Show Me Your Oil Tankers

how about these? The 2755 is fully restored. It is a very early 1945 model with four corner steps, "flying  shoe" couplers, and swirly wheels! The 3-dome is a custom job lettered for "Becco Peroxide" I chose this brand because I think it sounds dangerous!

Here are a few of mine. The 6665 is a restoration I did a few years ago. The new expansion of my layout will have an oil dealer spur.

A few I have.

Arnold...I admit to being a "tank-a-holic so here are a few miscellaneous ones from my colleciton.

Here is a prewar American Flyer (Chicago Flyer) from 1938

A Bing 2 dome prewar tanker

Three "Allstate" Tank cars from Marx all postwar plastic.  The 3 dome and the flat with tanks are so called "deluxe" cars from Marx and the blue 1 dome is a "lightweight" car, the lowest price line Marx offered.

Two Chad Valley tankers from the UK.  Postwar production from the 50's  Sorry for #1 its "milk" not "oil"  hope that is ok

Great thread Arnold, hope we can keep it going.

Don

I only have a couple (sob) but the ETS one counts as two due to the paint job.

Jim K

Arnold - you're threads are the best. The topics are always interesting and attract responses from people with a variety of interests and skill sets.

Here's one of my modern favorites - the "Area 51" tank car based on the top secret military prototype.

Much like Don M. I am a tankaholic too!

American Flyer, c. 1914, featuring wooden tank, nailed to the frame with decorative red straps.

1928 American Flyer 3210 in blue

A 1/2 dozen box of 1118 tank cars

NWL

All very interesting and fun to look at photos. Thank you all for your contributions.

An early Postwar Sunoco oil tanker in decent condition like those in the above photos is almost irresistible for me at my LHS or at a train show, and the prices for them are usually quite reasonable. In fact, I have posted numerous videos of Sunoco oil tanker unit trains, usually with the smaller traditional sized cars that are usually even less expensive. This video shows such a Sunoco oil tanker unit train:

One of the neatest things about such unit trains is that they are so real. Although I haven't done what I'm about to say for several years, I can drive for 20 minutes across the Bear Mountain Bridge spanning the Hudson River near where I live and see an oil tanker unit train, probably being pulled by a CSX diesel. Last time I saw that, it took my breath away: the power, the sounds, the trembling of the ground as it passed me by - so awesome.

I suspect many of us have experienced that - and we can re-create that in our own basements and attics. Arnold

Weaver Sinclair tank car.   I love the Sinclair logo!

Nice work, Arnold, I’m a fan of tank car unit trains, and as posted above restored a post war metal tank because it was cheap, and relatively easy to restore as far as removing the existing paint, cleaning up the metal, priming and repainting (I think I used Krylon spray, which matched the silver best on my more recent cars). Decals came from Underground Train Shop in PA. I used to hike around Iona Marsh just on the West side of the Hudson below the Bear Mountain Bridge, and photographed trains out on those trestles just before the island. My main layout has a Sunoco pump, and my new addition will include an oil dealership for those cars to run to.

Tankers are my favorite, well right after depressed-center/heavy-duty flats:

A few favorites.

@Don Winslow posted:

I have one of those but the fluid leaked out. Oddly the car was stationary for several months and there was absolutely NO trace of the fluid on the car or the carpet! Maybe the aliens came back to reclaim and reconstitute their "people".

I have an MTH Sinclair Operating Gas station and at one time thought about a small refinery, so I picked up these. The refinery idea went away -- maybe a fuel dealer instead.

@Norton posted:

A few favorites.

I'm not familiar with the gray version 4 pics from the bottom. Nice. Is that custom or what version is it?

The gray one is a version of the 2855. Some, maybe all, had no numbers. These are all repaints but have the correct trucks and detail for their road number.

The beauty of the single dome tank cars is they are one of few that can be accurately restored since the originals used actual decals instead of stamping.

The 715 is actually an Intermountain 8000 gallon car with 715 decals.

Pete

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

I did a brief Forum search and was surprised that I did not find this topic.

Speaking of model railroading enabling us to appreciate something most others don't,  whenever I run this engine with oil tankers, I imagine smelling the stinking oil refineries while driving along the NJ Turnpike.

@Arnold D. Cribari

Arnold:

While I was finishing my undergraduate degree, I made round nightly round trips from Baltimore to Bayonne. I was a tractor trailer driver for Englander Matress. The plant was on Avenue E. 5 nights a week, I passed said refineries twice. and remember the aroma only too well. 

My nightly runs were very aromatic. I drove a Mack tractor. The exhaust from the Mack had quite an odor. Also, crossing the Delaware Memorial Bridge, I was greeted on the Jersey side by Dupont Chemicals. There was a different smell every night. At least that added variety. Initially, we did not have license to go through Staten Island, so, we took exit 14 and came into Bayonne on Avenue A from which, every night, I saw the back of the Statue of Liberty.

I realize this dissertation has zero to do with model railroading. Your comment above stirred lots of memories from another life.

P.S.: If you want to add the scent dimension to your oil train, load the smoke unit in your Trainmaster with Mega-Steam, "Diesel Exhaust". I was a Mega Steam dealer at one time and stocked that scent. It is beyond me as to why anyone would want to make their train room smell like the butt end of a transit bus.

OIL...

OIL...

OIL...

NOT OIL...

Randy, I enjoyed your dissertation about the various smells while driving a truck.

Point of clarification: I mentioned before how I imagine the smell while driving past oil refineries on the NJ Turnpike. I have no desire to experience that real smell.

I appreciate your recommendation of diesel exhaust smoke fluid. However, my favorite smile fluids are Protosmoke Coffee and Lionel Premium Hot Chocolate. LOL, Arnold

@Norton posted:

The gray one is a version of the 2855. Some, maybe all, had no numbers. These are all repaints but have the correct trucks and detail for their road number.

The beauty of the single dome tank cars is they are one of few that can be accurately restored since the originals used actual decals instead of stamping.

The 715 is actually an Intermountain 8000 gallon car with 715 decals.

Pete

Great job

Paul those are gorgeous tanker cars, particularly the colors of them.

Matt and Patrick, the Sinclair oil tankers are among my favorites I don't yet have, and hope to get one.

Don, love your Area 51 oil tanker and everything else related to Area 51. I hope all the speculations/beliefs that intelligent life from somewhere else in the Universe made it here.

Norton, thanks for sharing your beautiful Sunoco oil tankers, which you already know I love from my above video of my Sunoco oil tanker unit train.

Dave, thanks for sharing your tankers, and now I'm a Yankee with blackened soul because today the team extended their losing streak to their last 5 games.

K-liner and Artie, your Sunoco oil tankers and other tankers in your photos are beauties.

Don, your pre-war tankers are wonderful, and I suspect they are quite valuable because they look like their own in excellent or better condition and probably quite rare.

Kevin, thanks for contributing your photo.

Bogart/Jim, your reply tankers also look great.

Arnold

PS: I had great fun on the Forum today. Thank you all for your compliments.

Always loved the color on this one and there was an Atlantic station several blocks away when growing up.

I really like the old fashioned black tanker cars. I still remember many times (50 plus years ago) driving along the SP’s Bayshore yards in San Francisco and seeing a line of black, single dome oil tankers. So for the last three or four months I picked up various junker tank cars and fixed them up, painted them, and applied either dry transfer or decal lettering. I don’t have any great pictures to share yet, but here’s a couple of photos. Sorry I don’t  have better photos. First is my repainted and relettered SP SW1 engine pulling  a train showing part of the first car. Then a photo of the 7 SP tanker cars with an SP caboose at the end.

Could a CSX diesel haul oil tankers through an Upstate NY town similar to what is shown in this video?

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Could a CSX diesel haul oil tankers through an Upstate NY town similar to what is shown in this video?

I think most of those are too small and colorful. Mostly seen today are larger tank cars most all painted black carrying either oil, ethanol, or corn syrup.

Those cars might have been pulled by a Mohawk or F3 long before CSX took over these rails.

Pete

@Norton posted:

I think most of those are too small and colorful. Mostly seen today are larger tank cars most all painted black carrying either oil, ethanol, or corn syrup.

Those cars might have been pulled by a Mohawk or F3 long before CSX took over these rails.

Pete

Thanks, Pete, although I know little about real trains, what you say makes sense. I have F3s and a Mohawk to run with those cars.

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Thanks, Pete, although I know little about real trains, what you say makes sense. I have F3s and a Mohawk to run with those cars.

This was taken a few miles from me. CSX mainline, former New York Central water level route. Pretty typical of modern railroading.......ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzz

Pete

The MTH modern 'kesselwagens' are beautifully detailed models.  They aren't in my modelling era at all, but since MTH made the electric TRAXX motors (I landed the SBB CARGO version while back, and re-acquired recently), it needed a consist.

Let me take you in a time machine back to 1969 (a great year for NY sports fans). We are railfanning along the majestic Hudson River.

Suddenly, we hear the distant rumblings of a Penn Central F3, it gets louder and louder until its upon us, only a few yards away, and we experience its awe and wonder, hauling a long oil tanker unit train:

Arnold

@Pantenary posted:

@Pantenary

Your tank fleet is great! Your catenary is intriguing. Did you build it yourself? If so, do you have plans that you would be willing to share?

Thank you.

A venerable classic, a B&M in the foreground and one that failed to negotiate the curve ...

@Richie C. posted:

...snip... and one that failed to negotiate the curve ...

HOOKER, now that is appropriate!

Speaking of tankers, did anyone successfully assemble a Walthers beer can tanker? I had bought one and got a beer can from a friend but never put the parts together. These were offered when beer cans were steel, but the problem (to me anyway) was the end with the ring pull; there just was no way to hide it. I probably should have looked for a much older can that needed a can opener to open it. Instead of using that, punch two very small holes in the side, one near the top end and one at the bottom end to drain out the beer. Then use that side as the bottom.

I think that finding that kind of can today would be impossible, at least at a reasonable price as one would be a genuine collectors item.

Tanker Tuesday

Tank cars waiting to be unloaded.

I have a number of tank cars by Lionel, K-Line, MTH, Williams, etc., but my 1930s-era Hornby red Shell tank car is probably my most unusual, having European buffers. Its on the track outside my Hornby #2 train shed, next to a clockwork Hornby tank engine, from 1928 or so.

found another one!

K-liner, yours is a similar color to this Lionel Gulf Oil tanker:

This one is my favorite. Arnold

MA & PA water tank car.  In this scene water is being delivered via rail to fire fighters fighting a forest fire.  ( I didn't model the fire ... LOL! )

Weaver Sinclair Oils custom run tank cars.

Here are a few of mine:

A reworked Lionel

A Bing

An American Flyer

A New Marx Prototype

...and last, but not least, old #1 - a 1952 stocking stuffer from my Grandmother to add to my brand new Lionel Scout Set that Santa left me that year.

Arnold - a search for tank cars would bring up at least two pages.  All of mine are 2-rail, including three genuine Lionel 715 tanks, but if at all interested, here is a link:

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/topic/lobaugh

OOH ! Sorry .. you said TANKers !

Ok some from the eclectic "House of FM "

Pionerexpressen ( Denmark 1950's)

Fleischmann Germany (with and without Brakemans cab)

Robilt ( Australia 1950's... very poor condition, but not abnormal , the paint chipped abysmally right outta the factory so its likely 50% of robilt looks this way now lol )

Hornby France

Hornby UK

Hornby Gas wagon on a flatwagon ...

Bing Germany

Kraus Fandor

Sakai Japan

A modern era Lionel die-cast single dome tank car waits in the siding as a hot Southern Pacific intermodal train passes.

Another favorite of mine:

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

British American

Found the boxes of small tank cars, so I figured they needed a little exercise.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Found the boxes of small tank cars, so I figured they needed a little exercise.

Love the smoking oil tankers in your very long oil tanker train.

@Don McErlean posted:

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

Don, you have as very nice collection of tinplste oil tankers.

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Love the smoking oil tankers in your very long oil tanker train.

I liked those as soon as I saw them, a cool option for a little something different.

.

@jackiejr posted:

.

Love your layout. Seems all trains scale or not look so much better in a realistic landscape.

Pete

Of course my favorites would be from Western Pennsylvania, home of the first producing oil well.

Hello tanker fans.  Rainy day here in Texas so I thought I might round up another group of tankers for you all to see.  These are mostly from European or UK manufacturers and I have picked them up over the last 20 years or so, just for fun.

Here is a very old Fandor 4000 gal tanker, from the early part of the 20th century...1910-20

He

Here is a much later, likely 1930's Fandor  Shell tanker along with a "stake wagon"

From the UK, a Mettoy SHELL tanker from the 1950's

The buff / red lettered Hornby ESSO tanker from 1936

The follow on to the above tanker from post war, much simpler color scheme and lettering the Hornby Esso tanker from 1949-1952

The LEUNA tanker from Karl Bub in 1934-36

Finally another ESSO tanker this one from Konrad Dressler in the 1950's

Well that's all I have for today..."TANK's a lot" for viewing!

Don

Three of my favorites, not petro but oil none the less

By Atlas, I think there are three road numbers.  John

@Randy Harrison posted:

@Pantenary

Your tank fleet is great! Your catenary is intriguing. Did you build it yourself? If so, do you have plans that you would be willing to share?

Thank you.

Hi Randy:

Sorry for the late reply.  The link to the catenary system is here; you've seen it before, as you commented on it way back.  I don't want to hijack this thread, so please reply over there if you have any other comments or questions.

Thanks for the compliment on the tanks.  They are superb models, and darn near impossible to find.  I happened on this set at Nicholas Smith last month, and acquired a couple more from a Euro-minded member on the forum, @Steinzeit.

@Pantenary posted:

Hi Randy:

Sorry for the late reply.  The link to the catenary system is here; you've seen it before, as you commented on it way back.  I don't want to hijack this thread, so please reply over there if you have any other comments or questions.

Thanks for the compliment on the tanks.  They are superb models, and darn near impossible to find.  I happened on this set at Nicholas Smith last month, and acquired a couple more from a Euro-minded member on the forum, @Steinzeit.

@Pantenary

Nate:

Thanks for the link to your plans. Yours is a most impressive post. Your detail and photos are most helpful. The post must have taken you a huge amount of time.

I have several questions for you.

• Are your solder joint done with high temperature silver solder or regular tin/lead soft solder?
• The brass rods from Lowes, are they brazing rods?
• Did you anneal the rods to facilitate the intricate bends required?

Bravo on a great piece of work and thank you for your generosity in sharing your technique in such great and informative detail.

Hi Randy:

I'll respond to your questions on my post, as to not hijack this one.  Thanks.

Here is a Hooker tanker in pre-1950 paint scheme.  There are a lot of Hooker cars out there painted in the later orange with black stripe in the dome area, but only these Atlas cars with the earlier paint scheme were produced.

And here is a fantasy scheme I run with my red-white-blue fleet.

TANK you all for sharing photos of your tank cars !!!

I have a few tank cars for CB&Q, Shell Oil, & Dow Chemical.

I worked at Dow in R&D as a Co-Op student during my college years.

Tanks again !!!

Tankers on a move!

I'll have to break out some tank cars but here's a picture for now.I believe the Champion Oils is a MTH RK and the BNSF is an IDM.

Have to send some tank cars down the east coast!!

My little guy last year wanted to see how many tank cars we could get going. Any more than this and things got squirrely

Some favorites, all MPC-era tankers.

Here are 2 that I custom painted and lettered. The CB&Q tank car is a Red Caboose kit and the Great Northern is from Lionel.

RAY

While not an oil tanker, I had to include this more modern (1957) paint scheme on my newly acquired (well, okay, Christmas present) Atlas tank car from Public Delivery Track.

That Atlas Hooker is a looker! I have that one as well or at least one of the four numbers.

Well guys, in my typical fashion, I am "stretching" the definition of "tank car".  Here is a special car that Lionel (MPC in 1996) made for the Lionel Railroader Club.

"TANKS" to everyone for looking!     Don

Don, that looks like a tank car to me! Four in one as a matter of fact!

Thanks Artie

Don

Dusted off the rest of the small tank cars and made a 54 car train.  This was really useful for working out the kinks in a couple of the Ross switches, the wheels clip the "spikes" and short out, only certain cars.  The consist made about a dozen laps after all the fixes, so I think I may have cleaned everything up.

Did someone say OIL tanks.  Oil and Gas purchased my trains..30 years +.. sometimes 24 hours a day.  Guess which company, and it does not start with a "S" and end in a "L".

You don't shot a hole in the ground and it bubbles up.

My son David keeps a close eye on a passing oil train...

A few Dorfan Std Gauge Tank Cars.

Steve

https://youtu.be/QF1Z-KgQxw0

My Napa Valley Wine Train tank car (that I run with my Wine Train consist) and my Marx 3/16 scale NIACET tank car.

Postwar Sunoco tankers, my favorites, headed by an MTH PS3 Great Northen:

A few years ago, my wife and I went to West Point to see my granddaughter perform as a cheerleader in a Pop Warner football game.

During the game I felt the ground tremble, and then heard the roar, and saw the awesome and beautiful sight, of a CSX diesel hauling a long oil tanker car train along the Hudson River.

It was an unforgettable experience.

I kinda recreate that experience when I run my MTH Proto 3 CSX smoking diesel pulling oil tankers on my layout:

The sounds, smoke and pulling power of this MTH diesel are outstanding.

Maybe someday they will figure out how to have the model locomotive make the ground tremble like the real thing. Now that would really be awesome. LOL, Arnold

The Pillsbury Doughboy rolls under the signal bridge...

@CBS072 posted:

You don't shot a hole in the ground and it bubbles up.

It did on the Beverly Hillbillies: "...and up from the ground came a bubblin' crude; oil that is..."

I have a fascination for Hookers and Shays:

A few junky prewar ones

I'm afraid this Hooker has seen better days ....

Here are a couple of mine, just for fun on a Friday!

Here is a Lionel car, starting out in the "Winner Line" in 1932 but eventually being cataloged as "0-27" by the time this fellow was made in 1936.

Here is a Mettoy tanker from the UK in the 1950's

Finally, illustrating Hornby's last gasp at tinplated 0 gauge in 1957 the "Type 50" freight wagon.  This one a Shell tanker.

Have a great weekend

Don

This was my first freight car years ago

Similar to Arnold's story of the CSX at west Point,  Montana Rail Link was everywhere during the time I spent in the Bozeman area (especially Livingstone). Can't swear I ever saw a real one of these but maybe...?

PS- @Sarah, that UP car looks like it had a tough life.

....

The United States Airforce logistics team has arranged for the transfer of this highly toxic extra terrestrial waste. It's headed for interchange with Arnold's railroad.

We've got to get our oil tankers rolling ASAP so we can get the price of gasoline down. It's your patriotic duty to do this. LOL.

Take some photos and/or videos of your oil tankers and post them here.

I will post a video of mine a little later. Arnold

I've got the New York City Metropolotan Area covered:

LOL, Arnold

Here are some shots of a few of my tankers being pulled into town this morning.  

With a smaller layout, I have only two.

I slapped some postwar trucks on a MTH Sinclair tank car.  I think it fits in nicely with other Lionel postwar tank cars.