| article shows that tank cars come in all shapes and sizes. No sooner
had I decided "anything is prototype" and to go ahead and use an old Athearn
HO metal body I had then I ran across just such a 3,000-gallon car, used
by the duPont Co. to haul tetraethyl lead, in the neighborhood railroad
yard!
I began by mounting standard S Gauge scale trucks on the HO bolsters with a screw of the same diameter but longer (2-56 x '/2") than Athearn's. The bolsters seem small but, of course, this was a narrow-gauge car. The wheels extend slightly beyond the ends of the car, too, but I think such a company as |
Photo: But rare as 3,000-gal. cars are, they are not all alike. Here is a two-dome one . |
| Smelzika-Sovbich would accept anything so long as it worked. A 1/32"
washer must be used on each truck to bring the car to proper coupler height.
Since the C & N uses a type of HO coupler once made by Roundhouse, I had no problem mounting couplers in the Athearn draft gear housings. Mounting other types including S dummies might require some alteration of the housings. T made air hoses by winding fine phosphor-bronze wire on a spindle springfashion. I attached each "hose" to the end of the train and on the loose end bent the last coil into a hook, so air hoses may be coupled between cars. |
Photo: And here is a three-dome one. Which means all HO tank bodies are fair game for conversion. |
