Even though I am focused on my office shelf layout at the moment, I still like to look for ideas to use on my future layouts. Someday
I would like to have at least part of a layout dedicated to the Detroit
& Mackinac and their Michigan operations during the late 80's and
early 90's. I have a good start on some rolling stock, but nothing
when it comes to locomotives yet. That layout wouldn't be for quite a while, so
I have some time to work on accumulating more pieces for my D&M
collection. In the meantime, I am always on the lookout for ideas that
would work on a D&M layout.
Today
I came across something interesting when looking through all the
pictures I have for #1280. The picture below shows it in front of two CM
units and another unknown fourth locomotive, but the most interesting
part is what's behind that last one. If you look close, you can see
several tank cars. These are not just any tank cars though, they are actually part of the TankTrain™ from GATX (Great American Transportation Corporation).
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| DM 1280 leading three other units somewhere in Michigan. |
Here is the description from the GATX website: "TankTrain™ System - A string of interconnected tank cars with flexible hoses, developed
exclusively by GATX’s research and development team, allows for quick
loading and unloading of commodities including crude petroleum oil,
benzene, light fuel oil and phosphoric acid."
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| A better look at the TankTrain cars in real life. |
The best part is there are several models out there for these specific tank cars. I found a great example from Athearn. They can be bought as individual intermediate cars or as an A/B set of two. For my purposes, I would probably go with three cars total to match the picture shown above. Here are some pictures I found of these models.
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| A look at one of the Athearn models. |
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| A look at two of the units connected to each other. |
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| A closer look at the connecting hose between the two units. |
These would definitely look good on a layout with some D&M locomotives pulling them around. I'll have to do some more research to see where exactly these things would've been used in Michigan. I'm assuming it is somewhere within D&M or CM's trackage, but that's a large area so it may take some time to figure out for sure.
Hi Paul.
ReplyDeleteI hope all is well. Just wanted to drop you a line to say hi. Also, did you check out Bob Lemke's latest post? Thought you might be interested in it.
For some reason I can't copy and paste it. But it's on my blog roll.
Maybe some customs of your own down the road?
Keep having fun! All the best.
Hey thanks for stopping by here. Actually I did see Bob's post in my reading list and customs were my fist thought when I saw that. I'd love to do a modern twist on that set and feature locomotives and rolling stock from the current world of railroading. Thanks for the heads up though.
DeleteWhile I haven't posted any card stuff in a while, I've still been reading yours and the other hockey blogs. I see you've been busy picking up some nice Linden stuff, keep up the good work on that. I always like to see new cards from other peoples collections.
The fourth motor in consist looks to be one of the TSBY GP35s.
ReplyDeleteI don't know a lot of history on the train but the Consumers Karn Weadock power plant at Essexville has the ability to burn fuel oil. From Google maps or bing maps you can see the unloading rack that actually had a tanktrain parked on it.
Hope this helps!
GM
Interesting, thanks for the info. It's always fun to check out these kind of things on Google maps just to get a rough idea of how it looks without actually being there in person.
DeleteMight it be a Tuscola and Saginaw Bay GP35 fourth out?
ReplyDeleteAs I type this, I realize someone else said this. Well, great minds...