A quick & easy Densmore tank car

[DianneB]

When I bough a new-to-me L.E. American a few months ago I soon found out that quality coal has become difficult to find in my part of the country and after a few failed attempts to use available coal, I decided converting to propane was the best alternative.

To convert to propane, I would need a car to carry the propane tank but buying or building a car was not within my pension budget. Also, living in Manitoba meant that anything I can't purchase locally would take 2 weeks or longer to receive and anything from the U.S. would also incur shipping charges and brokerage fees so I looked around the shop at what was available to work with. I had some 1" square tube that would work for a frame and a number of 4.25" diameter steel blanks, 1" thick, that could be machined for wheels.

I like to try to keep some semblance of scale appearance so I started scouring the Internet looking for a style of car that could hide a 20 pound propane bottle and not look too out of place behind an engine of the 1860s. I ran across the Densmore tank cars, circa 1865.



By stretching the tanks a propane tank could be hidden inside one of the wooden tanks and the second tank could contain a 12 volt batter for night running and still have room for tools, cold drinks, and other necessities.

I don't have any 4-wheeled trucks. Purchasing trucks was beyond my budget and making 4-wheeled trucks would be quite time-consuming so I decided to copy the configuration of a 4-wheeled British goods wagon - something I could do quickly from available materials.

The axles are 1/2" CRS rod with the wheel blanks welded in place and the wheels were turned from the 4.25" steel blanks (my first shot at turning IBLS profiles!) between centres and axle boxes were cut from hardwood blocks (White Oak) with bronze pushing pushed in. Although turning the profiles was slow in my old Southbend, it didn't take long to produce a set of wheels.



The frame was welded up from the 1" square tubing and a cap strips were bent from 1x3/16" flat and bolted to the frame. The 25 pound per inch springs were surplus from another project so I had a rolling chassis very quickly.



With my rudimentary woodworking skills I figured the only way to end up with a reasonably round wooden tanks was to laminate over a round form and 16" Sonotube provided enough interior space to house a 20 pound propane cylinder.




Tank tops were made from plywood and fitted with the crossed beams and the tanks were finished with some diluted, lumpy old black paint to give a well-used appearance.



Some fitting remains so that the tanks will fit easily on to the male retainers on the deck and the deck needs to be refinished to give the hard-used appearance. Scale tie-down chains or rods are also yet to be added.

It isn't pretty but then these cars weren't! It does look better (to me) than a bright white propane tank sitting out in the open.

[steamin10]

I dunno if its quick or easy, but I love the character of old time and woods railroading, with in house builds, or damage rebuilds, and converting what is not needed to what can be done.

You have already captured that flavor with the execution of the tanks on the shorty flat car. Normally the tanks are tapered, but who cares? Early tank cars like that had wrought banding, that was driven down to tighten the wood staves. {Balcksmith welded to a needed size} and driven down with heavy hammers. Water cars were used to cross the great plains in the 1860's along with firewood for fuel. Water stations were at diferent places, and some villages sprang up merely because the railroad put up a water tower. I forget which one, but in the great crossing of america's West, One railroad used wood, and the other coal. Coal being more efficient for hauling and storage. Once oil was struck, and began to find uses, it was initially collected from small wells and shipped for processing in the old water cars. You can imagine how nasty those cars would look in just a short time. It was a few years later that laydown tanks on longer frames began to be developed, but they had a short life span early on, as the normal jostling and pounding of the trains motion made the tanks 'squash' and leak. Some early iron tanks, first round, imitating the wooden, and then two square tanks, made of plate, were part of the development too.

So, you really have a good reasonable synthetic history for your setup. I like it.

Oh ya, later tightening equipment for the tanks became rods, that bypassed each other, to allow a wrench to spin the nuts on the rods. Cast iron fittings, These were 3 per band, and the idea taken from new water tank construction, that used the same system. so custom parts were no longer needed to service leaky tanks. In your case some wire coat hanger, bent round, or maybe some small wood banding from the waste barrel at the wood store, would add the eye detail without too much effort, just the suggestion of the image. Maybe some gossemer steps made with coat hanger on the corners, just bolted up through the corners. Lots of easy things to do, or not as you choose. TTFN!

[DianneB]

Thanks for the kind remarks steamin10 and for the suggestions.

I have been hunting around for metal to do the banding, thinking about the steel straps that are used for shipping, but haven't found anything narrow enough yet.

I will add brake wheels at each end of the car, and steps, just for some added detail, and whatever else I run across that strikes my fancy.

Tapering the tanks would have been WAY beyond my woodworking ability! LOL!

[Brian Hilgert]

That's a slick little tank car! one of those would look good behind my shay when I get it finished.
B

[steamin10]

My Freind Rose said why couldnt I make a tube like that and then spin it on the lathe and use a router to cut the taper, since I have done such things before.

Doh! I didnt think of that.

[RCW]

My Friend Rose said why couldn't I make a tube like that and then spin it on the lathe and use a router to cut the taper, since I have done such things before.

Doh! I didn't think of that.

Maybe I can pay you back a little bit for the ton of stuff you've taught me on this forum.

When I was working for a master woodworker, we'd sometimes cut tapers with a jointer. In fact, that is often the tool of choice. The tool can taper the staves on the longitudinal axis and simultaneously make that slight bevel along the sides. The tapering operation is demonstrated better in the following video than I could describe it. This sounds like it shouldn't work--should produce "steps"--but it doesn't. Let me know what you think!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZTXvsrzbSQ

[steamin10]

Cutting a phoney taper for looks would be easy with the tube/wrap and mill sequence.

Your U-tube describes a new idea for me, as I cut tapers with a sled fitted to my table saw for small work. That is a neat setup for what will fit on the table, and I can see the table can be extended, so you can mill quite a long board to an exact taper. I learned something. I have an edge planer that is the old sears thing with the outside drive pulley for a wash machine motor, (or whatever the home guy has on hand).

In modeling, we want to capture the essence of the image of life. So what if the car was 44 ft, and we make it 40? So the beams of a wood ore car are 6 x 9 and 6 x 12, and - whatever-. If I make them common sizes to reduce my amount of fiddleing, and heavier than real imparts a visual strength, then I can produce a caricature of the real thing. So what if I cant carry 80 tons of coal. IT IS A TOY-EE. no problem with rivet counters, they are after scale realism. But some part becomes too fragile, and the physics dont reduce. Children playing trains dont understand things can break, so equipment not dispayed under glass is subject to Gulliver sized mishaps and wear. Better to build strong, and leave out the fragile junk, or be dismayed at the bad order list.

Capture the essence . I have sketched out a Heinz 57 pickle car, with wood tanks, like the car I had as a kid by Athearn in HO scale. It had solid sides so you did not see the tanks. But if you Imagineer it to be a truss rod wood car, with 3 tanks to keep the length shorter for period ( ok, old timey), I can come out with a car that is under 40 scale feet, and have tanks and brace rods and all that visual excitement. Who cares if you use coathanger wire for the tank bands. Some small blocks of metal, imitate the joining clamps , and some squashed tubing with welding rods make the turnbuckle/ truss rods, going through some cotter key eyes on the queen beams. In the dark at 10 mph, it will look great. I saw a guy at a Meet that had a tank car like that , and the bands were Magic marker! It took some staring at it to pick out the lack of dimension, but it fooled the eye from a short distance away.

I am working on making a turn of the Century coal car, that is wood with all the rod bracing. It is not something that has been modeled commonly, and of course it has Arch bar trucks. I am stuck in that time period and love the colors and banners, and advertising displayed on the old cars. I go to clubs and see and ocean of flat cars, some gons, and a few 'other' cars like pepper on eggs that dont look so good, un-natural.

There I go again, the Emporer of the North Pole and what I like. Tomato-potatoe (!) thing again. By the way, nice vid on the trick, but I can do it on my $15 dollar yard sale edge machine instead of that ex$pensive piece of iron displayed. (Brag!)

Thanks for the Vid.

[led sled]

Smart idea

[moose the caboose]

another idea...you can create a simple shooting-plane (think long stable platform surface with long plane attached with a small variable angle on the side). this is and was how lutheirs of old created the tight joints between matching tone woods, backing woods and sides. simply push the wood against the plane. you must be careful to run the wood by the plane blade with the grain as it runs out and not as it runs in. simple and effective, doesn't take a lot of money...and not that much time if you are doing wood of lathe thichness.

[steamin10]

I have some old Stanley planes that belonged to my Dad, and Grandad. Both were carpenters and cabinet makers. I was luckey enough to scram my grandpas anything, as when they closed his house of 50 yrs, the vultures in the family grabbed all the old stuff and sold it for antiques. Me, I got wood handle screwdrivers and chisels. I have been happy with the leavings for 30 years. I even have some wood block and sheffield iron planes and trim planes. T-handle boring drills too. I used them often, until the battery age overtook my arm muscles.

At any rate, it is easy to lay any block plane down and trim the edge of a board for a perfect fit. You can use a piece of plywood 3/4 inch and bore a 1 inch hole for a pipe clamp, and mount just about anything any way you want it. Shims under one side can produce dine angles if needed. Used this trick many times for tight borads to glue. I have too much stuff, so most of my building of things happens on horses and doors for tables.

Is the final project tank done? Can we see the entire glory?

[DianneB]

As so often happens in life and hobby, priorities change! The tank car got completed to runable condition and other priorities took over, namely resolving issues with my recently-acquired 4-4-0, my only engine.

When I have the locomotive issues resolved, I plan to return to the tank car and finish it up. I plan to add pieces along the sides to hide the end of the tube frame, mount a rear coupler, steps, tie-down chains, and a few plumbing details. That might happen before fall

[steamin10]

Ah yes, the river of life is more like the rapids, trying to avoid the rocks at speed. Sometimes its hard to focus on the far, when you bump along by the day. I know you will do well, you have already shown as much.