I was looking at my Walthers HO catalog this weekend and got to thinking about the old tub-style pickle cars. I don't know why but I've always had something of a fascination with them. Were any preserved anywhere? For that matter, were *any* pickle cars of *any* kind preserved anywhere?

mconrad@msmgmt.com

> I was looking at my Walthers HO catalog this
> weekend and got to thinking about the old
> tub-style pickle cars. I don't know why but
> I've always had something of a fascination
> with them. Were any preserved anywhere? For
> that matter, were *any* pickle cars of *any*
> kind preserved anywhere?

Hi Matt.

I believe one car, from Reinhart Vinegars, in Stayner, Ontario, was preserved by the Toronto and York Chapter of the Canadian Railroad Historical Assoc. The last time I saw the car, it was stored inside at the former CPR, John St. Roundhouse in downtown Toronto. Unfortunately, the collection of rolling stock is not normally available for viewing.

Regards,
Gord McOuat
Halton County Radial Ry.

mcouatg@toronto.cbc.ca

Just to clarify, are you asking about cars that carry pickles or de-ice the tracks? De-icing cars were sometimes called pickle cars.

n2xjk@yahoo.com

> Just to clarify, are you asking about cars
> that carry pickles or de-ice the tracks?
> De-icing cars were sometimes called pickle
> cars.

He's talking about cars that carried pickles in a liquid solution. The cars were made of wood due to the corrosive nature of the contents.

Kentucky Railway Museum has (or used have) one in it's collection. I think MOT also has one.

MOT has a vinegar tank car with a horizontal wooden tank, but not a pickle car.

rdgoldfede@aol.com

> MOT has a vinegar tank car with a horizontal
> wooden tank, but not a pickle car.
By the same token, Both the NRM at Green Bay WI and Mid-Continent at North freedom WI have the horizontal tank vinegar cars

breher1257@aol.com

> Just to clarify, are you asking about cars
> that carry pickles or de-ice the tracks?
> De-icing cars were sometimes called pickle
> cars.

The cars that carried pickles.

mconrad@msmgmt.com

> By the same token, Both the NRM at Green Bay
> WI and Mid-Continent at North freedom WI
> have the horizontal tank vinegar cars

There is also a wooden vinegar tank car at Monticello, IL that was built for Standard Brands in 1938. From these posts, there seem to be enough of them around to make a small "unit" train.

pnichol6@prodigy.net

The car at John Street is a wooden tank that was used for Vinegar. Believed to be the only one in used Canada.

LINK not related to this post

> Hi Matt.

> I believe one car, from Reinhart Vinegars,
> in Stayner, Ontario, was preserved by the
> Toronto and York Chapter of the Canadian
> Railroad Historical Assoc. The last time I
> saw the car, it was stored inside at the
> former CPR, John St. Roundhouse in downtown
> Toronto. Unfortunately, the collection of
> rolling stock is not normally available for
> viewing.

> Regards,
> Gord McOuat
> Halton County Radial Ry.


http://www.trainweb.org/oldtimetrains
oldtimetrains@rrmail.com

> There is also a wooden vinegar tank car at
> Monticello, IL that was built for Standard
> Brands in 1938. From these posts, there seem
> to be enough of them around to make a small
> "unit" train.

Orange Empire also has a Standard Brands wooden tank vinegar car of the same era. Sorry to say that it has suffered by having the wood tank dry out and partially collapse. Presently it is protected by a tarp.

Brian Norden

> Orange Empire also has a Standard Brands
> wooden tank vinegar car of the same era.
> Sorry to say that it has suffered by having
> the wood tank dry out and partially
> collapse. Presently it is protected by a
> tarp.

You guys are all talking about wooden vinegar tankers. I'm interested in the cars that have four vertical, round tubs under a roof. From what I've seen in pictures they came in two varietites. One had a steel frame with four round wooden tubs under a wood roof. The sides were braced with two Xs of rods and turnbuckles. The more modern version had four steel tubs and a zigzag of steel channels for bracing. Lionel makes an O gauge interperetation of the latter.

If there aren't any left (doesn't sound like it at this point), I wonder how difficult it would be to build a full-scale reproduction of one from an old 40' flat car frame? Any good plans out there? Any other references?

mconrad@msmgmt.com

> You guys are all talking about wooden
> vinegar tankers. I'm interested in the cars
> that have four vertical, round tubs under a
> roof. From what I've seen in pictures they
> came in two varietites. One had a steel
> frame with four round wooden tubs under a
> wood roof. The sides were braced with two Xs
> of rods and turnbuckles. The more modern
> version had four steel tubs and a zigzag of
> steel channels for bracing. Lionel makes an
> O gauge interperetation of the latter.

> If there aren't any left (doesn't sound like
> it at this point), I wonder how difficult it
> would be to build a full-scale reproduction
> of one from an old 40' flat car frame? Any
> good plans out there? Any other references?

Matt, the car that KRM had or has was just such a car. IIRC, it was owned or leased by Paramount, a company that made and sold pickles of all kinds.

> The cars that carried pickles.

The National Railroad Museum in Green Bay did have a pickle car as you describe. I beleive it was scrapped several years ago, chiefly because brine that leaked from the tanks ate up the metal parts of the car.

rsauvey@usnetway.com

As I remember; some of the first Pickle cars were built by putting wooden tanks on flat cars. You just need to find some one to make the tanks.

BTW There are several companies that still make wooden tanks to order.

Tim


fltenwheeler@aol.com

> Matt, the car that KRM had or has was just
> such a car. IIRC, it was owned or leased by
> Paramount, a company that made and sold
> pickles of all kinds.

I took a look at KRM's website and it's useless for finding out anything about their collection. Can anyone confirm the continued existence of this car? One of our guys is also a member up there and he said he'd look next time he's up there, but that could be months.

scrmcurator@netzero.com