I’m planning on building a fuel dealer/bulk oil distributor plant sometime.
I’ve found lots of good ideas in some old railroad magazines.
What I can’t find is some good details of how they unloaded tank cars in the 20’s or 30’s.
Does anyone have any pictures or details?
Sounds interesting. I think those sorts of depots are now called “Superfund Sites.”
Tom,
Actually where I live in SW NY (& NW Pa) ahve some pretty large Superfubnd sites mroe associated with the loading side of the oil industry. Among other things. Tannery sites and glas factory among the ones that come to mind right now. The Current Jr. High school was built over the old glass factory and is one of the most “contaminated schools” in the US as rated last fall.
Chas
I don’t have any real-world examples from your era, but have a small modern facilitiy near me that unloads alcohol, and another that unloads vegetable oil.
Was it you who posted a couple of vertical tanks a month or so ago… or if not, do you remember the photo?
I’d imagine something like that set back 10 feet or so from the track. At track side would be a pipe coming up from underground with a 90 degree bend, a big valve, and some type of coupling. Hoses stored close by with mating couplings for this stand pipe and the tank car. The pipe to the tanks could be buried (easier) or run above ground on concrete pilings (more interest). You might also have a pump house, or an open air pump near the tank base.
If unloading more than one tank, multiple stand pipes / hoses feeding a manifold, that feeds the tank(s).
If you are environmentally conscious, build your storage tanks inside a concrete pit deep enough to contain the volume of the tank should it leak.
“If you are environmentally conscious, build your storage tanks inside a concrete pit deep enough to contain the volume of the tank should it leak.”
A major spill would make a heck of an interest spot!!
Bruce Chandler said:
I'm planning on building a fuel dealer/bulk oil distributor plant sometime.I’ve found lots of good ideas in some old railroad magazines.
What I can’t find is some good details of how they unloaded tank cars in the 20’s or 30’s.
Does anyone have any pictures or details?
I still have room in the yard, so I must build some more. It’s going to go between Matheson Textiles on the left, and Salmons Produce on the right. The little speeder shed at the end of the siding will be moved.
(http://www.jbrr.com/Pics/Structures/MillsFuels/IMG_5753.JPG)
So, I don’t have a LOT of room there.
Yes, Jon, you might remember this picture:
(http://www.jbrr.com/Pics/Structures/MillsFuels/ElkPark.jpg)
It’s sort of my inspiration, along with this HO kit:
(http://www.jbrr.com/Pics/Structures/MillsFuels/oildepot.jpg)
And, to keep Andre happy, this shot:
(http://www.jbrr.com/Pics/Structures/MillsFuels/IMG_4286.JPG)
I’d like to have the tanks close to the siding, hence the need for an unloading facility, but all I have found is this reference:
(http://jbrr.com/Pics/Structures/MillsFuels/OilUnloading2.jpg)
There’s not a lot of detail, plus I don’t know WHEN this type of unloading facility was in use. The article was from 1958, but I’m not sure if they used such a thing in 1935.
Bruce,
Do you still have pictures we took at Spencer, NC. I’m using that as a resource.
That last picture you posted is the one I’m talking about.
Tank
Pumphouse with steam lines for heating oil to move bunker c easier.
Oil all over the ground. Owner talking with EPA agent. Shot gun in Owner’s hand.
Ability to load trucks from tank, probably gravity feed.
Your putting that next to a produce facility?? What if Salmons Produce starts booming and wants to expand?
Fine you may build it but only on a PIG MAT!..
…Hope to see you guys at York! I know to look in the back corner this year. Al Gore is watching this thread!
Nice aerial shot bye the way!
It’s only Bart. I can deal with that.
The guy behind the truck with his hand on the barrel has a cigarette
(I don’t think he does in the photo)
Tank cars were unloaded from the bottom…not the top.
Do you have pictures of those facilities, Fred?
All of the pictures I’ve seen show unloading from the top. The bottom makes more sense to me, but I haven’t seen anything like that.
I agree with Fred.
I’ve worked with a lot of bulk liquids in an industrial enviroment, including ink. Unloading was always from the bottom.
Depending on how heavy the liquid, tanks were loaded from the top or bottom.
Maybe trains were different, but it doesn’t make sense to me.
The standpipes in that modeling scene are commonly used for loading. Not enough hose on them to pump out a tank car.
Ralph
Ralph or Fred,
Totally accepting the fact that absolute inaccuracy could exist, the old standard Bachmann 1:22.5 tank car deosn’t seem to have any provision for emptying from the bottom. Was this just not modeled? Should a valve be added? I know the LGB tank cars have a unloading spicket on the bottom, but I always thought that was rather LGB model license.
I’ve not looked close at the 1:20.3 tank cars. Time for more research. Oh, the pressure of this job.
How about any of the Aristo 1:29 tank cars? They don’t seem to have modeled any bottom valves, either.
Ric,
I guess the answer would be to research photos of the tank cars themselves, rather than the models.
To unload from the top would be contrary to common sense. However, maybe because of a concern for leaking valves, they did unload from the top.
It would not be the first time I have run across something being done the hard way for 30 or 40 years.
Ralph
I’m not sure, but felt syphoning with a small assistance pump and gravity was a pretty common practice.
I agree Ralph on the prototype research. Bruce and I were together with some of the other guys for the research picture taken at Spencer.
This LOOKS like it unloads from the top.
(http://jbrr.com/Pics/Structures/MillsFuels/OilUnloading2.jpg)
And, not that I have a lot of pictures, but they all look similar to that. Drawings of tank cars show a valve on the bottom, which makes a lot of sense. I just can’t find the thing that would connect up to the bottom of the tank car. 
That is a model Bruce. Accuracy may or may not play a part in its construction. As I said, it looks more like a loading standpipe.
Ralph
