I am looking to scratch build a model of a small fuel oil depot so that I have a place to spot a tank car. I remember seeing models with high platforms and hoses that would go to the top of the tank car. Am I right in assuming that those are only for facilities that load the tank car? If so, what type of plumbing is needed to unload a tank car into a storage tank and what kind of plumbing is needed to load it from the storage tank into a truck? I have been searching the web with no luck. Any info or links to models or prototypes would be greatly appreciated.
Many older tank cars were also ‘un-loaded’ from the top as well. Local fuel oil distributors had a ‘crane’ with a long hose that dropped into the tank car and the product was pumped out. Pipe from the crane went to a small shed that had the pumps that pumped the fuel to the storage tanks.
I chose to use the Walthers “Interstate Oil” kit. This is a tight shot of the plumbing used around the part of the facility where the tanks are unloaded into the fuel oil trucks.
The kit comes with 5 tanks, 3 horizontal and 2 vertical in the background. It’s also got an office with a quonset hut that I didn’t use here.
Just to the left of vertical tanks in the background you can see the fixture for unloading tank cars from the top. It has a rocker arm that hoses hang from. That’s part of the kit, too, along with a small shed for the pumping facility.
The ultimate in minimalist train-truck petroleum product transfer was one I saw at a place called Nogata, in Fukuoka-ken - a little tin shed about the size of Clark Kent’s phone booth, with hoses looped over hooks on the outside. One hose went to the bottom valve of the tank car (ToKi 3000 class, gasoline lading.) The other was attached to the dome valve of whichever truck was in place for loading. The transfer pump was inside the shed, which had electric service.
There was a line of trucks in place, with total capacity sufficient to drain the tank car.
I have also seen a rural fuel transfer which had two obsolete tank car tanks on wooden trestlework. The office/work shed was somewhat larger, and of more substantial consruction.
Larger, more modern storage facilities have berms around each tank, total capacity of the bermed area (including the part of the tank below the crest) somewhat larger than that of the tank.
Cornerstone has a number of oil terminal related kits that you can pick and choose from to come up with your own version of an oil terminal. I did a medium sized one, and hooked two of the loading platforms together, which allows me to service 4 tankcars - 2 to a side.
IMHO, the trick to building a realistic oil terminal is to keep all the components in the same perspective (size). In example, if you have a rail facility that handles 4 tankcars, you would want enough storage tanks to handle significantly more than that capacity (of the 4 cars). This also applies to the size of the truck facilities, office, storage buildings, etc.
One other point… fuel oil, propane, and other heating fuels are typically (NOT always) cheaper in the summer months. So, distributors will build inventory then, store it, and hopefully have a wider profit margin when the first cold weather brings about the heavy winter demand.
