B&SR #34 flat car - Official Work Thread

[Jeff Schumaker]

Any trucks to go with the flatcar?

Jeff S.

[John Kokas]

I thought this car was at MNG.  Looks like someone's back yard....

[James Patten]

The "back yard" is Boothbay Railway Village.

[Wayne Laepple]

In the Department of For What It's Worth, I suspect the B&SR tank cars carried more gasoline than fuel oil. After all, in pre-World War II America, most people heated their homes with coal, especially in more rural areas where gas lines did not run, and the refiners and wholesalers had not yet developed the fleets of trucks to deliver gasoline to service stations and dealers. But most people also had a car, which required gasoline. Down here in Pennsylvania, the Susquehanna River & Western, a narrow gauge line northwest of Harrisburg, had two tank cars, just like the B&SR. I am told that the two cars carried the same amount of gasoline as the standard gauge car that brought it to the interchange point.

[Bill Baskerville]

Interesting points Wayne.  What you said makes sense. 

Gas is 0.1 pounds per gallon lighter than oil. 

Sorry, but this weight pickiness comes from decades of being a pilot and doing weight and balance calculations, which is critical, not only for gross weight but also for center of lift and center of gravity in airplanes, not only at takeoff weight and Center of Gravity and but also landing weight and Center of Gravity can also be critical in some aircraft.  Fred and Link will understand this.

[Jeff Schumaker]

Wayne,

Are they any photos of the SR&W tank cars, that you know of?

Jeff S.

[Bill Baskerville]

 Jeff, if you look at one end of the tank we have you’ll see a riveted bracket that is a support for a hand rail that goes around the tank. It’s not shown in the drawing from the manufacture. If you look at other pictures of other tank cars though you will see that a handrail that surrounds the tank.  I guess it’s possible the bracket was put on the tank but the handrail never was.

[Bob Holmes]

I think he was asking for photos of the tanks cars in actual service.  Do they exist?

[Brendan Barry]

Any trucks to go with the flatcar?

Jeff S.

We got wheel sets with the car but will have to build trucks. The plan is to use the trucks from B&SR boxcar 56 to get the flatcar in operation for spring work weekend. When B&SR 56 is restored the Bridgton trucks under WW&F 126 will be used under 56 and 126 will get new common bolster trucks.

[Philip Marshall]

Actually, Jeff was asking about the Susquehanna River & Western (SR&W) tank cars Wayne mentioned, not the B&SR tank cars.

(But I thought the SR&W was standard gauge. Do you mean the Newport & Sherman's Valley, Wayne?)

[Mike Fox]

Tank is 5000 gallons and Wayne is correct. It hauled "gasolene"

[Wayne Laepple]

Jeff, in "Bells and Whistles in Old Perry," by Richard H. Steinmetz and Frederick A. Kramer, there is a photo of one of the two Newport & Shermans Valley tank cars on page 79.

And yes, Phillip, I did mean the Newport & Shermans Valley, not the Susquehanna River & Western. Brain fades happen to us old guys.

Incidentally, another car tank body was set up as a water tank for the locomotives at the west end of the N&SV after the original wooden tank rotted away. The concrete supports for the tank car still stand in New Germantown.

[Jeff Schumaker]

Wayne,

I have that book, so I will take a look.

Jeff S.

[Bill Baskerville]

Wayne,

I have that book, so I will take a look.

Jeff S.

Jeff or Wayne,

Perhaps you can share the pix with us here?

[Carl G. Soderstrom]

in MicroMark's Holiday 2018 Flyer on page 84
Is a model that looks a lot like the museum's tank.
Granted it is in "broad" (Standard) gauge - but it looks close.