Help finding photos

[Gary Pfeil]

I'm hoping someone can point me to some photos of smalltime tankcar unloading. I'm working on a scene where I envision a tankcar of fuel oil is spotted and used to fuel a diesel switcher in a small but busy yard serving an industrial area and interchange. I started building a cinderblock structure to house a pump and it wasn't till I placed some of the elements that I noticed the tank car appears to be unloaded from the top, not the bottom, is that correct? I could really use some proto photos if anyone can point me in the right direction. I've attached a photo of progress so far.

Thanks!

 

[straight-track]

Gary, I'm sure the dome at the top of the car is for expansion of the contents due to temperature change and the fittings there are for filling and venting the car. It is unloaded with help of gravity at the bottom through fittings for connecting hoses to. Nice picture and good luck with your project. Keep us posted.
Joe

 

[cnw1961]

Gary, I have a picture of a tank car used to fuel the Super Chief. The tank car in this picture is unloaded from the bottom. I can’t post it here, because of the copy right. I’ll send you a PM.

 

[Ralph]

Kurt,
You may post a link to the image if you wish.
Ralph

 

[Gary Pfeil]

Thanks Kurt. Kurts picture showed locos being fueled with just hoses and gravity. The tracks were at the same height and tho it looked like the fuel tank fills were a bit higher than the bottom of the tank car, I guess most of the fuel could be used. I wonder how they handled the oil in the hose? The spout end must have a valve, but what about the end connected to the tankcar? When the car is empty and needs to be moved and they disconnect the hose, is there a valve of some type on the hose to keep the oil from leaking out?

Since diesel fuel (I believe) is simialr to home heating oil, what do northern climate roads do in winter? I would think the flow would be very slow or nonexistant. Do they use heat to improve flow, or perhaps a pump?

Thanks

 

[cnw1961]

Ralph, here is a link to the pic http://www.cnw.mattheydesign.de/Super_Chief.jpg . Oh man, did not think of that possibility wall1ops:ops:ops:ops:ops::mrgreen:.

 

[MadHatter]

I think they load a tank wagon from the top too, locally there are quite a few which they do so with. Our cement wagons for e.g.

 

[Ralph]

Neat pic Kurt!
Ralph

 

[jbaakko]

I'm not sure about way back when, but a tank car is almost always, as in 99.9% of the time, pressure fueled from the bottom, and gravity de-fueled, when hauling diesel or unleaded gasoline. They're very easy to dump, and usually have some sort of valve, and a cam lock hose fitting. It would not take that much effort to reduce the size of the hose down to a 2" or even 1" and stick a normal gas station nozzle on the end. I see it done on fuel trucks now, at work.

Fuel is not that forgiving of an item to open load at the top. Most domes are just expansion holes, though usually do have a hatch that can be opened, it would not be safe to monitor the fuel level while loading it that way.

 

[doctorwayne]

Gary, if you look closely at Kurt's picture, there's a hose running from the loco (perhaps from one of the truck's brake cylinders?) to a fitting on the end of the tank car, so it looks to me as if the cars are being pressurised to assist in unloading.

Wayne

 

[MadHatter]

Did you know that a tank wagon has a few "baffle" plates inside them to try and stabilize the contents, if it didn't have them in the wagon would be thrown off the rails.

I've spoken to many train drivers and they say that the worst trains to drive is a block train of tankers. They've told me that whenever the train is on a down gradient, it begins to "bunch-up" and no matter where you hold you go flying out of your seat, maybe they should install seat belts for drivers too.