Author Topic: Seeking photos of 1890s tank cars  (Read 349 times)

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mmagliaro

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Seeking photos of 1890s tank cars
« on: February 23, 2026, 08:59:54 PM »
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I am building an extensively modified S Scale craftsman kit of a tankcar.
It will be an 1890s style Union Tank Line car - the type where the tank was simply strapped
on top of a flat car on saddles. 

I have a drawing or two and some b&w photos of "old tank cars" from that time that I scraped after
lots of internet searching.     But I'm after a genuine Union Tank Line photo taken in the 1890s. 
It's proving to be difficult.  There are photos from the 1860s-1880s, and photos in the 1910s,
but those are not the car type I am modeling.

If you have any photo sources or historical information on those pre-steel-frame cars from the 1890s,
I would be most grateful.

Thank you.



mmagliaro

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Re: Seeking photos of 1890s tank cars
« Reply #3 on: February 23, 2026, 10:33:44 PM »
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Chris, believe it or not, I have found all those, and I have that drawing from the Car Builder's Encyclopedia.
Most of those are a bit too early.

I also have the White book, "The American Railroad Freight Car" which specializes in freight cars up to about 1910.
It's got a few drawings in it, but not of the era I'm looking for.

But...
Of those last 4 in your second post... especially the 3rd and 4th ones, you have much higher resolution versions
of those than what I could find.

Particularly the third one, that white-colored one taken in about 1880.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/aXZgZHDHAsTbMmTD6

Are you able to get a super high res of that, good enough to pull up all the lettering on it?

I had found that 3-dome photo of a Union Tank Line car.  It's a good shot, but it's a 3 dome.
I trying to narrow down things like lettering placement and a car number, but I can't find any real
UTL data anywhere, like a list of car numbers and dates, or just a darn photo of one labeled for
UTL taken in the 1890s.  That would be the real brass ring to find.


Chris333

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Re: Seeking photos of 1890s tank cars
« Reply #4 on: February 23, 2026, 10:46:21 PM »
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https://photos.app.goo.gl/x4zYJiKmQh14ytpJA    If you click it you can then zoom in.

It is on page 370 of the White book. History of it here:
https://www.petroleumhistory.org/OilHistory/pages/TankCars/MetalCars.html

Lettering should be OC&ARR for Oil Creek and Allegheny River Railway #150

Lettering on the tank probably is "Star Tank Line".
« Last Edit: February 23, 2026, 10:52:14 PM by Chris333 »

mmagliaro

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Re: Seeking photos of 1890s tank cars
« Reply #5 on: February 24, 2026, 12:42:09 AM »
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Thanks, Chris.  I think that 1880 photo is about as close as I'm going to get.  By the 1890s, the tanks were bigger, which is okay, because I have a 10,000 gal size tank and they were building those and 8,000 gal in the 1890s.  I could at least find out that much.
I'm just going to wing it and paint the tank "Sarcony" red, the undercarriage weathered black, and have the wooden deck boards be stained various weathered gray/brown colors.  A true, accurate car number for a UTL single dome car built in the 1890s, along with  details on the correct reporting marks and other "little" text would be really nice, but is probably impossible.

I have read in more than one place that not a single example of any of these early tank cars still exists.  I am starting to believe it.

Chris333

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Re: Seeking photos of 1890s tank cars
« Reply #6 on: February 24, 2026, 10:06:30 PM »
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When the whole oil thing started in PA the Erie was 6' gauge. The part of their main between the Oil City PA area and Warren OH had a third rail so oil could be moved from Oil city to Cleveland refineries. Standard gauge lines from Oil city could jump on the Erie main an and in Warren would get off to take the standard gauge Cleveland and Mahoning line to Cleveland. Both lines would end up being part of the Erie.

chessie system fan

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Re: Seeking photos of 1890s tank cars
« Reply #7 on: February 24, 2026, 11:39:34 PM »
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No Union Tank Car line photos in the 1906 Car Builder's Dictionary.  I'm guessing that everything in the Barringer Library ACF collection is too new?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/barrigerlibrary/albums/72157649155982802/with/34042821413

This 1916 car doesn't look black.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/barrigerlibrary/34113912722/in/album-72157649155982802
Aaron Bearden

mmagliaro

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Re: Seeking photos of 1890s tank cars
« Reply #8 on: February 26, 2026, 01:30:18 PM »
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No Union Tank Car line photos in the 1906 Car Builder's Dictionary.  I'm guessing that everything in the Barringer Library ACF collection is too new?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/barrigerlibrary/albums/72157649155982802/with/34042821413

This 1916 car doesn't look black.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/barrigerlibrary/34113912722/in/album-72157649155982802

Correct, everything in the barringer library is too new... I already looked through there.

The 1895 car builders encyclopedia has one photo, so at least I can steal that for a valid car number (#7827) and the correct locations
of "UNION TANK LINE" and "UTL".  But the photo is too grainy to see if there are any small-print reporting marks anywhere.

Chris333

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Re: Seeking photos of 1890s tank cars
« Reply #9 on: April 08, 2026, 06:13:15 PM »
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nkalanaga

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Re: Seeking photos of 1890s tank cars
« Reply #10 on: April 08, 2026, 10:28:17 PM »
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Part of the "Item Description":
 Title
View from the Signal Tower

Creator
Pittsburgh (Pa.). City Photographer

Contributor
University of Pittsburgh (depositor)

Date
April 12, 1905

Identifier
715.0532.CP
N Kalanaga
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