Athearn 30,000 Ethanol tank cars

[dieselfan1]

I really like the looks of these cars and since someday in the future I hope to have some sort of ethanol plant or facility on my planned garage sized layout, I just ordered 8 of these to start stockpiling them. I am hoping to just buy them in 3-packs then just re-number them instead of waiting for new numbers. The numbers (UTLX, TILX, Etc.) look fairly big and I would think this should be somewhat easy to change a few digits here and there. I haven't done decaling for years but I used to be pretty decent at it on model cars and planes.
Heres a few questions ....
Is this an option?
Are there exact decals available or just a universal set of numbers?
If there are any owners of these, how do they perform out of the box?
Thanks guys in advance.

[Bsklarski]

Those are some sharp looking cars. They look real good, just like the loaded cars I derailed in Willimantic Ct on Monday, 2 of which were on the side, buried in the ground.

[Pomperaugrr]

Those are some sharp looking cars. They look real good, just like the loaded cars I derailed in Willimantic Ct on Monday, 2 of which were on the side, buried in the ground.

Oh man, I saw that on the news.  Sorry to hear it was you, but glad it was a low speed problem.  I had to laugh, because Fox 61 played that story just before cutting to a commercial for the movie "Unstoppable."  I don't know if that was planned that way, but it was funny.

Eric

[tom mann]

Those are some sharp looking cars. They look real good, just like the loaded cars I derailed in Willimantic Ct on Monday, 2 of which were on the side, buried in the ground.

A case for bodymounts!

Seriously, how did you do it?  Everything ok?

[cec209]

Those are some sharp looking cars. They look real good, just like the loaded cars I derailed in Willimantic Ct on Monday, 2 of which were on the side, buried in the ground.

Photos:
http://www.wfsb.com/slideshow/news/25683155/detail.html

http://pcfn.org/display_n.pl?stid=755502547223544

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Looks a hell of a lot better than this one that shut down NS's Pittsburgh Line the weekend Gonzo and I were out there: http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=162663

[Bsklarski]

We were pulling 79 loads down a track owned by the PW at about 8 MPH. We pretty much went into emergency and at the same time came to a dead stop. 63rd to 67th car derailed. 64th and 65th car tipped over and buried itself nicely in the dirt. I guess a small stretch of track were things started to derail had no spikes or anything. Just mud holding the rail in place. I also spotted rail from 1912, 1904 and 1898 on that track later walking around. Its eX New Haven track.

Brian

[Chulvis]

Just mud holding the rail in place. I also spotted rail from 1912, 1904 and 1898 on that track later walking around.

Brian

Amazing. Glad you're OK.

[Chris333]

Looks a hell of a lot better than this one that shut down NS's Pittsburgh Line the weekend Gonzo and I were out there: http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=162663

Did that bridge section need replaced? Looks melted.

[central.vermont]

We were pulling 79 loads down a track owned by the PW at about 8 MPH. We pretty much went into emergency and at the same time came to a dead stop. 63rd to 67th car derailed. 64th and 65th car tipped over and buried itself nicely in the dirt. I guess a small stretch of track were things started to derail had no spikes or anything. Just mud holding the rail in place. I also spotted rail from 1912, 1904 and 1898 on that track later walking around. Its eX New Haven track.

Brian

Brian,
How close was this to the spot the first ethanol train that ran derailed?

Jon

[dieselfan1]

Thanks for the hijack. Sorry I asked.

[central.vermont]

dieselfan1,
Sorry for the hijacking of your post. :'( Tends to happen here from time to time, but eventually it gets back to the original topic!  ;D
I'm not sure of anything out there but there may be a chance in seeing something from Highball Graphics if we bug Jim enough for this. He already has a line of tank car decals he is doing in HO as the TC Series. http://www.mgdecals.com/TC%20Series%20Decals.htm Presently he doesn't do them in N but he has been persuaded to do others in N with enough of us bugging him. "hint hint"
So as they say the squeaky wheel gets the grease. So if enough of us email him for this the better the chance we will see   something done.

Jon

[Bsklarski]

If you want Dieselfan, I can get a copy of the train list. 80 or so cars, all 30,000 cars. At least you can have a prototypical mix of reporting marks and numbers. NATX, UTLX, CGTX, DBUX are just a few I see on the lists.

Brian