UTLX Tankcar

Model Railroader Prototype information for the modeler
1

Good day!

Have a photo of UTLX 11071 travelling on a narrow gauge railway in Newfoundland Canada.

Would anyone have the details on this car, as in size etc?

Thanks

Andrew

2

The Newfoundland Railways (CN) was 42” gauge, however there was a time period when standard gauge car trucks were exchanged for narrow gauge trucks ala East Broad Top to run on the Newfie. More information or the photo would be helpful.

Rob

3

Was looking for the size of the car etc. Not sure if someone has an old ORER or something like that.

Here is a slide of the car on ebay right now:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=390093402925&ssPageName=ADME:B:BCA:US:1123

Thanks

Andrew

4

Hello Andrew,

Number 11071 is a Union Tank Car class X-3 standard gauge car riding on 42-inch gauge trucks, possibly temporarily. Pinning down its size or capacity is harder, since the UTLX listings in the equipment registers aren’t specific. That car is lumped into the series 26 to 12749, which includes cars of 60,000, 80,000, and 100,000 pounds capacity. Liquid capacities aren’t given, but these sizes approximate 6,000, 8,000, and 10,000 gallons. My guess is that 11071 is an 8,000 gallon car of the version with the longer, more slender tank. There were also 8,000 gallon X-3s with shorter, fatter tanks. Again, the register listings don’t give the cars’ lengths or any other dimensions.

In HO scale, the only models of the X-3 are resin kits made by Sunshine Models, P.O. Box 4997, Springfield, MO 65808-4997, phone 417-831-0750. Sunshine Models doesn’t have a Web site or e-mail address, and can be slow to ship a kit that’s not current in inventory. Patience will be rewarded, as the kits are well made and the integrity of the people is beyond doubt. Tank cars are among the more challenging resin kits, however, and I wouldn’t recommend this one as anyone’s first attempt at this type of kit.

We published a photo of a 6,000-gallon X-3 that I built from a Sunshine kit on page 49 of the December 2008, Model Railroader, in Tony Koester’s article, “Modeler’s guide to transition-era tank cars.”

So long,

Andy