It's been a busy month away from the pleasurable toil of building a model railroad. I've been buried in committee and clinic work.
Quick rewind: the NMRA's Rails by the Bay 2021 virtual convention is fast approaching -- It's July 6-10. Register here -- The cost is a low, low $49.
In my own little way, I'm hoping to rid this convention of its reputation as a "best kept secret."
The convention committee decided, at the start of the year, to go virtual. But, the word hasn't spread widely.
The January Bay Area SIG meet and April PCR annual convention were the test beds for the concept. Lots was learned and the goal is to (in a virtual space) to replicate as much of the look and feel as a face-to-face convention. There will be two clinic tracks (with more than 60 clinics), plenty of breakout rooms to meet and greet new and old friends, layout tours and discussions with the owners. There are also opportunities for volunteers.
As a member of the clinic committee I decided to put my money where my mouth was and present two clinics. One is about ethanol by rail. The other about butane by rail.
If you attend both clinics, you'll understand the differences between the two tank cars pictured above. Yep, they're both black. Pictures are at different locations. If you know the difference -- please post a comment.
Serving on the clinic committee has allowed me to meet many new and talented model railroad enthusiasts. All the clinics will be pre-recorded -- and followed by a live Q&A.
The convention technical committee developed a pool of recording engineers to help record the clinics. Mine, for both clinics, was Heath Hurwitz. He's a model railroader living in Manhattan, NY. He's also the founder of Human(c)ity Junction. He has a YouTube channel about modeling trains in small places and looking at the junction of humans and urban areas.
I recommend taking a look. He has prototype videos -- of NYC railroading. He's a big GG-1 fan. (GO HEATH!!) One interesting observation of his: his sanding and painting workshop is often a bench in a nearby city park. That's pretty creative model railroading.
He's invited me to appear on the Monday, May 24 live stream at 6:30 pm EDT (3:30 pm PDT). Check it out. Among other things I'll be talking about my clinics.
One last shameless plug for the NMRA convention -- register now!!!
I'll start - the SHPX is supported by an under (not really? Side) frame, whereas the GATX is not. So I'm guessing the SHPX is the one carrying the heavier commodity. but I don't know which is heavier. Or maybe (since I see the GTX regularly on the rails by my house in oil train service) that is carrying the ethanol and the SHPX carries the butane under pressure, which is why it needs extra support?
ReplyDeleteNot quite. Thanks for trying.
ReplyDeleteThe top photo is of a DOT-111 - a general service tank car. This car carries liquids at atmospheric pressure. Ethanol, gasoline, diesel, crude oil. Take a closer look at the photo. That's not a side- or under-frame. Those are bars to prevent people from slipping under the car.
The bottom photo is of a DOT-112 pressurized tank car. That carries liquids under pressure. Typical cargo is propane and butane. These cars are distinguished by the roof walks or larger platform around the loading area.
The volumes for the pressure tank car is typically 30,000 gallons. The volume for the general service tank car can range from 23,500 to 30,000 gallons. I zoomed in on the photo of the car to see if the stencil had the volume. I couldn't find it. But, I did note at the car ends the separate head shields. Can't believe I overlooked that.