of 1-52 and Fuelane Corp car item #1061-1 with a build date of 5-48 There were several other company names. I don’t think Atlas offers these any more, but they can be found on eBay.
I have two of the Atlas 33,000 Whale bellies for Wanda Petroleum. They are ACFX cars and have a build date of 9-64. They are white with billboard lettering on them. iI got them direct from Atlas as i couldn’t find any in local shops. They were released in 2007. Catalog #1739-1 and 2. The last release of this type car was in 2012.
My father worked for Wanda Petroleum in Houston, TX from 1962 until he retired in 1982. They had a tank loading rack along old HWY 288 south of where the Astro Dome was built, Called Pierce Junction. It is still a siding but the racks are gone. He said they had a few of these cars, but most were the standard Black ACFX cars. He also said that they had started to load more of the smaller capacity cars as the receiver’s couldn’t handle the large cars.
He was really surprised when i brought the cars for him to see.
The Atlas model of the whale bellies, they have hand rails along the top of the car, are a good representation of that type of car. They were used in 1980’s and I still see a few every now and again. The Atlas product can usually be found for a reasonable price on ebay.
Walthers ran both kit and RTR LPG 33k tank cars that are appropriate for the 1970’s and 1980’s:
https://www.walthers.com/exec/page/press/2001/gastank
There has been a few runs but I don’t see any recent, although with some searching you can find them on Ebay or train shows.
Yes, it appears that EBAY is probably my best bet for finding the tank cars. I have a feeler out on an HO swap yahoo group, so we’ll see what happems. Thanks all!
Here’s what the ebay search “HO scale LPG Tank Car” turned up:
I to have problems founding tank cars for the 1980s, but their not the whale bellies.
Athearn will be releasing some RTR 62’ tank cars this summer, era 60s to present. Check their website home page and click on news, then news Archive August 31,2015
Regards, Peter
Those look like RTR versions of the old blue box tank cars. I have one of the kit versions I built eon’s ago. I would imagine those were not all that common by the 1980’s, but you could add one or two in.
The Walthers really are the best; too bad they haven’t run more. I have a several I pick up between 2000 and 2008 including the red stripe CITX and a couple other plain jane’s; I also have several of the Atlas whale belly tank cars.
I wish someone would produce the LPG cars with the walkway that ran down the side of the top of the tank.
Those are general services tank cars, which means they would not carry LPG.
If you are unable to find the Atlas or Walthers cars, the early Athearn cars are very similar to cars around in the 1980s.
I never claimed they did - rather I only commented that they weren’t very common by the 1980’s. Take up the argument about type with whoever suggested them in the first place to the OP.
There were, but probably far out numbered by more modern tank cars, if that matters. If you check photo’s of typical freight trains in the 1980’s, those Athearn type 62’ tank cars were rare.
Hello all,
After looking at the price for RTR cars have you considered building your own?
Check out this article from the February Model Railroad Hobbyist online magazine; pg. 68, on tanker cars through the ages.
Tankers are easily modeled. Depending on how detailed you want to get.
I used wooden coffee stirrers; like the kind you find at your local coffee specialty store to make the frames. I bought 1,000 on Amazon for about $10.00 plus shipping.
I also used “Hobby Sticks”; aka ice cream sticks, that I found at my local home improvement center for the center anchorages.
The tanks are fashioned out of PVC pipe and styrene sheet for the ends. You can purchase tank car ends from various sources.
From the prototypical specs you can determine the OD of the PVC needed to replicate the cars you are building.
I use the Garden State Central Model Railroad Club’s conversion site for calculation purposes. This site also helps convert scale feet to actual inches for the length of the PVC pipe to replicate the length of the tank you are modeling.
Walkways and ladder can be purchased from many sources along with domes.
I found that Schrader valve stem caps can make a reasonable substitute for domes. My local auto parts store had a pack of 100 for about $5.00 (rather than “harvesting” them from your cars tires).
From there you can detail as much or as little as you wish adding brake components and dome details.
Hope this helps.
Sounds interesting, JJ., can you show us your tank cars?
Mike