Fellow Listers,

While surfing the net for images of Texas railroads, I came
across this photo of Sherman Oil & Cotton Company tank cars:

http://www.texasrecord.org/results_single.asp?cat=Trains&s=99

The location is around Sherman or Plano, Texas. The photo isn't
dated, but from the general theme of this web site I'll guess
it's about WW-I or just after. There is a link near the bottom
of the page that lets you blow the image up quite a bit more.
Note the little "steps" that go up the side of the tank on #170
instead of a ladder or platform. It also has steam pipes, which
suggests cotton oil must have been pretty thick stuff.

My June, 1924 ORER (the earliest edition I have) doesn't list
these cars at all. Can someone with an earlier ORER give more
info on these cars and their owner? Also, any speculation as to
who might have built these?

Thanks,

Shawn Beckert