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interesting COSX tank car in MR

Bruce Smith <smithbf@...>
 

Folks,

The lead photo for an article called "Pipeline on Rails" in this month's
Model Railroader (page 56, November 2005) shows a string of tank cars at
the Mid-Continent refinery in Tulsa OK in 1942. At the near end is COSX
2269. The neat thing about this car is that it is a 2 dome car that
appears to have been made from a single dome car with a second dome
grafted onto one end - making 2 compartments with what appears to be very
different volumes. The image is from the Library of Congress
(LC-USW3-010050) but it doesn't appear to be on-line.

There is some interesting information on refinery output in the article
but in spite of the title the article has little or no useful information
on tank cars.

Regards
Bruce

Brue Smith
Auburn, AL
Richard Hendrickson
 

On Oct 6, 2005, at 7:59 PM, Bruce Smith wrote:

The lead photo for an article called "Pipeline on Rails" in this month's
Model Railroader (page 56, November 2005) shows a string of tank cars at
the Mid-Continent refinery in Tulsa OK in 1942. At the near end is COSX
2269. The neat thing about this car is that it is a 2 dome car that
appears to have been made from a single dome car with a second dome
grafted onto one end - making 2 compartments with what appears to be very
different volumes. The image is from the Library of Congress
(LC-USW3-010050) but it doesn't appear to be on-line.
Bruce, I have that photo, along with numerous others that were taken in 1942 to document the railroads' efforts to transport petroleum products for the war effort after the Germans effectively cut off tanker traffic along the Atlantic coast. Collectively, they are full of good images and information for modelers of the mid- to late '40s. That MR used only one of the photos is typical of their once-over-lightly approach to prototype modeling; sure wouldn't want to overwhelm the train set bozos with too much information.

Two compartment tank cars that were converted from single compartment cars by adding internal diaphragms and a smaller dome at one end only weren't all that rare; I have a number of photos of them. It was even more common for single compartment cars to be converted into three compartment cars by adding diaphragms and domes at both ends while leaving the original, larger capacity center dome in place.

Richard Hendrickson
Montford Switzer <ZOE@...>
 

Richard:

Please help me and possibly others understand how a single compartment
tank car can be converted to multiple compartments. You refer to a
diaphragm, the wall between the compartments, which I know as a
"bulkhead" with the ends being "heads." Bulkheads could be both single
and double (air space between compartments).

Now, how did they do it? The word diaphragm throws me. Did they
assemble the bulkhead inside the barrel after putting it in through the
dome opening in pieces (doubtful)? Or did they make the conversion by
removing one of the heads (ends of the barrel) and slide the bulkhead
(partition or diaphragm) in the end? I suspect this was the method.
And were rivets were used for both the new bulkheads and the new dome?

I'm not trying to put you on the spot, but if anyone will know the
answer(s) you are the guy.

Mont Switzer

-----Original Message-----
From: STMFC@... [mailto:STMFC@...] On Behalf Of
Richard Hendrickson
Sent: Friday, October 07, 2005 3:27 PM
To: STMFC@...
Subject: Re: [STMFC] interesting COSX tank car in MR

On Oct 6, 2005, at 7:59 PM, Bruce Smith wrote:

The lead photo for an article called "Pipeline on Rails" in this
month's
Model Railroader (page 56, November 2005) shows a string of tank cars
at
the Mid-Continent refinery in Tulsa OK in 1942. At the near end is
COSX
2269. The neat thing about this car is that it is a 2 dome car that
appears to have been made from a single dome car with a second dome
grafted onto one end - making 2 compartments with what appears to be
very
different volumes. The image is from the Library of Congress
(LC-USW3-010050) but it doesn't appear to be on-line.
Bruce, I have that photo, along with numerous others that were taken in
1942 to document the railroads' efforts to transport petroleum products
for the war effort after the Germans effectively cut off tanker traffic
along the Atlantic coast. Collectively, they are full of good images
and information for modelers of the mid- to late '40s. That MR used
only one of the photos is typical of their once-over-lightly approach
to prototype modeling; sure wouldn't want to overwhelm the train set
bozos with too much information.

Two compartment tank cars that were converted from single compartment
cars by adding internal diaphragms and a smaller dome at one end only
weren't all that rare; I have a number of photos of them. It was even
more common for single compartment cars to be converted into three
compartment cars by adding diaphragms and domes at both ends while
leaving the original, larger capacity center dome in place.

Richard Hendrickson





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Richard Hendrickson
 

On Oct 7, 2005, at 1:46 PM, Montford Switzer wrote:

Richard:

Please help me and possibly others understand how a single compartment
tank car can be converted to multiple compartments. You refer to a
diaphragm, the wall between the compartments, which I know as a
"bulkhead" with the ends being "heads." Bulkheads could be both single
and double (air space between compartments).

Now, how did they do it? The word diaphragm throws me. Did they
assemble the bulkhead inside the barrel after putting it in through the
dome opening in pieces (doubtful)? Or did they make the conversion by
removing one of the heads (ends of the barrel) and slide the bulkhead
(partition or diaphragm) in the end? I suspect this was the method.
And were rivets were used for both the new bulkheads and the new dome?
A diaphragm was an internal bulkhead, which looked exactly like a tank end because that's what it was. They were fitted in pairs with air space in between (and drain holes at the bottom of the air spaces so that it would be apparent if any of the compartments leaked inside the tank shell). They were riveted in place just like a tank end and, as you infer, the conversion was carried out by removing and replacing one or both tank ends. For a shop equipped to work on tanks, such a conversion was a relatively simple operation.

Richard Hendrickson
Montford Switzer <ZOE@...>
 

Richard:

Thanks for the explanation. Things are as I suspected.

Mont Switzer

-----Original Message-----
From: STMFC@... [mailto:STMFC@...] On Behalf Of
Richard Hendrickson
Sent: Friday, October 07, 2005 4:19 PM
To: STMFC@...
Subject: Re: [STMFC] interesting COSX tank car in MR

On Oct 7, 2005, at 1:46 PM, Montford Switzer wrote:

Richard:

Please help me and possibly others understand how a single compartment
tank car can be converted to multiple compartments. You refer to a
diaphragm, the wall between the compartments, which I know as a
"bulkhead" with the ends being "heads." Bulkheads could be both
single
and double (air space between compartments).

Now, how did they do it? The word diaphragm throws me. Did they
assemble the bulkhead inside the barrel after putting it in through
the
dome opening in pieces (doubtful)? Or did they make the conversion by
removing one of the heads (ends of the barrel) and slide the bulkhead
(partition or diaphragm) in the end? I suspect this was the method.
And were rivets were used for both the new bulkheads and the new dome?
A diaphragm was an internal bulkhead, which looked exactly like a tank
end because that's what it was. They were fitted in pairs with air
space in between (and drain holes at the bottom of the air spaces so
that it would be apparent if any of the compartments leaked inside the
tank shell). They were riveted in place just like a tank end and, as
you infer, the conversion was carried out by removing and replacing one
or both tank ends. For a shop equipped to work on tanks, such a
conversion was a relatively simple operation.

Richard Hendrickson





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