Ok I am newto this ,,, I have an N-scale steamer and the grandson picked out a silvertanker car for us. I didn’t think toomuch about it but sitting here I am wondering if an old steam engine should bepulling a tanker? am alsowondering what other kind of rolling stock is available? Anything strange, any kind of hoppers ortanks. Like I said I am new to this so show me what you have.
I think that depends on how faithful you want to be to the prototype. There's a lot available, and era tells the tale. Steam survived at least into the 50's, and there would have been tank cars behind them. If you want to maintain some level of accuracy, you can look at the lower left of the car where the dimensional data is printed. There should be a legend of "NEW" or "BLT" followed by a month-year. If your eyes are good enough to check this (yes, I squint at freight cars...) you can stay faithful to, say, 40's and early 50's. And as for tanks in particular, I think the colorfully painted ones are older types, so should be fine.
Depends upon the type of tank car. They go way back and were pulled by steam for many decades. Is your steamer one which would have lasted into the late era?
Thanks forthe reply, looks like some good info! I am not too concerned about being correct,I will probably get a diesel to pull modern stuff, I really would like to seewhat kind of strange stuff people have or is available… Like I saidthis is all brand new to me, I have looked at some of the online store and Isee some tankers, flat beds, boxcars etc… I am not seeing a lot of things thatstrike me as different. Maybe I should just put up a post asking to see thestrangest rolling stock everyone has lol.
With steam, your best bet would be to look at the shorter cars (like 40' boxes). With the grandson being part of your adventure, not a bad idea to give him some input - that way he can feel more a part of it and keep both your interest and excitement levels up!
Lots and lots of information about N scale models and their real world counterparts here - http://www.visi.com/~spookshow/trainstuff.html -Mark
My personal feeling is for now just buy a few of what looks good so you can get things running. Later you can make things more prototypical with a more careful selection of locos and cars. Even if you go modern the steamer can always be for your "excursion train".
A general answer about steam loco pulling tankcars... Most tank cars of the "steam era" had big expansion domes like these. They also sat on some kind of a frame under the tank. There were some tanks during the steam era that did not fit this description-- high pressure tanks for chlorine gas with a somewhat smaller loading place on top that was not an expansion dome. These are sometime referred to as "chemical tank cars". Acid tank cars also had different "domes" but I have hardly ever seen them available in mass-produced N scale. Some other types of tank cars are more typical of modern post-steam railroading. I would not say they are "wrong" behind a steamer, but just that you would be "safe" from looking wrong by avoiding unless (a) you do some more research, or (b) you and your grandson just happen to like them. Shorty beer-can tank cars, short in length but big and fat as any ofther tank car in tank diameter. Frameless tank cars with no center sill or frame under the tank, using the tank itself as the frame for most of the length of the car. "Funnel flow" cars swaybacked so the middle of the tank is lowest for gravity unloading. I don't have any of these among the 50+ tankcars I run on my 1957 era railroad.
Stealing some pictures from the "Obsessed with Tabnk Cars" thread, here are some examples of tankcars I would consider generally more modern than steam-era... beer can tank cars Modern tankcars without expansion dome.
During the WW2 era it was not uncommon to see solid 100 car trains of nothing but tank cars, except for the caboose, behind FT diesels or big steam. Even the older dome tank cars that were on separate frames made it well into the 2nd generation diesel era. They were no longer used in interchange service but in home road captive service for hauling diesel feul, sand, new and waste engine oils and other lubricants for the railroad use only. A bunch more even older could be found as water cars for maintenance of way use, fire cars, or domestic water for kitchen and camp car showers. The oldest tank cars were no more than a cylindrical tank strapped on a flatcar. So a plain black or silver domed tank car with no more than reporting marks, capacity and commodity held can still fit into the modern diesel era.
By the time of the Second World War, most (though not all) tank cars were painted black with white or yellow lettering, and the colorful paint schemes like the silver one were largely a thing of the past. So generally, yes, a silver tank car that follows the designs of the period-- as noted above-- would be right at home behind a steam engine.
I would say on the simple side of things; that the shorter tanker cars are generally older and would fit your era in general. But keep in mind it's you and your Grand sons Railroad so you can run whatever you choose:wink:
Thank you for all the info and the picturesare great! You people are a huge help! Did I say I like the pictures,,, I willpost pictures of what I have if I can figure out how. And yes it really is more about what me andthe grandson like.
Absolutely... that's known as "Rule #1" -It's Your Railroad. It looks like you have basic Bachmann train cars. The tank car is the best match to the time period for the steam locomotive, the other cars... not so much, particularly the extended vision caboose. But see Rule #1...
So the tankcar is good match? Really? That’s the one my grandson picked out. As for therest of my cars they came with the yard boss set the wife got me.. It’s good to know little Dean has a good eyefor this stuff.
the box car is not that bad for a 50's railroad, it has a roof walk and looks like a 40 footer.Cars with roof walks were made before 1964
A good place to look for info on history and developement of RR tank cars- http://www.petroleumhistory.org/OilHistory/pages/TankCars/Evolution.html Hope it's of interest, JimR.
