Re: ACF Type 11 Tankcar


Tim O'Connor
 

Chris

ACF (?) numbered the designs of the underframe from the first year of production - That's what
I understood, at least. So ACF Type-21 1921, ACF Type-27, 1927, and so on. I think the model
is an ACF Type-11. It may also be an ARA Type II, as you describe - but photos shows ARA III
stencils.

The (?) means I don't know if these types are ACF builder designations, or railfan designations.

Tim O'Connor


On 9/6/2021 3:07 PM, Chris Barkan wrote:

A small correction/clarification to this thread title; I think that the F&C kit is intended to represent a Type II, as in roman numeral "two", not a Type 11, as in "eleven".

For those unfamiliar with the early tank car designations, I have excerpted several explanatory sentences from Tom Dalrymple's chapter on tank cars in the 1997 Car & Locomotive Cyclopedia.  Tom's history was in turn derived from Frank Heller's 1970 ASME paper entitled "Evolution of Tank Car Design Through Engineering" (In 1973 Heller republished the paper re-titled as "A history of tank cars" in the The Bulletin of the National Railway Historical Society, Vol. 38, No.1 pp 17-35, 51.)

"In 1903, the Master Car Builders' Association, composed of mechanical representatives of the railroads, and a representative of Standard Oil formed a Tank Car Committee and drafted the first recommended practices for the design and construction of tank cars. ... All cars built prior to 1903 were designated Class I and cars built thereafter were designated Class II"
"In 1917, the Master Car Builders' Association began to develop standards that sought to match the specifications of tank cars to the commodities that they were authorized to transport. Class I cars were restricted to non-flammable, non-hazardous commodities. Class II tank cars could no longer be built, and two new classes III and IV were established."
In 1927, when the ICC assumed authority for tank car specifications for hazardous commodities, "...ARA III became ICC 103, ARA IV became ICC 104, etc."
--
Chris Barkan
Champaign, IL

--
Tim O'Connor
Sterling, Massachusetts

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