Mother Of All Tank Cars?

[2railjon]

DuPont Ethyelene Glycol hauler.




(Modeler unknown)

[Rufus T. Firefly]

One Reprocessed Lugubrium unit tank car......

[big bad jim]

The modeler is Bobby Pitts. He does some nice HO stuff, including lots and lots of tank cars. It's his thing.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/53243414@N00/?deleted=3941799745

[2railjon]

Jim, thanks for giving credit to the fella that built it. It’s magnificent!

[webenda]

DUPX tank cars | DUPX #29745 Ethylene Glycol 8-Axle Tank Car NOPB France Road Yard 1997
Do you want a model kit of this? No problem! Go to http://www.outoftheboxmodels.com and submit a Commission form!
The production of these 8 axle tank cars (RailWhales) was ended by Federal regulation 35 CFR 14216 which prohibited the construction of any tank car with a maximum gross rail load exceeding 263,000 pounds or with a capacity greater than 34,500 gallons. These restrictions were proposed on 11 December 1969 and went into effect on 1 December 1970. The last RailWhales were completed the previous month.
Reference: http://www.railgoat.railfan.net/railwhales/index.htm
There are 10 pages of information about these tank cars on the referenced site.
Navigation links at the bottom of each Car Group Page enable you to move through 34 more pages with some data.
DuPont 29745 was 92 feet long or 23 inches in 1:48 scale. Should be able to negotiate my O-27 curves.

[robert.]

How would that tank car benefit a railroad?

[webenda]

How would that tank car benefit a railroad?

Competitive advantage... bigger cars allow railroads to charge lower rates.

[J. S. Bach]

I have/had a version of that lettered for "PUBLIKER" (sp?) painted a light color like tan with reddish graphics. I do not remember if it had four trucks or a pair of three-axle trucks.

[robert.]

How would that tank car benefit a railroad?

Competitive advantage... bigger cars allow railroads to charge lower rates.

I need some proof on that one. I say "Bs." I would think they charge by pound.

[2railjon]

“DuPont 29745 was 92 feet long or 23 inches in 1:48 scale. Should be able to negotiate my O-27 curves. “

LOL, Wayne!! Just posting a unique tanker that would look ridiculous on my layout as well!!

[big bad jim]

How would that tank car benefit a railroad?

Competitive advantage... bigger cars allow railroads to charge lower rates.

I need some proof on that one. I say "Bs." I would think they charge by pound.

To achieve the highest volume of lading for the least amount of tare. Same as any other large volume car that carries a relatively light lading. Like 86" auto parts cars that carry stampings, versus coil cars, or 5700 cubic foot plastic pellet covered hoppers versus 3281 cubic foot hoppers that carry cement or frac sand.

I'm under the impression that these cars were outlawed for safety reasons in case of a derailment and breach, rather than anything else. If you look at the linked site, you' should find a version of the guy's bromine car. It's the other end of the spectrum.

Ethylene Glycol density = 1.11 g/cm³
Bromine density = 3.1 g/cm³

[webenda]

How would that tank car benefit a railroad?

Competitive advantage... bigger cars allow railroads to charge lower rates.

I need some proof on that one. I say "Bs." I would think they charge by pound.

Railroads charge by weight, indeed they do. If they can save money by switching fewer cars and having fewer cars to maintain, more of the money they charge for weight is profit. If they want to compete with trucking, they need to underbid the trucking industry. Some of the profit gained by using behemoth cars sacrificed by lowering cost to the customer for certain commodities that can be shipped in huge cars.

Did you notice most of the mammoth and cars are owned by the customer? The lower cost of shipping in a RailWhale tank car made it cost effective for the customer to buy and maintain these cars. Having the customers foot the bill for railcars is even more of an advantage for railroads.

Your proof is the financial logic behind whale size cars. Your proof is in the hundreds that were built. They would not have been so popular if they were not cost effective.

And one more "proof." The trucking industry did not like losing business to railroads and charged that the giant tank cars were unsafe. They were successful in lobbying to have the cars banned. Railroads were forced to go back to more expensive shipping of liquids in smaller tank cars.

For the same reason railroads liked the long tank cars, trucking wants to increase the length of trailers from 53 feet single to 66 feet dual. Of course, the railroads are arguing with the same words trucking used to get rid of long tank cars, "long trucks are unsafe."

Reference: https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2017/0 ... s-wrestle/

[webenda]

To achieve the highest volume of lading for the least amount of tare.

I forgot that one. Thank you, Jim.

[robert.]

To achieve the highest volume of lading for the least amount of tare.

I forgot that one. Thank you, Jim.

I can't see a reduced tare weight in that tanker. Maintenance should cost the same. 16 wheel,bearings and brakes. Price savings in couplers and time it would take to string a few together. "Popular". Railroads wont be the first business to make mistakes in groups. One savings may come from a toll bridge in Delaware. That bridge is quarter mile from DuPont . These days to compete with trucking you need to be quicker!

[De Bruin]

As an aside various authors cite the move to 50 foot covered hoppers cars for transporting dense aggregates as the coup de grace for many road's secondary lines in the sixties and seventies in that they left track damaged more severely and quickly than they could practically afford to repair. The roads purportedly most affected by the "trend' were the usual suspects, CRI&P, Milwaukee, and anthracite roads, most specifically the CNJ.

On a different note, does anyone recall or know of a modern O scale tank model that came with three axle trucks? Modern O scale tank cars would make an interesting thread; Weavers assorted variants, which albeit interesting seem impractically fragile. Jon's Tank Train conversion is a great example. I seem to recall Precision importing a number of "modern" sixties era brass freight cars, I wonder if they tackled any of the big tanks?
Atlas recently offered some nice long modern tank cars too.