Corn Syrup Tank Cars Prior to the Trinity 17,600 Tank Cars

[conrail1973]

So I stumbled upon this tank car a few weeks ago...



The only label on the case was Premiere Editions from The Freight Yard.  Does anyone have any recollections on when this might have been produced by The Freight Yard?  This car is very close to the one pictured in Industries Along the Tracks Volume 2, and this is the type of tank car that I'm looking for my brewery as the Trinity cars are to modern for me.  I can only hope that MTL will produce similar cars with their "Sweet Liquid Tank Car Series."

Thanks,

Adam

[BruceStikkers]

I used to see the real thing regularly on an industry track when I lived in Rockford, Illinois in the mid 1970s. That has always been one of my favorite freight cars.

Bruce Stikkers
St. Joseph, IL

[Missaberoad]

http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/misc-frt/cclx1039a17.jpg

http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/misc-frt/cclx1101ajs.jpg

[squirrelhunter]

I think the common corn syrup cars before the Trinity ones were the UTLX funnel flow ones (like Concor made) and a GATX version that I don't think has been done in any scale.

I'd love for someone to make a new effort at UTLX funnel flows, they were a common car.

Also, I don't think corn syrup as a sweetener took off until the mid 70's.

[Lemosteam]

http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/misc-frt/cclx1039a17.jpg

http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/misc-frt/cclx1101ajs.jpg

Odd question here,

Were the tank portions of the cars removable from the car frame?  If no, why are there 4 mere turnbuckles holding them down?  If they where, why were they removeable?  Cleaning?

[conrail1973]

@squirrelhunter - I did find one of the Con-Cor funnel flow tank cars on eBay that is currently being shipped to my house.  I noticed that some of them on eBay are detailed very close to the original and include MTL couplers while others are poorly detailed with Rapido couplers. 

[cjm413]

@squirrelhunter - I did find one of the Con-Cor funnel flow tank cars on eBay that is currently being shipped to my house.  I noticed that some of them on eBay are detailed very close to the original and include MTL couplers while others are poorly detailed with Rapido couplers.

Gold Medal Models makes a detailing set for the Con-Cor Funnel Flow.

Stock Con-Cor model also needs to be lowered

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Has anyone ever done an etched kit to add the platform around the MTL dome?
That'd be a cool thing.

[cjm413]

Has anyone ever done an etched kit to add the platform around the MTL dome?
That'd be a cool thing.

The platforms from any of the GMM kits may not be big enough for the MTL dome.

[cjm413]

http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/misc-frt/cclx1039a17.jpg

http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/misc-frt/cclx1101ajs.jpg

Shorten and "Americanize" Kato chemical tank?  I admittedly don't know how close the diameter of the tank and dome on the model are to those of the prototype...

http://www.spookshow.net/freight/ccchemtank.html

[Ed Kapuscinski]

The platforms from any of the GMM kits may not be big enough for the MTL dome.

Yeah, that's why I think it'd need to be a different kit.

[nkalanaga]

Lemosteam:  Yes, the tanks were removable, but they weren't designed to be removed and replace, like containers.  The tank sat in "cradles", on the frame, and were held on with straps and turnbuckles.  One of the main reasons was that the tank expanded and contracted depending in the temperature of the contents, and a rigid connection would either break, or damage the tank.  With the straps and cradles, the tank could slide enough to allow for the length changes.

They were fastened differently, and I don't know just how, but steam loco boilers also had to be able to move, for the same reason.

Modern tankcars solve the problem by eliminating the frame entirely, so any changes don't matter.  The distance between the trucks changes, but not enough to notice.

[cjm413]

Yeah, that's why I think it'd need to be a different kit.

The only other one that I could think of aside from GMM is the Plano one for the MDC tank.

If someone was going to make a new kit, I'd rather see an upgrade for an existing chemical tank car model, e.g. Atlas/Rivarossi, Bachmann, Model Power, etc.

A kit to "Americanize" the Kato JNR chemical tank would be nice, whether for a kitbash starting with the Kato model or to do nothing more than make the factory painted models that they include in their sets more plausible on US/Canadian/Mexican rails

[peteski]

How about Plano's etched set for Atlas "shorty" tank cars?

[daniel_leavitt2000]

The Plano parts are similar to the GMM parts and would not work for the MTL car.

Would there be demand for an etched kit that fits some older tank cars with large domes?