I can't answer that question about bulk oil tanks, but if I were going to build a tank car using PVC pipe as the core and wrap it with styrene, I would use .010 styrene and glue it with contact cement such as Barge's.
 
Richard Townsend
Lincoln City, Oregon
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: harperandbrown@... [STMFC]
To: STMFC
Sent: Fri, Jun 26, 2015 4:19 pm
Subject: [STMFC] Slightly off topic, maybe.

 
I am in the process of scratch building several storage tanks for a bulk oil dealership on my layout.  I am using PVC for cores and plan to use styrene for a wrapper.  So I have two questions.

1.  What  thickness styrene  should I use for the wrapper?

2.  What do I use to glue the styrene to the PVC?

Thanks,

Jared Harper
Athens, GA

Don, I have never seen a photo of a wood RWB wood car.  This is what was written, that I am going by.  Referencing the ex-MDT wood reefers purchased by the BAR in the early 50's.  "Most were orange.  a few were painted red, white and blue."  This from the defunct historical society.  So, it is circumstantial evidence.  With no historical society at present, I don't know how I can find out more.  I have one car number of 5157 that Micro-Trains did.  It said POTATOES and not PRODUCTS.  Right now, that is all that I have.  I will try to find out more, as I am now curious.
 
Brad Smith
Franklin, WI.
 
In a message dated 6/23/2015 10:50:37 P.M. Central Daylight Time, STMFC@... writes:

 

  With all due respect Brad I would have to see a photo of a BAR

wood sheathed reefer in the red, white and blue paint style to believe

it. Are you sure you are not thinking of the white above blue plan with

the brown potato on one end of the casider and no red at all? That we

know existed but red, white and blue on the wood sheathed, ex-MDT

cars I am doubtful of, believing that this did not come along until the

steel cars arrived.

Cordially, Don Valentine

THE HISTORY OF HERCULES

The name Hercules comes from a potent and explosive black powder made by the California Powder Works. The company named their product after Hercules, the Greek mythological hero known for his strength, in order to signify how powerful the black powder was. What began as a California Powder Works plant site on the shores of San Pablo Bay grew into the company town of Hercules, which thrived through one hundred years, three transferals of ownership, and five wars.

When the American Industrial Revolution began in the 1800's, California Powder Works joined the ranks and started a company on the west coast, near Santa Cruz, California, in 1861. In the business of making black powder, a highly explosive substance, the company prospered and provided fierce competition for the other west coast explosive firms. In 1868, the company began producing dynamite.

In 1869, California Powder Works established a dynamite plant in San Francisco in the same area that is now Golden Gate Park. As San Francisco developed and the populace moved closer to the plant, the dangerous business of producing explosives proved undesirable, and California Powder Works was forced to find a new location.

In 1879, California Powder Works began purchasing land on the isolated shores of San Pablo Bay. The plant was constructed in two years, and finally, in 1881 began producing dynamite. For safety purposes, the buildings were constructed in a series of gullies and ravines. The Hercules plant did not start manufacturing black powder until 1893, when the entire Santa Cruz plant and works moved north to reestablish in Hercules.

From 1881 until 1919, 59 lives were taken by explosions. The majority of the devastating blasts happened in the nitroglycerin house and in the building in which the dynamite was produced. The most disastrous explosion occurred in February, 1908, when 24 men were killed in a single explosion.

Before the United States Government declared war on Germany, the Hercules plant was involved in World War I producing dynamite and TNT (trinitrotoluene) for the Allied Forces. In 1915, the plant manufactured 20,000 pounds of explosives daily, but in 1917, after the U. S. entered the War, over seven million pounds of TNT per month were produced, making Hercules the largest-producing plant in the United States. Throughout its history, the Hercules plant experienced changes due to expansion and new product development. The powder company was easing out if its role as a manufacturer of explosives as early as 1940, when an anhydrous ammonia plant (NH3fertilizer) was built.

In 1959, Hercules began construction of a multi-million dollar manufacturing facility, the first of its kind in the western states. The company's goal was to annually produce eight million gallons of methanol, 50 million pounds of formaldehyde, and 11 thousand tons of urea formaldehyde composition. Completed in 1966, these were the 1st buildings constructed in Hercules' 25 years transition from explosives to fertilizer. Since it no longer manufactured black powder, the Hercules Powder Company was re-named Hercules, Incorporated.

In 1976, Hercules, Inc. sold the plant site to Valley Nitrogen Producers, a chemical and fertilizer producing corporation which owned other plants in California.

The plant at Hercules had operated without labor problems for over 95 years under the ownership of the Hercules Powder Company. While relations between the company and the workers did become strained at times, no disputes became critical enough to cause a strike. The only strike in the plant's history was a bitter labor/management dispute which curtailed operations in 1977, after Valley Nitrogen Producers had taken control of the plant.

The plant was closed permanently. Cost and profit contributed to the final shutdown that ended the strike and laid off employees. It actually became cheaper to purchase the product from another country and ship it to Hercules than it was to manufacture it here. The cost of natural gas, a vital part of fertilizer production, had skyrocketed with inflation.

The infamous drought of 1977 also added validity to the idea of closing the plant, because the farmers had no need to fertilize their crops if they could not irrigate. Immediately after shutdown in November of 1977, the plant was offered for sale. It remained idle until 1979, when it was purchased by a group of investors called Hercules Properties, Ltd.

After Hercules, Inc. ceased dynamite production in the 60's, the Company realized that it no longer needed the large parcels of surrounding land which had served as a buffer zone. They decided to create a new city on the land outside the plant. The City Council developed a General Plan to form a new city. After two years of working with consultants and holding numerous public meetings, the General plan for a city of 22,000 residents by the year 2000 was adopted by the Council.

Hercules, Inc. had originally intended to develop the land rather than sell it to other developers. After a close examination of the immensity of the project, they decided that their lack of experience in the development field would make the project undesirable. They began selling the land to other developers. In 1974, Centex Homes of California, Inc., purchased the first section of land, a large residential area near the northeastern boundary of the City.

The Centex purchase was a gamble. No one was sure that people would be willing to move to this part of the East Bay. Most new housing was being constructed in Central Contra Costa County and Alameda County. The work that went into the General Plan paid off. People lined up to buy the new Centex homes finished in 1975. New residents were attracted to the rural feeling of open space and to affordable houses. Hercules was a booming town once again.

---

From: "'Bruce F. Smith' smithbf@... [STMFC]"
To: "STMFC@..."
Sent: Friday, June 26, 2015 11:35 AM
Subject: Re: [STMFC] HO Intermountain GN plywood box cars

 

Folks,

Any suggestions on decals for the 1944, as built, green and orange scheme?  In HO?

Regards

Bruce

Bruce F. Smith            

Auburn, AL

https://www5.vetmed.auburn.edu/~smithbf/

"Some days you are the bug, some days you are the windshield."

On Jun 26, 2015, at 11:54 AM, Andy Carlson midcentury@... [STMFC] <STMFC@...> wrote:

Hello-

I am offering some new Intermountain HO undec Great Northern plywood box car kits.

1) IMRC #41050 ............................................................................$18.50/includes shipping

2) IMRC #41050 with a pair of extra 4/5 early Dreadnaught ends..  $20/shipping included

3 IMRC #41050 as above, PLUS a pair of Kato A-3 Ride control ...$27/shipping incl

Quick note: The GN built their plywood box cars from 1944 through 1947. The car' series started out with 4/5 Early Dreadnaught Ends, and later runs had 3/4 Improved dreadnaught ends, which are the ends which are included in the Intermountain kits. For the 2) version, I add a pair of IMRC 4/5 early dreadnaught ends, which have the same posts on the backside which locate exactly into the receiver peg-holes in the car body. Something IMRC could do, but so far, has not. All 3 versions come with photoetched metal running boards.

 

Some gondolas in the late 40-s and 50's were delivered with "Nailable Steel.Floors".
Does anyone know what this floor looked like?

Thanks in advance:

Bill Pardie

On Jun 26, 2015, at 11:54 AM, Andy Carlson midcentury@... [STMFC] <STMFC@...> wrote:

Hello-

I am offering some new Intermountain HO undec Great Northern plywood box car kits.

1) IMRC #41050 ............................................................................$18.50/includes shipping

2) IMRC #41050 with a pair of extra 4/5 early Dreadnaught ends..  $20/shipping included

3 IMRC #41050 as above, PLUS a pair of Kato A-3 Ride control ...$27/shipping incl

Quick note: The GN built their plywood box cars from 1944 through 1947. The car' series started out with 4/5 Early Dreadnaught Ends, and later runs had 3/4 Improved dreadnaught ends, which are the ends which are included in the Intermountain kits. For the 2) version, I add a pair of IMRC 4/5 early dreadnaught ends, which have the same posts on the backside which locate exactly into the receiver peg-holes in the car body. Something IMRC could do, but so far, has not. All 3 versions come with photoetched metal running boards.

----- Original Message -----

From: Tony Thompson tony@... [STMFC]

To: STMFC@...

Sent: Friday, June 26, 2015 1:24 PM

Subject: [STMFC] Re: GATX 56608

 

Jack Mullen wrote:

 

Indeed, Old Frothingslosh was "The pale stale ale with the foam on the bottom."   But before the moderator locks us up in a cell with no Guinness, I'll just say that a lot of adult beverages crossed the border in STMFCs during Prohibition, especially Windsor-Detroit . . .

      Actually a good freight traffic story. The smugglers arranged suitable "payments" to the officials involved, and thus created "in transit" paperwork indicating that carloads of distilled beverages, legally produced in Canada, were traveling under seal to Mexico. The Mexican officials, for a suitable reward, endorsed all papers as indicating that the cargoes had arrived there. The paperwork was then complete! But of course few if any cargoes really went to Mexico. Eventually the feds figured out the sche me and were able to stop it.

Tony Thompson             Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA

2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705         www.signature press.com

(510) 540-6538; fax, (510) 540-1937; e-mail, tony@...

Publishers of books on railroad history

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