Think Tank

Oh! Wanting to be prototypical isn't always easy when information is confuse, scarce, limited or unapplicable.

Once again, I hit the wall... to bounce again. All week, I've been reading about chemicals tank car used in industry paper during the 70s and early 80s. Almost no picture of freight trains on Murray Bay Sub are available for this era.

I went thought many websites, scrolling endless list of tank cars per reporting marks, checking built date, finding HO models, etc... Well tiring.

Most people talking about paper making on forum were generic as can be though some had factual data for the era.

Finally, when I was giving up, I thought about getting in touch with Jean-Pierre Veilleux from Groupe TRAQ in Charny. Once again, he was a valuable player in this game. He phoned me tonight and we discussed the good old days and other things. The good thing is he was well informed, better, it confirmed most things I found out.

First of all, he remember seeing a lot of old 10,000 gallons tank cars at every paper mills he railfanned during that era. Most of them were UTLX, some CGTX and other leasing companies he doesn't remember. Good thing, I've plenty of Tichy and Intermountain cars I can used for that purpose, 4 of each to be precise.

Second, he remembers very well white tank cars, small, with platform, ladders, and american roadnames. Well, a typical description for a kaolin tank car. I went back to Atlas website and quickly found out many roadnames and built date could fit my era including: Anglo-American Clays (1978), Cyprus (1976), Freeport (1971) and Thiele Kaolin (1978). This gives me a lot of opportunity and diversity.

Once again, talking with an ocular witness is always the best way to confirm data gathered from secondary sources.