BLMA 31k Crude oil tank cars finally available

[Scottl]

I have my pair now too.  I wish I had sprung for 18, they are the best executed car I have seen in n scale.  Craig and BLMA really hit it with these.

[flight2000]

Dang it Scott, I had resisted buying these for awhile and now your pictures made me go out an buy the entire 24 car set plus 6 of the white/black ones....   

Oh well, awesome tank train coming my way.  At least I got free ground shipping for the set.   

Lombard Hobby in Chicago just posted theirs, which is where I picked up this set from.

http://www.lombardhobby.com/SearchResults.asp?Search=blma+31%2C000

Cheers,
Brian

[Scottl]

Brian, I succumbed as well.  I just ordered a 12-car set.  It is my only purchase of the year, or so I keep telling myself 

I'll bet Atlas never does these again, sadly. 

[RSWController]

Is there any car that would've been around in 1995-ish that these could represent? I'd love to have an excuse to pick up a couple of these as they look spectacular.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

You know, with that many numbers, I bet nobody would notice a few duplicates in there... at least that's what I keep hoping will eventually happen with my growing coal train.

But yeah, these are a great example of Craig dropping the mic.

[tom mann]

I bought two of them and I think Craig did a good job.  However, I was a little disappointed with how the end platforms rise up.  Any ideas on how to fix them?

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[John]

Tom ..

[GN Fan]

I shop at Tacoma Trains in (of all places) Tacoma Washington.  Bill, the new owner, just got in 101 of these cars.  He could not find any note left by George (previous owner) as to who may have ordered them.  If you can't find them elsewhere, you might try Bill. 
http://www.tacoma-trains.com/main_page.html 

Tom Todd

[carlso]

Someone asked what cars were around in the 1995'ish era could be represented by these cars. I have not seen these models yet nor have I seen any of Craig's info on his release announcement but I feel sure they are A DOT 111A100 spec car. In the 1990's many 111J100 cars were used for just about any liquid. We used them for liquid asphalt cement, sodium hydroxide, as well as other products. You can see the end sill safety shield that has been put on these "crude oil" cars in an attempt to make them safer from tank puncture from adjacent car. The DOT / FRA did that to  pressure, LPG, cars back in the !960's or even earlier because of ends of tanks being punctured during ab incident.

Actually Craig hit a home run on these but, NO FAULT of his, these cars and all tank cars made by all N scale manufacturers are missing the most identifiable item. Nobody has figured out how to make an N scale double shelf coupler that is required by DOT / FRA on all tank cars. Maybe now that we have so many good tankers being made MT might try to work on that item. Or hey, one of you 3D experts might come up with some workable double shelf units.

Always have fun,
Carl

[tom mann]

So I managed to fix one of my two cars by trimming a little off the brace right after the word "shoes" (edit: or before the 2 on the right side of the car), bending the piece upward, and gluing it to the tank support.

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[Blazeman]

Is there any car that would've been around in 1995-ish that these could represent?

Looking at a Union Tank Car Blue Book I've had possession of from the 90's, they show a general purpose, non-coiled, non-insulated 30MPG car, classed as 111A100W1. LOC is 60'11"

[RSWController]

Sounds like I have all I need. Just have to remove the yellow stripes and I think it'll pass. Thanks.

[Rossford Yard]

I always loved the funnel flow (i.e. sag to middle) tank cars.  Have a few of the Atlas 25K ones, but this 31K version looks like it captures the huskiness of the more common tank cars I have seen over the years.  Should be a nice addition to any fleet.  Glad to see its a nice enough stand in for slightly earlier eras, too.

[Missaberoad]

Sounds like I have all I need. Just have to remove the yellow stripes and I think it'll pass. Thanks.

Also you will need to remove the end shields...

[jpwisc]

If the flour cars are the same caliber as these rank cars, I will be one happy man.