I have seen these models for years....but I have never seen a picture of a real one. Is there a real car like this? If so,what is it used for? How the heck would you load it? Thanks! http://www.ebay.com/itm/Aurora-Post...300861?pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item58920ac2fd
They hauled Helium tanks. Edit: I may be wrong since I can't find info on it, but I know there were a few N scale models of the car you've shown and they hold some type of cylinder tanks. Maybe chlorine?
There was a thread about this type of car... somewhere... not too long ago. It's a "ton container car" ... carries these small canisters of chemicals too hazardous to carry in bulk. I believe the containers are lowered through the openings in the top.
I used to have one lettered for Dow Chemical. However a guy in the club wanted it and pestered me continuously until I relented and sold it to him. If I remember correctly, the top cross beams were detachable on the prototype and the tanks could be lowered in from above.
A search pointed me to the Atlas forum, which in turn pointed back to trainboard discussions about these cars, showing a prototype picture. http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/data/500/DUPX50021.jpg
What is this car? Those cars were used to carry materials that were dangerous when wet or could not come in contact with certain materials. One of which is Acrylonitrile. It is the basic chemical used to make ABS and Butylene plastics. It is very toxic and when it comes in contact with certain metals, any acid or alkyline it will react and start to burn, resulting in more chemical reaction to a point where it can explode. It emits nasty fumes including hydrogen cyanide gas. This is why it is one of the chemicals put into those containers to limit how much is together. There are other chemicals tht do the same sorts of things such as calcium carbide. If it gets wet it becomses acetyleme gas which can catch fire and explode.
I found a photo of this prototype in the book American Car & Foundry: a 100 year history by Edward S. Kaminsky (Wilton, Calif.: Signature Press, 1999). I asked my local public library to borrow a copy for me via their Interlibrary Loan service, and they loaned me a copy that belonged to the library of the U.S. Department of Transportation. I see that Amazon.com has a copy available for $408 ($80 used). I think I photocopied the picture but I cannot immediately find it. Page 337 has a photo of DuPont DUPX #50001, an ACF RD-52 container car, a type blt late 50s early 60s. As I understand it, the triangular shaped frame on the middle of the side of the car is kind of an A-frame support which cabn be used to hoist a container into the car. I believe this car was called a carbide container car, but I guess it could be used for other containerized shipments requiring critical handling. My handy-dandy rolling-stock inventory shows I have one of these cars lettered "Hooker, but I don't think I have the containers. I believe the superstructure and sides and ends come off the car fairly easily in one piece. It would probably be necessary to pop the superstructure on and off if I wanted to operate this car loaded to a destination one way and also operate the return empty movement.
Wasn't there a lot of odd stuff produced in the early years of N scale that manufacturers wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole today because they reckon it wouldn't sell well enough.
Back then, there was not much of anything available. If you produced anything whether common or weird, it was going to sell. Now days, with so much more available, most folks pass on the weird stuff.
"Weird stuff" is just the kind if stuff I like to collect for my railraod, so far I have found this car in 3 names. Dow, Hooker & DuPont.
I used to feel the same way about the N helium tank cars until I found a shot of one in a train during my era. Another oddball in N but actually appropriate in some corridors. Nice list of where they went to in the link below: http://www.atsfrr.net/Reviews/HO/Freight/Helium/Index.htm http://www.visi.com/~spookshow/freight/atlasrocohelium.html Truly excellent modeling data in here: http://www.atsfrr.net/Reviews/HO/Freight/Helium/HeliumHandout.pdf What still blows my mind is take a close look at the stenciling - LT WT of the car is 239,000 lb for a 40' car, THAT IS 120 TONS EMPTY. Your current maximum axle limit today on a 2-truck 4 axle car is 286,000 and was 263,000 until about 10 years ago. I've had several wonderful debates with people on whether or not it weighed more empty or loaded, and if that was why the car had to be so heavy when empty so that when it was loaded it wouldn't float off. I got answers, but its more fun to keep tossing it out there for people to scratch their heads.
Argh. So he teases us. Now I am left to scratch my head, which is slowly reducing the available crop of hair atop....
Yeah, I love those old helium cars and the legends about folks ignorance pertaining to basic physics. Helium must be magic stuff to do all they think it does.
OK, well, this is just too funny. The only thing more fun than discussions like this is if everybody does it after drinking two beers, and you're the sober one. http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/587790.html I've seen some pretty good closeups of the stencilling out there, which sort of answers the question.... But I found something even better. Jaw dropper. Look at this. I can't believe it. And look at the DATE OF THE PHOTO. http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2963682 C'mon guys, somebody build a model!
