Manufacturer
San Juan Car Co.
190 Turner Drive, Unit C
Durango, CO 81303
www.sanjuancarco.com
Era: 1910s to mid-1960s
Road names: Union Tank Car Lines (UTLX, eight road numbers), Milwaukee Road (four road numbers), Pioneer Oil (four road numbers)
Comments: As a follow-on to its ready-to-run narrow gauge frameless tank cars, San Jan Car Co. has released standard gauge versions.
These highly detailed models depict cars built about 1912, based on a patent by Union Tank Car’s John Van Dyke. The frameless design was a forerunner to modern tank cars.
This series of 6,500-gallon UTLX cars ran in petroleum service until 1937, when a group of 55000-series cars were converted to narrow gauge on the Denver & Rio Grande Western and used to supply road oil for a Colorado paving project. San Juan models of these cars were reviewed in the August 2011 issue.
The dimensional data in the Car Builder’s Cyclopedia of American Practice (Simmons-Boardman) is for 10,000-gallon cars, but the common measurements scaled out closely. Additionally, the truck mounting brackets show fidelity to the drawings.
The car is primarily plastic, but the handrail around the perimeter of the tank and the grab irons are metal. There are many fine details, including the brake gear and rodding, the handbrake wheel with chain, brake hoses with silver-painted glad-hands, and vent detail on the dome.
The plastic trucks feature brake detail. The blackened metal wheelsets are in gauge.
I wish the brake staff had also been metal; during handling for the review, it snapped off. Replacements are available on the San Juan website.
The yellow lettering is opaque and legible. Weight in the tank gives the car heft; it weighs 12.1 ounces, about half an ounce more than National Model Railroad Association’s RP-20.1. The height of the company’s Evolution couplers matches an NMRA gauge.
San Juan Car Co. has put its usual excellent level of detail on these tank cars, and they will look right at home on a steam-era layout. Just be careful when handling them!
