B&SR Tank 14 - Official Restoration Thread

[Steve Smith]

I think that kerosene came first, didn't it Mike? So gasolene was the more logical spelling. I wonder how it came to be gasoline. Are there any petroleum industry experts on the Forum who can give a reason?

Any members of our forum who remember the comic strip "Gasoline Alley"?

[Steve Smith]

I should have checked via Wikipedia before asking. Just did so, belatedly, and found it's still going, although by a successor cartoonist.

[Mike Fox]

Yes Steve. They shipped Kerosene first. I am not sure when the gasolene shipments started, but in 1920 the larger tank was put in service by Sonoco, but I am not sure if that means the oil dealer bought the tanks and had them installed or if the Railroad did it.

[Jeff Schumaker]

Yes Steve. They shipped Kerosene first. I am not sure when the gasolene shipments started, but in 1920 the larger tank was put in service by Sonoco, but I am not sure if that means the oil dealer bought the tanks and had them installed or if the Railroad did it.

I have come across reports in The Bridgton News of tanks being built in 1907, I believe. I will have to check my notes on the year.

Jeff S.

[Mike Fox]

I think you are right. They started hauling with the small tank on '01, and then upgraded the tanks in Bridgton (I forget the dealers name) with a vertical tank.

[Jeff Schumaker]

Mike,

You are correct, the year was 1901, not 1907. I should have checked my notes first. The Standard Oil agent was Charles E. Gleason. An article from February reported the tank was to be built at Bridgton Jct. Plans must have changed, as the next mention of an oil tank was in November, at which time it was reported that the tank would be built on the hillside south of the B&SR frieght sheds in Bridgton. An "oil car" was also mentioned to deliver the oil from the junction. Construction of the tank began in late November. Apparently, it was not built on site, but moved into position, as a December 20th article mentions the tank being "placed in position". The first tank car delivery to Bridgton was reported on December 27th.

Jeff S.

[Stephen Piwowarski]

Although, the cars themselves may have been assembled in the early 1900s, I believe Phillip Marshall suggested that the tanks themselves may have actually belonged to earlier, standard gauge tank cars.

[Philip Marshall]

Although, the cars themselves may have been assembled in the early 1900s, I believe Phillip Marshall suggested that the tanks themselves may have actually belonged to earlier, standard gauge tank cars.

Yes, thank you Steve. 

The casting on the top of the dome of the larger tank (I don't know about the smaller one) is marked "Harrisburg Foundry & Machine Co. Makers Harrisburg Pa 1878". Also known as the  Harrisburg Car Works, this company was the first major builder of railroad tank cars during the Pennsylvania petroleum boom of the 1860s-1870s. They went out of business around 1893.

https://www.midcontinent.org/rollingstock/builders/harrisburg1.htm

The larger tank bears a striking resemblance to an 1875 Harrisburg tank car design for the PRR illustrated at the link above.

I'm quite certain the larger tank is an 1870s standard gauge tank car that was acquired second-hand by Standard Oil and the B&SR and converted to narrow gauge.

A discussion of Harrisburg tank cars (including ours) on RYPN several years ago found at least four still in existence, of which ours is apparently the oldest based on the dome casting date: http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=34090&hilit=harrisburg+cars

There are very few Harrisburg tank cars left, and very few freight cars from the 1870s left in general, so it's a significant artifact even without the narrow gauge part of its history.

[Philip Marshall]

The library of the University of Pennsylvania holds a collection of Harrisburg Car Works builder's photos, including some tank cars: http://www.library.upenn.edu/collections/rbm/photos/harrisburgcar/

Compare these images with the larger B&SR tank:

http://www.library.upenn.edu/collections/rbm/photos/harrisburgcar/harrisburgcar-1.html

http://www.library.upenn.edu/collections/rbm/photos/harrisburgcar/harrisburgcar-29.html

http://www.library.upenn.edu/collections/rbm/photos/harrisburgcar/harrisburgcar-34.html

[Mike Fox]

I don't recall knowing the history of the small tank, but the larger tank came from a standard gauge car. It was put in service with the patch repairs that are on the tank in 1920. I had already had a rough life before the B&SR got it.

[Ted Miles]

Folks,
         I was an avid reader of the Gasoline Alley comic strip back in the old days; like the 1950s.
          I have a picture of the #14 tank car taken at Portland in shiny new silver. It is sure amazing what several years of outside storage can do to modern paint. I am glad there is interest in the tank cars; there were only two of them in Maine. And that 1870s tank, owned by the WW&F Museum is the oldest artifact on the property, much older than its narrow gauge years.
Ted Miles, WW&F Member 

[John McNamara]

Maybe we can get a restoration grant from Exxon Mobil (XOM).

[Ted Miles]

Today it appears that you could not save any of the six sills; I hope the iron hardware is reusable. The wood work is pretty straight forward. The iron tank will be hard; as a special certificate for confined spaces will likely be needed. Maybe that can be left for Maine Narrow Gauge; it is their tank car after all.  Ted Miles, WW&F Member

[Brendan Barry]

Today it appears that you could not save any of the six sills; I hope the iron hardware is reusable. The wood work is pretty straight forward. The iron tank will be hard; as a special certificate for confined spaces will likely be needed. Maybe that can be left for Maine Narrow Gauge; it is their tank car after all.  Ted Miles, WW&F Member

The car had one original side sill and the blocks on top of the bolsters the truss rods ride on top of were probably original. The rest of the car was all Edaville construction. The car also had the remains of the attachment points for pipe railings. So at some point the car was in passenger service without a tank mounted.

[Brendan Barry]

Zach has the flatcar ready to be turned over.  The car needs decking, paint, and stake pockets put back on to be finished.