Working on a Zerolene tank car & was wondering what the pipe or grabrail that seems to wrap around the dome & go to the deck down the center of the car is used for. Most all of the tank cars of that era seem to have the same arrangement…thanks
Jerryl,
A vent, of sorts? Does it look like any of these:
Frank
No, doesn’t look like those. If you Google Zerolene tank car you will see what i mean. Looks like a grab rail wraped around the dome, but then goes straight down to the deck. Doesn’t look like it goes into the dome as a vent would…but maybe it does??
I just googled Zerolene tank car: I see two tank straps on each end, a upward-pointing pressure relief valve on the dome and two access ladders on each side of the dome, as well as the circumferential grab rail. There is an image of an old Standard Oil tank car that has what appears to be something looped around the base of the dome where it meets the top of the tank, but that is another tank strap. I found no additional piping from the dome in any of the images.
Maybe post an image for more clarity…
Cedarwoodron
Jerryl,
I threw that link in for the heck of it. Lot of tank cars in it.
I still think what You are referring to is a vent, or drip pipe. You have to remember, the older tank cars did not have baffels inside, so they had to be careful of how much they filled it to try and avoid too much slushing or movement of the car.
I drove tankers a lot and in my experience, even stopped at a traffic light, the liquid in the tank would roll back and forth and sitting in the truck with your foot on the brake, you could feel yourself moving back and forth, just by the springs moving, but the truck was not rolling, weird feeling. I could be wrong, but I believe I’m close.
Frank
I think cedarwood is right…it could be an additional hold down. The prototype pictures show this, the other pictures are models that are not accurate as they show ladders or different frames.
Looks like maybe the ring around the dome is where the middle tiedown attaches. I Googled tank car vents & none are shown going down to the deck.
There is a Model Die casting kit on ebay now. The tank looks pretty good The rest of it has a different frame…just have to fill a few holes & mount it on a flat car. At least the graphics look good…jerry
Yeah! The Cedar, is probably correct.
Have Fun!
Frank
…and I wear progressive lenses[:D]!
Cedarwoodron
Geez, Frank, very disconcerting to see 9 of my own photos in that link. [:^)] No wonder my photobucket bandwidth was being used up so rapidly.
Wayne
Wayne,
Are they allowed to do that?? I havn’t set up a Photobucket account yet and now I wonder.
Frank
I haven’t ser one up either, that’s why I don’t post pictures. once your picture is out there it’s “community property”.
Congratulations. You’re on your way to being “The most interesting man in the world.”
“Prototype locomotive manufacturers copy his models.”
“Mother Nature learns weathering from his web site.”
I love those commercials, Mister B. [(-D]
I don’t so much mind the photos being there, as I’m always glad to share if it’s of use to others. What was disturbing is that the monthly band width allowance of my free photobucket account was being used up in under two weeks, with in excess of 100,000 views in that time. While many were either here or in another train forum to which I belong, there were a great number attributable to “other sites” - mostly google or yahoo searches.
I finally opted for a paid membership at photobucket. That allows increased storage (I used very little of my free allotment, even with over 5,000 images stored, because their file size is quite small) and “unlimited” bandwidth. I put unlimited in italics because if traffic is excessive, they may limit it.
Anyway, view as much as you wish - I’ll deal with the limitations if and when they occur.
I would still recommend for anyone here to open a free account. So many times I’ve seen questions asked here which would have been much easier to answer if only the person asking had included a photo.
Wayne
Just saw that the Roundhouse Zerolene tank car was sold on ebay…Did you buy it, just asking. $11.00 wasn’t bad for ebay.