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There have not been any true O scale Steam era two dome, three dome or multi dome tank cars made by Atlas, MTH, Lionel or Weaver that I am aware of. If I am not correct on this, please let me know.

 

While at  the Chicago O scale show back in March I was able to find these tank cars.

A "Koppers" three dome tank car by 3rd Rail -Thanks Norm's O scale!

 

IMG_7000

 

A six dome "Roma" Wine tank car also by 3rd Rail - Thanks again Norm's O scale.

 

IMG_6999

At last I finally have an O scale two dome tank car,"Deep Rock"  by US Hobbies, I believe.

 

 

IMG_7001

Finally, a three dome tank car, "GATX" that looks to be a true O sale model of the three dome tank cars made by MTH, and Lionel. This car is also by US Hobbies I believe.

 

 

IMG_7002

All four cars are riding on Atlas 3 rail trucks, and look really great on the layout.

 

Thanks,

 

Richard

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Absolutely!

I will add more as I gather images.

Intermountain 8000 gallon
U.S. hobbies made oodles
PSC made all kinds of tanks
Drake imported the best in my opinion
Atlas redid the Intermountain cars
Red Caboose did 10,000 gallon insulated
Pecos River Brass did several

On and on.


Video: http://youtu.be/8BtCs7zUt5I
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Last edited by Erik C Lindgren

I would love to see some affordable scale models ($50-100) of two-, three-, or four-dome steam-era tank cars. I think the Rail King 3-dome car, and maybe some of the other 2-and 3-dome cars from Lionel and K-Line, may actually be at or close to scale size, but I don't have scale drawings to check them against. These were very small cars - there's one in the Pennsylvania Railroad Museum and it's dwarfed by an ordinary 40' boxcar.

 

I once got my hands on a scale drawing of the old Heinz closed-side pickle vat cars and discovered, to my surprise, that the K-Line car, advertised as traditional size, was actually to scale. The Rail King tanker and some of the others may well be at or near scale, but I'd still like to have a well-detailed scale car without having to find, pay for, and convert a 2-rail brass model. 

 

And many thanks to Erik for posting the photos!

Originally Posted by Southwest Hiawatha:

I would love to see some affordable scale models ($50-100) of two-, three-, or four-dome steam-era tank cars.

 

............but I'd still like to have a well-detailed scale car without having to find, pay for, and convert a 2-rail brass model. 

If you look around and are patient, you can find brass cars within that price range,   I picked up one at the Chicago meet in March for $40.  The only ones that I have ever paid more than $100 for have been the high walkway cars from MG or Yoder. 

 

However, as far as I know, 4 dome cars have never been produced or imported.  Might have to think about scratching one together just to have 1,

 

I will confess that I find some of those more unusual chemical tank cars quite interesting.

Last edited by mwb

Thanks Guys,

 

After seeing 3RD Rail 3 dome tank cars at York I also suggested to Jim Weaver at Atlas years ago that Atlas should add a 2 and 3 dome O scale tank cars to their Steam Era Classic line. I have several Inter  Mountain and Atlas 8000 gal. tank cars The detail on these cars is outstanding.  

 

I looked at the tank cars long and hard at the Chicago show. The 3rd Rail cars were very pricy, even after Norm worked with me if I purchased two cars. My uncle  worked for Koppers in Memphis for many years, so I had to have that car. The Roma wine tank car was also too nice to pass up, so I ended up with both of them.

 

I found the 2 and 3 dome cars on a table across from Norm's display. I made a few stops at the table and finally made a deal to buy the two tank cars and a single dome Sunoco  tank car. I am keeping the two rail trucks and Kadee coupler on the Sunoco tank car. I am assembling a string of two rail O scale freight cars.

 

Thanks for posting the pictures of the prototype tank cars.

 

Richard

A little information from Lionel on multi-dome tank cars:

 

Freight Car Friday – 3 Dome Tank Cars

The three dome tank car has been a model train tradition for more than half a century. Far more common on our rails than the prototype, the cars are not without authenticity however. Nor were one and three domes the only options.

Three Cars in One

Deep Rock

The Deep Rock three-dome car is a railroading and model classic.

The dome on a tank car serves two purposes. first, it includes the hatch through which product can be loaded and second, it provides an area for expansion should the contents experience an increase in temperature during transit. This is important, because a tank car needs to be filled nearly completely for transit. If not, the waves caused by liquids sloshing about within the car could easily cause a derailment.

Three dome tank cars actually have three tanks on the same frame. Each tank section has its own dome. This gives the shipper several options when using the car. Like a single dome car however, the tanks would need a thorough cleaning before being reloaded with any other commodity.

Wine

Multi-dome cars were frequently favored by smaller-volume shippers including food producers.

Each compartment could be loaded with a different product. If there were differences, most commonly it would be a different grade of the same commodity.

But the separate tanks also gave the shipper more control over the volume of shipments by only filling one or two of the compartments. Even a partial fill in one of the tanks would be much less likely to cause problems due to the limited volume.

What did they carry? Three (and more) dome cars have been used from everything from oil to wine. So when it comes to spotting a car on your layout, let your imagination be your guide!

Where did they go?

Hershey Car

It’s harder to spot the three loading hatches on the top of this tank, or discern its contents. The location of the photo gives it away however – Hershey, PA. Several of these cars have been used in recent years on short hauls between the old and new factories.

Although they are exceptionally rare today, multi-compartment tank cars still roam the rails. Changes in tank car design have largely eliminated the need for an expansion dome as we knew them on the older cars. This makes spotting these compartmentalized tanks even more challenging.

A bigger factor in the demise of this type of car came from trucks. With road delivery a more efficient and affordable option for small shippers, the customers for the small cars disappeared. Like “Less than Carload” boxcars, the multi-dome tank vanished when shippers only needed full-carload service.

Several of the older cars have been preserved in railroad museums and on operating short lines all across the country. And of course, we can keep the tradition alive on our model railroads as well!

Last edited by breezinup
Originally Posted by palallin:

Don't count out small tank cars--they have come in just about every size.  An 8,000 gallon tankcar is very small in 1/48 scale.

Don't discount Lionel's offerings. The pre war and post war tin cars are scale size if lacking in ultimate detail. They would make a good starting point.

 

Intermountain 8000 gal car:

715_Tank

Williams semi scale car:

 

Will_2955_tank

 

 

Lionel Post War Car:

 

Lionel_2855_tank

 

Pete

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Last edited by Norton
Originally Posted by palallin:
"Beware the Dark Side:  once you start down that path, forever will it dominate your destiny!"
 
Originally Posted by Richard Gonzales:

I am assembling a string of two rail O scale freight cars.

 

 

Indeed Palallin, I was smitten by the evil of the dark side of 2 rail O scale upon my first visit to the Lewis Ertz "West Tennessee Central Railroad." The urge to rip up my third rail is hard to resist at times. Thankfully the force emanating from the spirit of the GREAT COWEN is stronger!

 

Love your response,

 

Richard

Last edited by Richard Gonzales
Dark side!

We're the Jedi Knights man


Originally Posted by Richard Gonzales:

       
Originally Posted by palallin:
"Beware the Dark Side:  once you start down that path, forever will it dominate your destiny!"
 
Originally Posted by Richard Gonzales:

I am assembling a string of two rail O scale freight cars.

 

 

Indeed Palallin, I was smitten by the evil of the dark side of 2 rail O scale upon my first visit to the Lewis Ertz "West Tennessee Central Railroad." The urge to rip up my third rail is hard to resist at times. Thankfully the force emanating from the spirit of the GREAT COWEN is stronger!

 

Love you response,

 

Richard

Originally Posted by radar493:
If I start with these tank cars will I be subject to "tanker madness"? I have already succumbed to that dreaded disease "reefer madness". Don't want to have to go through all that therapy again.

Ralph,"Tanker Madness" is a little more difficult to catch than Refer madness, since the germ associated with the multi dome variety of tanker mandess  is rare and more expensive, which helps build up your resistance.

 

Richard

Originally Posted by breezinup:

This is what the K-Line 3 dome looks like. These were made by K-Line, and also by "K-Line by Lionel" after Lionel absorbed K-Line.

Breezinup,

 

That K Line 3 dome tank car is very nice. You would think Lionel would produce this car again since it is so much nicer than the Lionel garden variety 3 dome tank car.

 

Thanks for posting the pictures.

 

Richard

Originally Posted by Norton:
Originally Posted by palallin:

Don't count out small tank cars--they have come in just about every size.  An 8,000 gallon tankcar is very small in 1/48 scale.

Don't discount Lionel's offerings. The pre war and post war tin cars are scale size if lacking in ultimate detail. They would make a good starting point.

 

Intermountain 8000 gal car:

715_Tank

Williams semi scale car:

 

Will_2955_tank

 

 

Lionel Post War Car:

 

Lionel_2855_tank

 

Pete

Pete,

 

Yes, those pre and post war Lionel single dome tank cars are very nice. A few years ago I picked up a repro black, silver and gray Sunoco tank car shell from East Coast Train parts, and replaced the shells on my Sunoco cars.

Richard

We don’t like to talk about things that are not yet in our warehouse in the states but I could not resist letting you all know we have in production some very nice $19.95 (+/-) 3-dome tank cars in 6 road names for hopefully September or October availably!

 

-Mark the Menards Train Guy

Last edited by Menards

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