Building Tank Cars
Gary T. Brothers
From "Stack Talk", September and November 2014, Houston Area Live Steamers.
All the tank cars need a frame to start with. Mine normally use a 1” X 2" rectangular steel tubing with shorter pieces creating a "tee" on both ends. The rectangular tubing is 1/4 inch longer on both ends so that the frame sticks out beyond the car ends. Spacing the shorter pieces of rectangular tubing between 7” and 8-1/2" from the end and welding all together. A hole is drilled at the center of both tees to place a 3/8" bolt then weld the head to the frame. The bolt sticks thru to hold the trucks in place and then a lock nut or cotter pin to keep the truck from falling off if the car is picked up to rerail. With Tom Bee trucks, I add a 3/8th inch thick 2 inches wide and 7 inches long centered on the tees to keep the coupler height at the proper height from the rail.