I have mentioned before on these Forums that in my opinion, tank cars are an area where the model manufacturers have for many many years brought out a disappointingly small sample of what the prototype offered, or offers. I know Atlas has over the years brought out a nice variety of tank car options in HO, but even so both on an historical basis and on a modern basis, it seems to be tank cars where the model manufacturers have let many common prototypes go un-modeled, compared to their fairly good offerings of covered hoppers and boxcars.
A fairly intense few days of railfanning has reinforced that impression. Among the features I see that are not available to my knowledge in model form, either as kits or RTR or for that matter in after-market detail parts:
Many of the oil and ethanol tank cars I saw this week have new and much more robust methods of mounting the brake wheel housing on the end of the tanks
Oil and perhaps ethanol tank cars now seem to be equipped with a steel shield at the ends, a half round shield a foot or so from the end of the tank itself, and likewise having the brake wheel housing mounted on it. I assume it is there to prevent or minimize punctures from couplers or nearby open loads in event of a derailment.
Traditional modern tank cars have the weld seams in concentric circles on the tank, but more and more tank cars seem to have the welding seam as a sort of spiral running the length of the tank, I am not aware of any manufacturer offering this but it was very commonly seen while railfanning this week.
It takes a rather trained eye to spot these changes in equipment. Ever caught yourself commenting on something of this nature to someone who thinks trains only exist to slow traffic at crossings? They look at ya like how can you even know, much less care about something so totally irrelevent? (Unlike knowing who’s getting eliminated in American Idol)
The question is whether model manufacturers think these changes to equipment are important to enough modellers to go to the expense of tooing them up? Do they know that model railroaders know they are out there?
Personally, I’d be thankful just to find a few good ol’ “blue box” SP tankers at decent prices. Dan
Amrerican Railcar, Inc. is the only manufacturer I am aware of that uses sprial pattern.
I would like to see model manufacturers make various parts (heads and cylinders in various diameters, saddles, fittings, etc) so that we could build models of specific prototypes.
If you are into scratch building/kit bashing, Plastruct makes tubing of various sizes as well as tank ends. And PPW-Aline sells a set of tank car ends of various styles: http://www.ppw-aline.com/images/tankcar.jpg
Although I’m not aware of nor really notice some of the finer details, I do agree that the availability of tank cars and the variety of types/styles to fit the prototype are sorely lacking. I model the 1970’s and the amount of single dome cars, especially with privately-owned or leased reporting marks/liveries, are hard to find. Sure, you can buy what Atlas and some others have offered, but at $35+ a copy, I am just not budgeted for that kind of pricing. I have a three-pack of single dome GATX cars made by Athearn, but they were custom painted and decaled. I also have some other Athearn cars that were not necessarily prototypical in livery and/or style (as are most Athearn BB cars) that I will some day modify, repaint and decal.
Interesting, spiral welded pipe in large diameters has been around for more than 50 years. They take a coil of steel plate, maybe 1/4" thick or more and 24" wide, unwind it around a mandrel, and weld the edges together with automatic welding machine. It is used in diameters 24" to 48" or more. It looks like this process has been scaled up for the thickness of tank car shells.
