Dome Tank Cars

[Crawdad]

Hey gents, been collecting some rolling stock for a small Boston & Maine layout I'm building. I'd like a dome tank car but I know absolutely nothing about them as far as what kind were out there say the late fifties on the B&M. Shell, Texaco? Single dome tanks, three dome tanks? Help out a newbie, guys!

 

[Charles Smiley]

I model the opposite coast from you but also in the 50s. I try to stick to UTLX and GATX lettered cars rather than brand-specific tankers. They were still the most common -- looking through all my various 1950s SP-UP and WP RR books.

The 10,000 gallon, single dome tank car by Red Caboose is a beautiful model and correct for the time era. Some of the larger tank cars started to show up by the late 50s but I like the classic look. I don't care for the small domes or walkways around the domes. But your taste may follow a different line.

The left car is Red Caboose and the right car is a brass tank car. Equal detail I'd say. I put Kadee trucks on both (my standard here).

The single tank is a closer shot of the plastic Red Caboose model. I think Intermountain packages the same car.

 

[UP2CSX]

In the 50's, you'd see predominately single dome tank cars like the ones Charles posted. You'd also see double and tripple domed cars on occasion. The number of domes generally corresponded with the separate compartments in each tanks car. A triple dome car, for example, might carry regular, premium, and diesel fuel, all in separate compartments in the same car. Most cars, even the ones with corporate logos, were owned by tank car companies like GATX and UTLX and leased to the corporation. By the late fifties, chemical tankers were showing up. These had single domes but were characterized by multiple valves on the dome and a walkway and handrails around the dome to allow a worker to safely load and unload the car. Since you're modeling the B&M, do a search on "milk tank cars", since they were common on the B&M and other New England railroads until the late 60's. Most tanks cars were still of riveted construction in the 50's, but some welded cars were on the rails by 1959. Really, almost any kind of tank car would have been found on the rails in the late 50's except the frameless tank cars that are commonly seen today.