Manufacturer
San Juan Car Co.
P.O. Box 1028
Durango, CO 81301
www.sanjuancarco.com
Era: 1924 to 1950s
Comments: A fully assembled narrow-frame tank car is now available in On3 from San Juan Car Co. The car includes user-installed On2½ wheelsets. Between 1924 and 1930, the Denver & Rio Grande Western Ry. and Union Tank Car. Co. rebuilt some standard gauge Union Type X tank cars to haul oil on the Rio Grande’s narrow gauge lines.
The O scale model matches prototype drawings in A Century + Ten of D&RGW Narrow Gauge Freight Cars, 1871 to 1981 by Robert E. Sloan.
The model is made primarily of plastic and is exquisitely detailed. Separately applied parts include the handrails and underbody brake gear.
The cars feature prototypical archbar trucks. All the wheelsets are correctly gauged. The wheels have painted black plastic centers with shiny metal tires pressed around them.
The car weighs 5.5 ounces, which is 1.25 ounces too light according to National Model Railroad Association RP-20.1. The magnetic knuckle couplers are at the correct height.
A complete listing of available road numbers is available at the San Juan Car Co. website. The placement of the lettering on our review sample matched prototype photos of cars close in road-number sequence. From the archbar trucks to the riveted tank, San Juan did a great job with this tank car model.
