Distillate was a regional, petroleum derived fuel which could be used in tractors.

I watch antique tractor TV shows and every so often thet'll show a tractor which runs on distillate. My recollection is that there are more than a couple of other regional fuels and some tractors could run on more than one fuel.

Petroleum feedstocks vary considerably in chemical composition and even in appearance. Each refinery is set up to use a specific feed stock.

I worked with coatings for most of my career and found a lot of local regional solvents of similar compositions (and drying times) referenced in trade literature. Petroleum ether, liqroin, Stoddard solvent, Skellysolve ......What would dissolve in one might not dissolve in another. These solvents were mixtures of hydrocarbons (less expensive than pure hydrocarbons) which was dependant on both the crude oil and way the refinery was set up.

These differences in refinery products were also evident in gasoline. A car that runs well on gasoline from one refinery might not run so well on gasoline from another refinery. Texaco used this fact in their advertising. Their gas was uniform in each of the 48 states.

I've always thought that multidome general service tank cars were used for specialty loads like lube oils. After all, an 8000 gallon tank car holds 800 - 10 gallon fills, not very much for a dealer (consider their profit in the stream era).

I wonder if multidone weren't used to supply small dealers with less common petroleum products like distillate? Anyone seen an evidence (photos or car lists) that multidome tank cars were delivered to small dealers?

On the topic of petroleum products just about everywhere I've lived finished petroleum products have been and are delivered by water. Were tank cars ever loaded at waterside terminals?

Ed

Ed,

Butane was a popular alternative fuel for large highway trucks in the west up into the 1950s. Most brands of trucks were available with an optional butane engine. I believe Hall Scott of Berkeley made many of these power plants. Why butane, I don't know. Maybe butane engines worked better at higher altitudes in the Sierras and the Rockies?

I've never heard of a butane-powered tractor, but it was probably tried at some point.

Kind regards,


Garth G. Groff

ed_mines wrote:

--- In STMFC@..., "ed_mines" <ed_mines@...> wrote:

<snip>

On the topic of petroleum products just about everywhere I've lived
finished petroleum products have been and are delivered by water.
Were tank cars ever loaded at waterside terminals?

Sure. According to Gehrke's "Freight Traffic Geography of the Seaboard Air Line", in 1950 much of the petroleum delivered to Florida got to Tampa by ship, was loaded into tank cars there.

Al Brown, Melbourne, Fla.

Yes - the list of Watertown MN waybills showed just that - which is why I asked the question.

I have seen these old "distillate" engines and the manual for my Dad's Farmall mentioned a distillate fuel option. I just wondered if it had been unified and standardized into something else in the last 50 years.

KL

--- In STMFC@..., "ed_mines" <ed_mines@...> wrote:

I've always thought that multidome general service tank cars were used for specialty loads like lube oils. After all, an 8000 gallon tank car holds 800 - 10 gallon fills, not very much for a dealer (consider their profit in the stream era).

I wonder if multidone weren't used to supply small dealers with less common petroleum products like distillate? Anyone seen an evidence (photos or car lists) that multidome tank cars were delivered to small dealers?

In interviews with small town oil jobbers on Santa Fe's Alma District in Kansas I was told by most that they could not store the contents of of a whole tank car. Tank cars carrying more than one product were a necessity. They also received a lot of product in 55 gallon drums shipped in box cars.
Jared Harper
Athens, GA