Waybills: Finding a Route

Once I select a source for a given commodity, I need to figure out how the car got here.

I'm using UTLX 35552 as an example. This is a Rapido UTLX X-3 10,000 gallon tank car.  It will be loaded with Tetrachloroethylene at the Pittsburgh Plate Glass plant in Barberton, OH on its way to Stanley Works in New Britain.

I selected this source after searching for the largest producers of this chemical in my era. DuPont, Dow, Hooker, and Pittsburgh Plate Glass were among them. This is a chemical that can be shipped in general service tank cars without any hazardous placards. So this car is feasible.

With a little research I find that the plant is served by the Akron & Barberton Belt Railroad (ABB). This railroad was formed from several smaller lines and controlled by the AC&Y, B&O, ERIE, and PRR specifically for servicing this plant and several other major companies in Barberton.

Connections were:

• AC&Y: Belt Junction and East Akron
• B&O: Barberton and East Akron
• ERIE: Barberton
• PRR: Akron and Barberton

I have collected a number of railroad routing guides, and have ones for AC&Y, ERIE, and PRR. These will provide the potential routes to New Britain.

Akron, Canton, & Ohio

Starting with the AC&Y one in 1935.

All documents like this assigned a number to every station in the North American rail system. This particular book does not list them, though. The ERIE and Pennsy books do. Another book that was published annually is the list of Open and Prepay Stations. I have the one for 1949. So I know that New Britain is station 3910 in CT.

There are 30 different notes in the AC&Y routing that specify which destinations are applicable. For example, note 1 indicates it is for stations 70-5150 (cue the Van Halen references...). Note 2 is for 70-4955, 5005-5065, and 5150, etc. 

For New Britain, notes 1, 2, 4-7, 12, 25-6, and 28 apply.

Belt Jct. is to the west of Akron, so I'm going to work only with the connections from Akron. Some of the routes start at Copley Jct., west of Belt Jct. and Akron so I won't consider those.

Others start at Mogadore, which is east of Akron, or Akron. Since the junction with the ABB is Akron, I'm assuming that those are the valid routes. But since Mogadore is east of Akron, cars could be routed through there first, so I'll include them too. The AC&Y would want to participate in the rate for moving the load where they could. A through freight schedule for the AC&Y would clarify how cars are blocked and routed. I'm presenting them in the order they are listed in the book, and you'll notice that the note numbers are not sequential. 

AC&Y at Mogadore, OH to W&LE to Cleveland, OH to:

• (4) NYC - East Buffalo, NY - DL&W - Pt. Morris, NJ - L&HR - Maybrook, NY - NH
• (4) NYC - Buffalo, NY - LV - Jersey City, NJ - NH
• (5) NYC&StL - Buffalo, NY - DL&W - Pt. Morris, NJ - L&HR - Maybrook, NY - NH
• (6) NYC&StL - Buffalo, NY - LV - Jersey City, NJ - NH
• (7) NYC&StL - Buffalo, NY - ERIE - Maybrook, NY - NH
• (12) NYC&StL - Buffalo, NY - NYC or West Shore RR - West Albany or Selkirk Jct - B&A - Springfield, MA - NH
• (1) NYC&StL - Buffalo, NY - DL&W - Norwich, NY or Scranton, PA - O&W - Campbell Hall, NY- NH
• (12) NYC - Gardenville, NY - West Shore RR - West Albany, NY or Selkirk Jct - B&A - Springfield, MA - NH
• (12) NYC (West) - Gardenville, NY - NYC (East) - West Albany, NY or Selkirk Jct - B&A - Springfield, MA - NH
• (1) W&LE - Kent, OH - ERIE - Maybrook, NY - NH

AC&Y at Akron, OH to:

• (1) ERIE - Maybrook, NY - NH
• (2) PRR - Harlem River, NY - NH
• (25) B&O - Cumbo, WV - PRR - Shippensburg, PA - READING - Allentown, PA - CNJ* - Easton, PA - L&HR - Maybrook, NY - NH
• (26) ERIE - Binghamton, NY - D&H - Mechanicsville, NY - B&M - Springfield, MA - NH
• (28) B&O - Park Jct, PA - READING - Bethlehem, PA - CNJ* - Easton, PA - L&HR - Maybrook, NY - NH

Tank Cars (and Box Cars): Acids and Chemicals

The heavy industries of New Britain, particularly the hardware manufacturers, required the significant use of chemicals and acids. Among the processes utilized by New Britain companies included plating with brass, chrome, or nickel, galvanizing, and ceramic enameling.

Preparing steel involved cleaning and etching through a process called "pickling."

Cleaning and Degreasing

Fabrication and cutting meant the steel was coated in lubricating oil. Chemical baths were a quick way to accomplish this. Common chemicals for this included Caustic Soda, Trichloroethelyne (TCE), and Tetrachloroethelene (PCE).  All of which could be shipped via general service tank cars. Soda Ash was also used, and often shipped in covered hoppers.

Although this Proto 2000 car is an ACF prototype, other tank car companies like GATX acquired cars built by competitors through acquisitions. General service cars like this, with or without heating coils or insulation, are suitable for Caustic Soda service.

Most of the general-service ACF-built cars should be lettered for SHPX, though. GATX was the leasing arm of General American Tank Car Co. (GATX). Union Tank Car Co, and its leasing arm UTLX was the largest private tank car owner.

Another Proto 2000 model.  The Dow plant in Midland, MI produced Tricholoroethylene, among other chemicals and was served by the NYC (Michigan Central) and C&O (Pere Marquette). 

I have a Yarmouth Model Works tank car kit to build for the Semet-Solvay Division of the Allied Chemical Co. for Caustic Soda service. Located in Solvay/Syracuse, NY, it was primarily served by the NYC, along with the DL&W. Jim Kubanick did a wonderful job building this kit as described on the Resin Car Works blog. 

Pickling

After degreasing, the steel was "pickled" in an acid bath. This removes the mills scale, rust, and impurities on the surface of the metal to prepare it for finishing. The type of acids used depended on the material. For example, carbon steel could be pickled in hydrochloric, muriatic, or sulphuric acid. Stainless steel required nitric, phosphoric, or hydrofluoric acids. 

All of these would be shipped in rubber-lined tank cars. This required a different dome and unloading fixtures than a standard tank car. 

All of these acid tank cars were produced by Tangent. The Freeport, TX plant was served by MoPac. The Midland plant did not produce hydrochloric acid.

Although this looks like a general service car, there is fine lettering on the center sill indicating the car is leased to Dow as well. It appears that tank car companies would letter a car for a lessee if the lease was for 10 years or more. For shorter leases, small stenciling as on this car would be used.

This car does not list a commodity, only that it has a rubber-lined tank. Hooker sold Hydrochloric and Muriatic Acid from its Niagara Falls, NY plant. Muriatic Acid is a less refined version of Hydrochloric acid that may contain more impurities and a lower concentration. Both can be used for pickling steel. The Hooker plant was served by the Niagara Junction Railway (NIAJ) with connections to Erie, LV, and NYC.

I also have a number of Resin Car Works tank cars built for Sulphuric Acid service to build at some point. These include SHPX general service cars, and for DuPont which had a large plant at Deepwater, NJ served by Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines (PRSL), a joint operation of the PRR and Reading.

No longer in production, these kits filled a huge hole in available tank car models until Tangent released theirs. They are two different prototypes. I purchased enough of the RCW kits and some undecorated Tangent kits to provide parts in case I find other potential prototypes.

Plating

Metal plating required the material used, which was typically ingots or anodes shipped in box cars.

Brass would most likely come from Waterbury, CT.  The American Brass Co. (part of Anaconda Copper Co.) was the largest producer in the US. Scovill Manufacturing Co. and Chase Brass and Copper Co. were also located in Waterbury. Shipping could be via trucks or rail.

Nickel bars would come from the International Nickel Co., producer of 85% of the world's nickel supply,  in Port Colborne, Ontario via the CN. Zinc for galvanizing would come from the New Jersey Zinc Co's Palmerton, PA processing plant on the CNJ. They were the largest producer of zinc and zinc products.

Copper was mined out west, but companies such as Belmont Metals in Brooklyn, NY (LIRR) specifically manufactured anodes for the electroplating process. 

Silver came from mines out west, Mexico (the largest producer), or British Columbia. Handy & Harmon in Fairfield, CT was the largest producer of silver anodes and other shapes for electroplating. 

For chrome plating, Chromic Acid would come from companies like Diamond Alkali Co in Painesville, OH. It was served by the FP&E with connections to B&O, NYC, and NKP.  

Another Tangent model, this car is suitable for Chromic Acid service. Diamond Chemicals 

The largest producer was the Mutual Chemical Co with plants in Fells Point/Inner Harbor (Baltimore) on the B&O with nearby connections to PRR, or their Jersey City plant on the CNJ. 

Other chemicals required for the electroplating process were cyanide salts such as Sodium Cyanide or Potassium Cyanide from DuPont in Niagara Falls. These would be shipped in bags, barrels, or drums in box cars. The Niagara Junction Railway that served the plant had connections to the ERIE, LV, and NYC.

Enameling

Appliances and cookware was finished with ceramic enamel at Landers, Frary & Clark. This process started with a "frit" of borax, silica, feldspar, quartz, and/or soda ash. There were companies that produced the frit to be sold to manufacturers and shipped in bags, barrels, or drums in box cars.

Pemco Corp in Baltimore on the Canton Railroad, interchanging with the B&O at Penn Mary Yard. They also connected with the PRR.

O. Hommel, in Carnegie, PA, and Vitro Manufacturing, in Canonsburg, PA, were both served by the Pennsy. 

The products would be degreased and/or pickled, then sandblasted with sand or aluminum oxide before being sprayed or dipped in the liquid enamel.

Other Chemicals

There were other common chemicals used, such as Denatured Alcohol for cleaning/degreasing. A dye could be added to mark dies for cutting as well. Methanol was used for stripping lacquers and resin from wood foundry molds as well as cleaning and degreasing. Isopropyl alcohol was also used for cleaning.  Many solvents such as Mineral Spirits, Toluene, Xylene, Acetone, Ethyl and Butyl Acetate, etc. were also used. While these could all be delivered in tank cars, they were more likely shipped in barrels or drums via box car. 

Tank Cars: Chlorine and Fluoride

I have several of the Broadway Limited chlorine tank cars (and have sold off many more).  They are well done models of an interesting prototype. These are the type of models that I'll go ahead and purchase since it can often be difficult to find once they've sold out. Broadway also has a habit of selling only multi-packs instead of individual cars. Here are several examples:

My theory has been that since New Britain chlorinated their town water supply, they may have received the chlorine via rail. With a population of nearly 75,000 it seems plausible. Is it?

Chlorine

Chlorine tank cars undoubtedly traveled the New Haven. Liquid chlorine was primarily used as a bleaching agent in paper and textile production in this era. The larger paper and textile mills in Holyoke would have received tank cars of chlorine. The textile mills of the region, such as the American Thread Co in Willimantic, may have too.

There also were several chemical companies in Connecticut. The Naugatuck Chemical Co. in Naugatuck, Berkshire Chemical Co. in Bridgeport and H. Kermit & Co. in New Haven all would have received chlorine in large enough quantities to warrant tank cars. 

But routing to these locations via New Britain would be unlikely. Much of the chlorine was produced in and around Niagara Falls, NY.  For Holyoke, cars would have needed to be routed:

Maybrook > New Haven > New Britain > Holyoke

Springfield > Hartford > New Britain > Holyoke

But with the B&M serving Holyoke directly, and the B&A indirectly, these routes seem very unlikely.

Town Water

By the 1930s most New England towns using surface water supplies also disinfected town water using chlorine. The process injected chlorine gas via pressurized tanks. Tanks of 150-lb or 1-ton were used, or somewhere around 80-100 gallons. 

There were special "multiple unit tank" cars that were flat cars designed to haul multiple canisters. MTS imported a brass model. Topps even released a trading card of one.

This would be an interesting car, but for a small city of 75,000, a 1-ton tank typically lasts from 2-weeks (summer) to over a month (winter). One car would be a years' worth. It is feasible for the car to operated in an LCL manner, delivering a few cannisters to each of several towns, though. But they could also be shipped via box car, and that's probably the more likely option. Very few of these cars were built, and were probably made for a specific service. 

For full tank cars, industries that use a commodity in bulk will typically have substantial storage on-site.  For example, if an industry is served by rail and has a several-thousand-gallon fuel oil tank identified on a Sanborn map, it's reasonable to assume they received bulk fuel oil in tank cars. Yes, it could be delivered by truck, but it would be less expensive to get it direct via rail.

But liquid chlorine, or chlorine gas, is quite dangerous to store. Apparently large mills often used the tank cars themselves as storage. As a result, they often don't have storage tanks noted for chlorine. I see bleaching rooms noted, but not storage.

But it doesn't appear that I'll need either in New Britain. Could I reletter these cars for other services? The answer is, not easily. I may keep one for a through train.

Fluoride

New Britain was the first municipality in CT to fluoridate their town water, in 1950.  Fluoridating municipal water was first done using Sodium Fluoride, a byproduct of aluminum processing. This is shipped in sacks in powdered form via box cars. ALCOA in New Kensington, PA was a major supplier, served by PRR.  Another potential source is DuPont in Wilmington, DE on the Reading.

In 1951, municipalities started to switch to hydrofluorosilic acid. This was shipped in rubber-lined tank cars. Although I have listings identifying cars that were assigned to this service, I don't have any photos or other information to indicate what they looked like. I suspect they are acid tank cars, similar to the Tangent offering, but the dome and/or fixtures may have been different. This was a byproduct of phosphate processing for fertilizer and was centered around that industry in Florida.

Since I don't have any information as to which process New Britain used, along with a lack of information regarding the tank cars used, I'll stick with box cars of Sodium Fluoride.

Covered Hoppers

Something different before more tank cars. Covered hoppers were a small, but growing, class of cars. 

Cement

In this era, the most common commodity for covered hoppers was cement. Once again, New Britain doesn't have a local bulk cement company that would receive such cars. Building Supply companies would have received bagged cement in box cars.  It wasn't unusual for cement to be delivered in covered hoppers for large projects, though. So it would be feasible to have some delivered to the bulk tracks.

The LNE was a major shipper of cement. Some sources I've identified include Lehigh Portland Cement Co in Sandt's Eddy, and Fogelsville, PA.  Atlas Cement Co. in Northampton, PA served by N&B and connecting to the LNE in Bath. The DL&W also interchanged at Bath, but the primary connection for eastbound traffic was the LNE.  Alpha Cement Co. in Martins Creek, PA was also served by the LNE.

Intermountain produced an LNE car, and I'll pick one up if I see one although it needs different door hardware. I have an F&C resin kit to build for a different prototype. 

Sand

The large industries of New Britain received other commodities that were often shipped in covered hoppers, though. Sand being the most common one.

The city may have received sand for roads in the winter. I'm modeling early November, so this is a good option. However, cinders were also often used, and would have been readily available from the power houses of the many industries. It's unclear what New Britain was using at the time.

Whibco was one of the largest producers of sand. They were based in New Jersey, but had facilities in Marion, MA and Provincetown in Cape Cod, both on the New Haven. Boston Sand & Gravel in Scituate, MA is another possibility, also on the NH.

Outside of New Haven territory, Whibco had locations in NJ (served by the PRSL, a Pennsylvania/Reading joint operation), and Slingerland and Selkirk, NY which were served by the D&H. 

This D&H covered hopper is the Intermountain model of the very common ACF 1958 cu. ft. design. 

In a 1950 memo, New Haven covered hoppers 117000-3 were assigned to Marion for sand service. This is the Intermountain car, but with different door hardware. The Intermountain model that has been released is the later paint scheme, however. I have an undecorated one to modify in the future.

However, another use for this type of sand was sandblasting. Russell & Erwin had such facilities, and Stanley Works probably did too. 

Russell & Erwin was moving away from casting in 1950, but Stanley Works also needed casting sand.  Sand for industrial casting, such as for cast iron, needed to be more uniform and was a higher grade. New England sand typically wasn't suitable.  The Pennsylvania Glass Co. in Mapleton or McVeytown, PA was a common supplier, both served by the Pennsy.  Mifflin Sand Co, also located in McVeytown, was acquired by Pennsylvania Glass in 1952.

The PRR H32 is a Bowser model.

Aluminum Oxide

Items were also blasted with Aluminum Oxide (also called "Alumina") instead of sand. The Aluminum Ore Co was located in Bauxite, AL and owned the Bauxite & Northern Railroad that interchanged with the MP.

This is another Intermountain model.

Soda Ash

The other most common commodity that is likely to have come to New Britain is Soda Ash. This was used as a cleaner/degreaser for steel and other metals prior to pickling in an acid bath. As a base, it was also used to counter acids prior to being released into the local environment or runoff. As a likely source, I've chosen the Solvay Process Division of Allied Chemical and Dye in Syracuse, served by NYC and DL&W. Diamond Alkali in Painesville, OH was served by FP&E (PRR) and NYC, with connections to the B&O and NKP. Another possibility is Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co. in Barberton, via PRR, B&O or Erie.

Soda Ash is a much lighter commodity than sand, so the PRR H32, released by Broadway Limited, is a reasonable option.

I have pictures of the NYC Enterprise-design covered hopper in Berlin. The model is by Rapido.

Spring Mills Depot released this B&O wagon top covered hopper. They are hard to find, but F&C still produces a resin kit.  

Road Salt

Road salt was also starting to be used in larger quantities. Until anti-caking agents were developed in 1956, it couldn't be stockpiled. So it would be delivered on an as-needed basis. I don't have any evidence that New Britain had started to use it during my era, but this was a time where its use across New England was increasing exponentially.

The Restof mine of International Salt Co. in York, NY was the major source for this commodity. It was the largest salt producing mine in the US, and second largest in the world.  Located on the Genessee & Wyoming it had connections to several railroads. But the Erie to Maybrook is the most likely routing to New Britain. DL&W or NYC are other possibilities.

The Erie model is also an Intermountain ACF 1958 cu. ft. car, with the "closed" side design.

Tank Cars: LP Gas

Another common tank car found on model railroads is the LP gas car, because of the Atlas and Kadee models. These two models are of different prototypes. The Atlas car has some accuracy issues, and some of them are lettered for cars that are correct for the Kadee model instead. But it is still a very well detailed model.

The cars in this service are insulated and pressurized. As a result, they have a "bonnet" that housed the loading/unloading connections instead of an expansion dome. The Liquified Petroleum Gas industry was growing in the early '50s. But for many towns like New Britain, it was still not a common commodity.  Coal and Fuel Oil were the predominant home heating fuels. In addition, as Town Gas started to be phased out, the fact that an underground piping system was already in place for many customers made a switch to natural gas easy.

As a result, there are no LP gas dealers in New Britain in my era. But Fafnir Bearing received LP Gas (or possibly the closely related butane) and had several tanks and a dedicated track for tank cars. 

The Fuelane Corporation was promoting their LP gas for cooking. Operating out of Liberty, NY  it seems an appropriate choice for New England. All three of these are Kadee models. 

This is the Atlas model. I think the gray is a little light, but nothing that some weathering can't fix.

The Kadee Warren car is in a simpler scheme.

This is another Atlas model, weathered by Gerry Schaefer. This car is lettered for another commodity hauled in these types of cars - Anhydrous Ammonia. Stanley Works may have used this in furnaces for hardening and tempering steel tools. It was also used as an industrial refrigerant, among other things. Kadee also has cars lettered for Mathieson Chemicals that would be appropriate for this service.

Tank Cars: Industrial Oils

Other petroleum products fall under the category of Refined Petroleum, NOS. 

Lubricating and Cutting Oils

A common product required by the many machine shops and manufacturers of New Britain is lubricating or cutting oil. These could be shipped via box car in 55-gallon drums. It could also be delivered via truck from a regional distributor such as L.F. Powers Co. in Waterbury.  But with the amount required by some of these industries, I think it's reasonable to consider tank cars too.

These types of oil would not require heater coils or insulation and would be carried in general service tank cars. 

The major gasoline and oil companies also produced lubricating oils in their refining processes. This Tangent car is lettered for Sinclair. I particularly wanted to use the Proto 2000 Socony-Vacuum car for its attractive Mobilgas scheme.

Any of the other general service cars, with or without lagging (insulation) or heater coils can be assigned for this service too.

Coal Tar

There is also a petroleum product that I can potentially ship out from New Britain. Town Gas companies, like the New Britain Gas Light Co., generated a lot of coal tar.  This is a byproduct of both the coal gas and carburetted water gas process. In turn, coal tar could be used to make creosote, road or roofing tar, solvents, and some early plastics such as Bakelite.

This Koppers tank car is a Red Caboose model. This model is accurate for only a handful of prototypes for SL-SF, USAX, JTBX, SHPX (for Bakelite), and, conveniently, Koppers. For some reason, though, all of the available models are lettered for the wrong series, and the reporting marks are wrong. It should be KPCX 2500-2522 for the 23 cars built in 1951. I also have a couple of kits to build and I'll correct the reporting marks and road numbers.

Also note that Intermountain has released their Type 27 tank car in the Koppers livery. I don't have any information on the other builds of tank cars, other than this series was insulated, unlike the Intermountain model.

Of the ex-Red Caboose 10,000 gallon welded tank cars that Intermountain produces, the only scheme that is accurate is the USAX (US Army) one. 

Another one they could run is the SHPX 16754-16773 series with heater coils that was leased to the Bakelite division of Union Carbide. They would have received coal tar from town gas operations too. Their factory was in Bound Brook, NJ with another plant opened in Marietta, OH in 1951.

Coal tar was shipped to Koppers Tar & Chemical Division facilities in Everett, MA and Providence, RI. The Everett facility was owned and operated by Barrett in '20s. I didn't find a date for when it switched to a Koppers operation, but it was before my modeling era. 

Baird & McGuire in Holbrook, MA also purchased coal tar from town gas companies in the region. They would use cars from GATX, SHPX, or UTLX. The Bakelite plant in NJ is another potential destination. 

Heater coils were required to be able to unload the thick coal tar. Lagging may or may not be used. Around 80% of the Koppers owned cars were insulated, and all had heater coils.

General service cars with heater coils would also be used in this service.

Tank Cars: Fuel Oil

As noted, gasoline and other road fuel oils accounted for 825 tank cars shipped to CT in 1950.

But Refined Petroleum, NOS accounted for over 4,000 tank cars. Most of these would be for various grades of Fuel Oils. In the Consolidated Freight Classifications from 1943, it falls under the category of 36420 Crude Oil. This includes:

• Crude oil in its natural state...not blended with other products
• Residual Fuel Oil
• Distillate Fuel Oil, not suitable for illuminating purposes
• Gas-oil

What is Fuel Oil, and what is it used for?  There are different grades of Fuel Oil, which is determined by how refined they are. They are numbered from most refined to least refined. The oils with less refinement are also less expensive, but are thicker and have more impurities.

No. 1 Fuel Oil is similar to kerosene and is also known as Range Oil.

No. 2 is used for home and commercial heating and furnaces.

No. 3 was an older type that was not generally used any more. 

No. 4, also known as Bunker A Oil, is used as an industrial heating oil. 

No. 5, or Bunker B Oil, is heavier and requires pre-heating to 170-220 degrees F use in industrial boilers. Tank cars shipping this oil required heater coils and often used insulation.

No. 6, or Bunker C Oil, is heavier still, and requires pre-heating to 220-260 degrees F for use. Used in ships and large industrial boilers. Tank cars shipping this oil required heater coils and often used insulation.

There are other products that fall under this category. Kerosene is similar to Range Oil.  Gas Oil is a distillate between No. 1 and No. 2 Fuel Oil. This was used in the carbureted water gas process and, in my case, will be delivered to New Britain Gas Light Co. 

Many retail dealers advertised Range and Fuel Oil. These would be No. 1 and 2 Fuel oils. These were shipped in general service tank cars with or without insulation. 

Without concrete information as to what grades of Fuel Oil the major industries used, I could waybill for any of the "Bunker" grades. Bunker C is probably likely in the larger industries, since it was the least expensive option.

One of the reasons I think more fuel oil was shipped by rail than gasoline is because of the viscosity of grades 4-6, making it impractical to utilize pipelines. Being less refined, they are more likely to be shipped directly from their source, rather than regional refineries, too. This appears to be the case, as more than 1/4 of the fuel oil shipped to CT by tank car came from Texas. In total, thirteen states shipped Refined Petroleum, NOS to CT via rail in 1950, and almost 3/4 of that was from Texas (1225), Pennsylvania (800), New Jersey (625), and Illinois (425). 

Tank cars filled with Fuel Oil were placarded as "Dangerous." When empty, an Empty Dangerous placard would be applied.

Like gasoline, any "general service" tank car is suitable for these commodities, with some requiring heater coils. The coils were used during unloading, not during transport, to help the product flow better. While connections could sometimes been seen on the ends of the car for these coils, it appears that they were more commonly located under the car. I indicate whether a car is so equipped based on the lettering on the model, or the 1955 Tank Car Capacities Tariff available to purchase here.

Tangent GATC 1917-design radial course tank car. According to the tank car tariff, this car was equipped with heater coils and would be appropriate for the heavier grades of Fuel Oil.

Tangent GATC 1984-design welded tank car. Equipped with heater coils.

Proto 2000 Type 21 tank car. This car is also equipped with heater coils.

Rapido UTLX X-3 tank car. This car is not equipped with heater coils, so would not be used for the heavier grades.

Proto 2000 Type 21 Insulated tank car. Although insulated, it is not equipped with heater coils. Since I model early November, I will probably waybill this for No. 2 Fuel Oil. While it did not require heater coils, it does get more viscous when cold so an insulated tank could be beneficial.

Tangent GATC Three-compartment tank car. Cars like this would often be used to ship multiple grades of products. For example, Gasoline, Range Oil, and No. 2 Fuel Oil. Multiple compartment cars would also be used in L.C.L service to deliver smaller quantities to multiple customers.

A Quick Project

 I recently purchased (a lot of) the Rapido 1937 AAR Box Cars. I'm very happy with the models, although as others have noted there are a few discrepancies in terms of the handbrakes. Rapido tooled nine different handbrakes, with housings. Unfortunately it appears that for some of them the wrong one was used during assembly. Not a huge deal to swap them out.

I also purchased a number of the undecorated ones for use in other projects, and each one comes with all nine of them. Most variations are also available from Kadee or Tangent as separate parts, but there are a couple of unique ones in the Rapido models. Hopefully they will make them available as separate parts.

Of course, I needed a bunch of the New Haven cars.  Thankfully, the initial run is of the 1941 delivery scheme with black doors.

The NHRHTA Convention was this weekend, where I picked up three more of the cars. This is a special run for the Association, and they are the first repaint, with the door now the body color. Although I haven't been able to find any documentation as to when this scheme was introduced, the PS-1 box cars built in 1947-8 were delivered with black doors.

Paint schemes in general went through changes c1949 on the New Haven, so maybe sometime in that period? Even though the 1955 aerial photos I have of New Britain are in black & white, you can see a couple of strings of NH box cars, and a few of the cars still appear to have black doors, but more of them don't.  Photo evidence shows that even some of the PS-1s were repainted by 1954. 

I can use both of course. These cars were built in 1941, My initial mix, of six cars in the delivery scheme and three in the repaint is OK for 1946-7 sessions. But I'm focusing on 1953 as my initial sessions, I need more with the repainted door. 

Fortunately, there's a very simple solution for me, and if you pay attention to the photos above you probably know what it is...

With luck, because of the way my layout is designed, you only see one side of any given car, regardless of where it is on the layout. Since the doors are separate parts on the model, I could swap some doors and have six cars that have one black and one repainted door.

The floor of the model is not glued in place. The uncoupling levers are glued to the coupler box cover, so I unscrewed that so it could remain in place when removing the floor. The bell crank is a separate part from the handbrake rod, so I would recommend working the B-end out first. It is glued, but pops right out. The uncoupling lever is flexible enough that you can work the floor out without removing it.

The door is glued in place, but there are pins that align it and can be pressed from inside the car body. As long as one of those breaks the glue seal I could get a small screwdriver underneath the door and pry it off. Swap a door, reassemble, and now I have six with a repainted door on one side, and black door on the other.

Tank Cars: Gasoline

Now I'm working through tank cars. Like hoppers, these are generally single commodity cars.  But there are more potential commodities, and I need to find sources for each one. Gasoline/oil is the most common commodity still shipped by rail.  But by my era a lot of that traffic is handled via pipelines or water routes to large distribution centers and then delivered by truck.

The 1% waybill studies show that the majority of gasoline coming into Connecticut by rail in the 1950 1% study originated in Rhode Island. The only other state that was captured was Louisiana. There were several possibilities:

Tiverton Oil Terminal in Providence. This served Atlantic, Shell, and Texaco brands.

The East Providence Terminal served Socony-Vacuum (Mobilgas), Gulf, Tide Water, and US Oil Co.  There was also Colonial Beacon Oil Co., which I think was a local distributor.

A third was the Inland Fuel Terminal in Providence. I haven't determined brands it served in this era.

From here, tank cars would be loaded bound for CT and other New England states. It appears that most was bound for local distribution points, such as LP Powers Co in Waterbury, who was a Sinclair and Socony-Vacuum wholesaler, and maybe other brands. From there they would distribute gasoline to local gas stations. I don't know how wide of a radius the trucking served, though.

Would New Britain receive gasoline by rail at all? Hardware City Fuel Co had two sidings and appears to have received Gulf gasoline by tank car. But this industry is off-layout, unfortunately. 

Berson Brothers had a siding for receiving coal and also advertised Esso gasoline. They have a number of tanks on-site, although it's not clear that they had facilities for unloading via tank car. But I'll go ahead and use it for that purpose. Esso is an ex-Standard Oil company, and would typically be delivered in standard black UTLX tank cars.

This is a Rapido X-3 tank car that I'll assign as a car in gasoline service. For an ex-Standard Oil company, UTLX cars are the most common.

Some of the maps show that the city of New Britain had gas tanks on the site served by rail. These would be for city trucks and equipment. There is a siding, but I don't know what it received by rail so gasoline is a possibility. 

This is a Proto 2000 ACF Type 21 insulated tank car. Gasoline did not have to be moved in insulated cars, but it could be. I could use this to service the town siding, or in through trains.  The placards provided in the model are correct for my era, with a red "Dangerous" on a white background with the rest of the text black. Prior to 1941 it would have stated "Inflammable" instead of "Dangerous."

What type of gasoline was used in this era?  Most cars and trucks used "regular" gasoline. Premium gas was used for many (most?) small or medium trucks. 

White Gas, and some other fuel types were still used in some older vehicles, but I don't know how common it was.

What about diesel fuel? The 1950 1% waybill study indicates 475 tank cars of gasoline were shipped to CT annually. It also listed 450 tank cars of Fuel Road Oils, NOS. This likely includes Diesel Fuel, and might include White Gas. 

Diesel fuel was used in semi trucks from Cummins, Detroit Diesel (GMC) and Mack starting in the 1930s.  Buses followed in the 1940s. The engines were too large for small or medium trucks. Trucking companies, city bus terminals, and sometimes large industries would have diesel pumps for their trucks or buses. Otherwise, highway truck stops were where diesel trucks would fill up. Diesel fuel is not listed in the city directories or phone books of the era. So I'm not sure whether any of the rail served industries received it. I suspect a lot, if not all, came via truck from the regional distribution centers.

Any of these types of gasoline could be hauled in tank cars, and multi-compartment tank cars were often used to deliver multiple grades or types.

Hoppers

All of my ops sessions to this point have been the same basic session. I have a group of waybills I created years ago for testing, and a number have been lost along the way. Thing is, this hasn't really been noticeable during a session, at least not as far as I can tell. Even from the same starting point, the operators handle the movements differently each time.

Part of me has wanted to compile a "full" list of potential sources and destinations for each car I own, and also a variety of waybills for each one so that they'll never be running the same route more than once. The reality is, this largely isn't necessary.

This process started due to an entirely different project. When I was looking to order some parts from Bowser, I noticed they were selling coal loads for hoppers made by a variety of manufacturers. So I decided to order a few to see how they looked. In the meantime, I decided to start adding real coal on top of the plastic loads that came with a bunch of hoppers. I also modified those loads to they would sit deeper into the hopper and the new coal wouldn't sit too high. I found I could modify Kadee loads to fit the Intermountain hoppers. It also led to an assessment of what cars I still wanted to acquire. As a result, I now have the complete hopper roster I'd like, but quite a few are still in kit form.

New Britain Yard looks a lot like I'm modeling coal country here. This is about half the roster. I need to finish the resin kits, lettering the MTH USRA hoppers, and modifying the Bowser "fishbelly" hoppers. Until then, the mix is a bit off.

The Bowser loads are real coal, and look like an anthracite load to me. That's great, because the majority of the retail coal should be anthracite. But for the industries I wanted the bituminous loads to look different. I have some real coal (I think) that came from Scenic Express years ago. That looks shiny like anthracite. I also had some Smith & Sons cinders left (which I love), and that looked more dusty, like bituminous. I found some old Highball coal but it's a bit more grey than I'd like. I also think it's too clean.  Bituminous is very dusty compared to anthracite. 

In this photo, the Bowser load is the lower left. One of my anthracite loads is the upper left.

The lower right is the Smith & Sons (I'd love one more bottle, I'm out).

The upper right is Highball Coal. 

So for the waybills, I need to identify sources and match them to industries in New Britain. I hunted down a lot of industry publications, like the Pennsylvania Anthracite or Bituminous Annual Reports published annually during that era by the state, along with railroad shipping guides and other similar documents. I started by looking at the retail brands sold in New Britain and locating the largest collieries for those brands. I also looked for the largest non-branded ones for additional suppliers.

Because the waybills will only be handled by the agent at a desk, I'm making them full sized. As much as a huge spreadsheet and loads of waybills might be interesting, I really only one per car to start. So that's what I'm doing, creating one bill for each car that I have in service. Not all will be used every session.

I currently have 39 hoppers ready for service.

Anthracite

1 - D&H (Kadee)

5 - Erie (Broadway Limited, Intermountain, JJL)

2 - Reading (Kadee)

Bituminous

6 - B&O (Broadway Limited, MTH, Proto 2000)

1 - Berwind (Rapido)

1 - C&I (Intermountain)

3 - C&O (Intermountain, MTH)

1 - CRR (Intermountain)

1 - Montour (Intermountain)

1 - N&W (Broadway Limited)

1 - O&W (Rapido)

Either

5 - NYC (Broadway Limited, Kadee, Tichy/Intermountain)

11 - PRR (MTH, Rapido)

The Tichy/Intermountain NYC hopper is incorrectly painted black, though...

In theory, any of the hoppers could be carrying any type of coal. But I'm assuming that most will be loaded on their home road, or close, so I'm basing the probable loads on that.

On-Layout Industries in New Britain receiving Anthracite

• Berson Brothers
• City Coal & Wood
• D&K Coal
• Household Fuel
• Shurberg & Sons
• Stanley Svea

On-Layout Industries in New Britain receiving Bituminous

• Landers, Frary & Clark
• New Britain Gas Light Co
• P&F Corbin
• Parkmeadow Lofts
• Russell & Erwin
• Stanley Works

That's twelve industries.  Many of these will receive more than one load at a time, plus there will be a number empties on-layout to pull. So I suspect I'll need 20-30 during a session, although not every car will necessarily move. During a session where there are multiple through trains (up to six) I will need a few more.

Can I Buy You A Beer?

Here's a little project I finished up recently. Greenway Models is a company that has produced a lot of custom painted Athearn models. I learned that they made a model for Cremo Brewery when I saw one at the New Britain Industrial Museum. One finally turned up and, even better, it was still in kit form. So I decided to upgrade it to my layout standards.

The sides are separate pieces, with a cutout above the door.  The roof and ends are molded as a single part, and snap into that location. So that needs to be addressed. I also wanted to replace the molded on parts, and conveniently the paint scheme doesn't have any lettering in those locations.

My initial approach was simply to shave them off. But I also needed to determine what I would use to kitbash it. Looking for a potential donor in my stash I decided to go with the Branchline reefer. I did some test fitting, and found it was nearly a perfect match in height and length for the sides. The sides were slightly thinner. 

It occurred to me that I could cut the sides just inside the ladder and grab irons, and splice the end portions of the Branchline sides. This included the mounting pins. This also meant that I'd gain the strap braces that secure the ends on the prototype, and the mounting locations for the ladders. I also filled in the missing portion above the door with strip styrene. In hindsight, I should have scribed deeper boards in the Branchline portions to more closely match the Athearn side. 

The rest of the model is the Branchline kit as designed. I touched up the sides with a blend of Vallejo white and off-white and the rest of the car is painted using Stynylrez black primer. This matched the scheme of the Greenway model, although I didn't paint the sill yellow.

It's a fictional car, but a fun addition to the roster. I couldn't fit the brewery on the layout, but operationally it was served out of Whiting St. Yard by one of the Holyoke freights. So it can be dropped off overnight or in the morning, to be taken back off the layout in the afternoon. 

Cremo Brewery closed in 1955, but Alvarium Brewery in New Britain has resurrected the brand.  I think I'll have one.

A quick post

 

More to come (relatively) soon, but here are a couple of quick photos with some previews.

These are of the incredible work Chris Adams did weathering one of my 44-tonners. Look for an article in RMC in the near future from Chris. He weathered his first, but needed new pictures so needed to do another one. 

Hmmm.... something else new is underway in this photo crossing Elm St.

Here's a little patch of further ballast/ground cover experiments at Whiting St.

It helps to have a piece of weathered equipment to see how it actually looks. Most of the layout will be cinders and it has been a challenge finding the right approach, but I think I have finally found it.

More to come, but I couldn't be happier to have a model on the layout that Chris did. It looks incredible, and his Facebook and blog posts (and forthcoming RMC article) will be my go-to references for my weathering process. I've already been picking up some supplies that he uses that I didn't have. I have five in progress, along with two S-1s that are also ready for lettering and weathering. Hoping to complete them all before the end of the year.

It's a primary locomotive for the 1953 operating sessions that are my initial focus. I wonder who will be the first engineer?

Assembling the Rapido 44-tonner

It should come as no surprise that I have several of the Rapido 44-tonners.  This includes a couple of the decorated ones, along with four (for now) undecorated ones that I'll be doing in other paint schemes.  It was also a nice surprise to find I was mentioned in the manual (in French too!). (It should also come as no surprise that I started this post on November 18...).  

 

Like many undecorated locomotives, these are unassembled. Most of the assembly is pretty straightforward, but since instructions aren't included I thought I'd mention a few things.  First, there are details that need to be installed on the running boards, but holes have not been pre-drilled. But there are dimples underneath for that purpose, you just need to figure out which ones are needed, since not all are used for every phase.

Looking at the picture below, here are what the holes are for (on the NH models, anyway):

• Blue - bell. There's a hole at the other end of tanks too, which may be used for the bell on other roads.
• Green - steps for Phase Ic models. The one closer to the edge is also the alignment for the skirt. You need to drill the hole in the semi-circular portion closer to the center of the model.
• Yellow - steps/curved portion of the cab for Phase III model. This probably applies to the Phase IV models too, but I don't have one to verify.

The side frames that come preinstalled are the later version, for the Phase III and Phase IV models. They need to be replaced for the Phase Ic version. I did this the hard way, not realizing that they trucks themselves are easily removed (I hadn't read the portion of the manual regarding removing the coupler, since I wasn't planning on doing that...).

You do need to remove the pickup contact strips to install on the other side frames. It appears they attached them using heat to melt the plastic pins. It's easy enough to pry the strips off the plastic sideframes.

To install them on the new sideframes I didn't want to use heat.  Instead, I applied a liberal amount of styrene cement and used the flat end of a pair of tweezers to mash them down.

I won't bother to explain the process I had to use to reinstall the trucks since you all know now that you can simply pull and turn to remove the entire truck assembly.

As for other details, note that the New Haven units used one of two horns.  The Phase Ic units had Wabco AA-2 horns.  The A-2 horn was produced in short and long bell versions. The AA-2 has the short stacked on top of the long.

The phase III and IV units used the long bell A-2.