Tangent HO GA 8,000 Gal. Radial Course Tank Car Spokane Portland & Seattle “Water Service BN Era, 1972+”

Description

Railroad Short Name: BN

By the end of World War I, U.S. production of oil and oil-related products was sharply increasing thanks to the combination of war-related demands as well as demands from home. In order to move oil and “new” consumer products, tank car producers introduced new car designs. In 1917 General American Tank Car introduced a new general service 8,000 gallon non-insulated tank car (a prototype for which we released a model in November 2016 with a few still in stock), and quickly followed that production with an insulated 8,000 gallon tank car, which utilized a “jacket” that surrounded the tank and dome. Built in East Chicago, IN, these insulated cars were easily identifiable by their circumferential rivets that surrounded the tank body, with notably different heights between the courses, and with their “recessed ends”. These “radial course” tank cars utilized steel bolster plates that rise up vertically to hold the tank in place, complete with a “web” section behind to minimize steel consumption. At a time of fairly monochromatic box cars plying the rails, these insulated tank cars carried consumable products, and they were typically stenciled for lessees advertising consumer products such as gasoline, wine, and corn products.

SP&S “BN Era 1972+” X-385 is available now as a new “MOW” offering for BN-era modelers.  This means it includes era-specific paintouts on top of the Spokane, Portland, and Seattle (SP&S)-applied stenciling.  The car’s stenciling still has most of its original SP&S paint appearance, including its 1958 paint date.  The SP&S reporting marks and road number were restenciled, likely during the SP&S era, carrying over to the BN era.  What makes it a BN 1972-era car is the tiny 1972 inspection stenciling on the frame and brake reservoir, which is barely visible to the naked eye.  This can be easily back-dated (or ignored) if you are an SP&S modeler.  The arid grasslands surrounding the (former) SP&S mainline in Washington state called for a fleet of tank cars to provide water for extinguishing fires that might occur along the right of way.  Each was painted slightly differently, and each tank in the fleet was sourced individually.

Features:

• Circumferential riveted tank body and riveted underframe (count ‘em, there are many!)
• Radial course tank body – note the “stairstep” appearance!
• All-new underframe for the GATC 1917-design
• “See-through” cast knee above the bolsters
• Accurate dome appliances
• Dimensionally-correct hazardous placards with accurate hole detail
• Separately applied tank handrail
• Separately applied tank strap detail
• KC- or AB- brake variations depending on the prototype car
• Inclusion of Cardwell draft sill springs depending on the prototype car, otherwise “oval” frame openings where the springs were removed
• Different hand brake appliance options depending on the prototype car
• Highly correct “true to life” colors
• “Hyper-Accurate” lettering including exact fonts and lettering placement, including lettering applied to the underframe and air reservoir
• Durable wire grab irons and coupler lift bars
• Separate air hoses
• “Near-scale” draft gear box with side detail
• Kadee® “scale-head” couplers
• CNC-machined 33” wheels in high-quality Tangent Scale Models ASF cast steel truck with spring plank and with separate brake beams
• Replacement semi-scale wheels available separately from Tangent
• Multiple road numbers for each scheme – these cars often traveled in “groups” of more than one