Well tanker fans...I warned Arnold that I was a "tank - a - holic" so I gathered up a display of Marx 6 " tankers for your review. First, two SF "Middle States Oil" 6" 8 wheel cars, one with "one way" automatic coupler, red frame and "bullet" shaped tank ends and the other with tab and slot coupler, flat tank ends, and black frame. Both produced about the same time, 1936-37. The 6" 8 wheel cars did not reappear after the war.
3 more "Middle States Oil" cars, which were available both pre and post war. This picture illustrates that these cars came with a black, red/white, and silver frame. Although the silver frame car and the red frame car was more numerous pre war it is not an absolute dating feature. The black frame was the most common post war. All these cars have the flat ends on the tank.
Two of the earliest SF Middle States Oil cars. The one on the left has the short wheelbase, silver lithographed frame which was the first frame Marx used on his 6" cars. The short wheel base car dates from about 1934. The other yellow car has an early frame with rounded ends, but longer wheelbase, dating it from about 1935 -36. Note that like most of the early tankers, these two have "bullet" shaped tank ends.
Next up is the Marx # 19847 SDRX Sinclair tankers. Except for the lithographed number, these are more or less the same physical car as the 553 tanker illustrated above. Available in both black and green and here with tab/slot couplers. They came with plastic knuckle couplers post 1953. Note the lower domes that are color coded and not polished metal like almost all the other tankers in this line. These were part of the "new" lithographic designs, carrier out in the 1950's.
Finally, the UTLX, Union Tank Car Co, tanker from about 1953. This has the plastic knuckle couplers that first appeared in 1953 and lasted until the end of the 6" line (and Marx). This has the larger diameter (18mm) and flatter dome, flat ends, and square end frame. This is about the final configuration of the tank car. All of these 6" cars in various forms were available in Marx sets, electric, wind up, and battery almost to the end of Marx production. As such they represent an extremely successful and long lasting design despite being a long way from scale.
Well, that's my tanks for tonight. Have a great week everyone.
Don
