Anybody have a reference to: 1) a guide to modern tankcars? 2) a guide to covered hoppers? My searches have come up empty. I vaguely remember articles that had the specifics laid out in table format - builder, dates in service, capacities, products hauled, dimensions, but I can’t find the articles now. Something like: UTLX, 30,000 gallon, built blah to blah, ethanol service or GATX, 4-bay, plastic granules Thanks!
This may not be exactly the same thing, but there was a time when GATX made available a manual with drawings, outage tables, commodities, etc. The one I have dates back to 1980. You may be able to find one on eBay. In recent times they appear to have put all this information on the Internet and you need a customer password to access it.
If you cannot convince GATX that you really need this info and a password, I suggest the Simmons-Boardman Cyclopedia, the last edition of was printed in 1997. It is set up by type of freight car and includes pictures, demensional drawings, and all the rest, representing several manufacturers. It is pricy but worth it if you really want the information you seek.
Hope this helps.
John Timm
FMC made 4700’s, ACF made 4600 and 4650’s that are around 50 feet long (I’ve seen 50’ and 47’ listed), Thrall made 4750’s, Pullman-Standard made the PS2-CD in 4740 and 4750 versions that are 54-55’ long, and they made the 4427. Trinity makes the 5161, 5701. Someone makes a 5748 but I haven’t been able to find much about it, Atlas is just coming out with them. Them are all for grain
Of course Pullman standard made the PS2, around 35 feet long. Them are hard to nail down, but around 3000 cubic feet. I’ve seen them marked as that, but my N scale MILW PS2’s are marked for like 2890 or something like that. ACF made 3560’s for like clays and powders. And whoever makes the 5748 makes a slightly larger 5800 for non-grain commoditites. Oh, and then there was the 2 bay air slide hoppers for flour, I’m sure they were made to handle more than that though, 50’ long.
Some place that gets rail served by where I live gets a loooooooooooooooot of 4750’s and 4650’s, but nothing in the area gets grain so I’m not sure. I should crawl up one one of these days to see if the top has hatches or continous gravity feed inlets. I know the place it goes to, and believe me, what they deal with has NOTHING to do with grain. I have an interesing detail shot of a tank car with some of their…“product”…clung to the side. The main company deals with a world of stuff, some not nasty at all like used cooking oil, but of course the plant by the apartment deals with thee…nasty…stuff. For some odd reason though the smell of their…procedures…tends to smell almost like peanut butter sugar cookies. It makes me never touch that kind of cookie, and they used to be my fav.
Ok found a bit of info.
Sanimax gets the maximum out of dead animals and oil traps. Special product, tallow.
Tallow: 1. the fatty tissue or suet of animals; 2. the harder fat of sheep, cattle, etc., separated by melting…I will stop the rest of the descprition right there.
Now here’s the fun part. I learned this after talking to a crew that just switched Sanimax. They make 8-10 loads a day. 8-20 tank cars, each car around 210 000 pounds and over 20 000 galloons. And I’m stopping there because I’m starting to picture all this and I’m getting a little, well, yeah.
[dinner] bon appetit