The following link points to photos of a US Hobbies double dome tank car. Does any one know what, if any, prototype it had?

http://www.denveroscaleclub.org/sitepics/album17

Thanks for any help.

ChipR

Doesn't match anything in the Kaminski/ACF book unfortunately. ACF 2 dome cars had the sheets riveted on the top third of the tank just like the row on the bottom third, and the ladders always seemed to be centered on the car side.

What we need is a Union Tank Car Co. reference book right about now.

I wonder if the pay side of the RPI web site has anything close? I don't have my hardcopy of their freight car book handy to check either.

I think I searched steam era freight cars list and didn't see anything a while ago.

Thanks. We could also use a reference on GATC.

Chip--

You don't say what part of the country you're in. If you are near a public library, you might see if they have any CAR BUILDERS CYCLOPEDIAs from the late teens thru the 1920s-early 30s. Or try a web search thru some of the steam-era photo archives that include freight cars.

USH offered mostly reruns of cars built for Max Gray. Some were more "generic" than others, and in the early days of brass imports there was not as much interest in extreme accuracy to prototype as there is today. Most tank car kits, as well as RTR models, for example, had loco handrail stanchions to support the handrails. Real tank cars had supports made of flat straps, more like pipe hangers.

The above is not to say there wasn't a prototype for that 2-dome car, or one close to it. Tanks made of cylindrical sections riveted together were a common design of the earlier steel car era into the 1920s. Later tanks were designed to use three full-length steel plates, with a bottom piece riveted to the two side plates a foot or two above the trucks and the two side plates then riveted together along the top center seam of the car. Welded tanks were pioneered during the late 1930s or early 40s & gradually replaced riveted tanks as time went on.

looks good. I have a brass 40' pulpwood car I want done in SRR, but I need to have decals made first.