On Aug 1, 2007, at 7:57 AM, John Huey wrote:

--- In STMFC@..., Bruce Nordstrand <brucen@...> wrote:
>
> Hi all
> hoppers I am OK with, the rest is confusing - especially
> tank cars. For example, what exactly is a type 21 riveted
> tank car and when would it have been used? Can anyone
> point me to any resources...

Howdy and welcome Bruce,

As far as nice riveted tanks go for your period, the Intermountain
car pictured in this link is a nice choice:
http://www.imrcmodels.com/ho/hotankcars.htm

Another interesting car, although welded, was in use after 1949 is:
http://www.red-caboose.com/cgi-bin/e_catalog/catalog.cgi?
&page=new_product_pages/ho_tank.html&shop=redcaboose&language=eng&cur
r=0&session=46b09d364ea83185&cart_id=20787589x20136

But of course the car that Bruce was specifically asking about was the
AC&F Type 21 tank car, introduced (as the type number indicates) in
1921, continued in production through the late 1920s, and very common
in revenue service through the 1950s and into the '60s. Those have
been modeled in HO scale in the Life-Like (now Walthers) Proto 2000
line in 8,000 gal. and 10,000 gal. non-insulated and 10,000 gal.
insulated versions. The Intermountain models represent AC&F Type 27s
(1927 on) in both 8,000 and 10,000 gal. sizes and the Red Caboose car
models AC&F's postwar welded 10,000 gal. tank cars. All were in
service during the period Bruce is asking about, though who owned them
and where they were likely to turn up is a much more complicated
question.

Athearns stand by single dome and tripple dome cars are decent and
inexspensive alternatives as always.

Uh, John, that's a statement with which you will get a lot of
disagreement on this list. As has been pointed out often, Athearn's
single dome car can be rendered accurate for only one group of Southern
Pacific 12,500 gal. prototype cars, and then only with considerable
modification. As for the three dome model, it bears little resemblance
to ANY prototype tank car. "Decent"? I don't think so.

Richard Hendrickson