All,                                                                           EDITED

 Did UTLX remove the Ladder, Platform and Dome grab on Tank cars acquired from other shippers or only on some cars. I know that X-3's were built with only One ladder, on the Brake Wheel side, ditto on the Platform and Dome grab, but here is a GATX built car, most likely acquired, with them removed? It looks like they did not replace the Hazzard Placard signs to the UTLX type but made the other modifications. So, as a modeler, should other UTLX tank cars, ACF type 21, 27, GATX 17 etc. have only One ladder etc. on the Brake Wheel side or would most cars remain as built?

(Bruce S. "I edited this post because I mentioned the wrong car side", Thank you for your response anyway)


Thanks,
 Eric Thur

Eric,
There's no evidence  that this car was ever fitted with dome platform, ladder, and grabiron on the right side. That said, the photo doesn't prove that there weren't other non-UTLX design cars in the fleet that did have platforms on both sides.
I wouldn't assume that UTLX would bother removing the second platform from a car it received that happened to be built with two.
A minimum of one platform etc was a required safety appliance. The choice of one or two was up to the company that ordered and spec'ed a particular lot of cars.
I wouldn't remove the second platform from a model unless I were modeling one from a series known to have only one, by photo or other sound evidence. YMMV.

Jack Mullen 

Eric:

Flipping through Steve Hile's UTLX book along with a few of my own photos, I'd offer this:

1.  If we are talking about UTLX Class "Z" cars  built to order for UTLX, I'd omit the right-side ladder and platform.  Not every lot has a confirming photo, but the weight of evidence is pretty compelling.  So to be 100% accurate, the right-side ladder and dome should be stripped from the Tangent 1917 design cars representing the 1000 cars originally in 70000-70999 (but promptly renumbered).  I would comment that there are only about 2200 total Class Z cars listed in Table 6 of the book, illustrating the dominance of the Z, X and X-3 designs in cars purchased new by UTLX.

2.  If you look through the photos of Class Z cars purchased second-hand, you'll see a mix of cars with and without the right-side ladder.  It looks like a coin toss unless you have a confirming photo.  But I agree with Jack:  I can't imagine UTLX spending the money to remove right-side ladders and platform if they happened to come on a used car.  To what purpose?  These are zero maintenance items absent a structural failure.

3.  I've said before, but the P2000 Type 21s in UTLX livery are a foobie-fest.  Some of it is car numbering, some of it is just nonsense (e.g., an "X-3" stencil on the car end).  I wouldn't run any of those models unless I had some concrete confirmation from Steve's book.  Put another way, the ladder/platform question is the least of your worries if you want to use the P2000 models as 100% accurate components of the UTLX fleet.

YMMV of course, but that's my take.

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Dave Parker
Swall Meadows, CA

On Thu, Mar 2, 2023 at 10:55 AM, Dave Parker wrote:

1.  If we are talking about UTLX Class "Z" cars  built to order for UTLX, I'd omit the right-side ladder and platform.  Not every lot has a confirming photo, but the weight of evidence is pretty compelling.  So to be 100% accurate, the right-side ladder and dome should be stripped from the Tangent 1917 design cars representing the 1000 cars originally in 70000-70999 (but promptly renumbered).  I would comment that there are only about 2200 total Class Z cars listed in Table 6 of the book, illustrating the dominance of the Z, X and X-3 designs in cars purchased new by UTLX.

TWO CORRECTIONS:

Sorry, I wrote this way too quickly without looking carefully at the photos (and captions).  The 1000 GA 1917-deign cars built for UTLX in 1920 DID have right-side ladders and platforms.  Car 71679 on p. 115 of Steve's book shows this, as does another 1948 photo of car 71611.  Steve's photos do suggest that at least two of the four lots (900 cars total) built new by Standard Car/Tank for UTLX did NOThave the right-side ladders/domes.

And it case it wasn't obvious., the last bit should read "V, X, and X-3 designs"

Apologies for any confusion.
 
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Dave Parker
Swall Meadows, CA