The native of Chalfont to which Sandy refers happens to be me. I grew up about two minutes from where the cars are located and used to climb on the equipment as a kid. Those tank cars at Chalfont were owned by David York of Telford, Pa. When Mr. York got married in the late 1990s it appears he abandoned the cars on the property of Samuel Haines, Jr., who owns Hartzel's Mill where they are stored. In 1996 when Mr. York was looking to take a tax deduction, I was instrumental in arranging for the donation of one of the cars to RRMPA and then-curator George Deeming contacted Steamtown, who accepted one of the other tank cars, which today stands as an exhibit in front of Steamtown's combination oil house and museum store. York worked for the Tank Car Corporation of America in Oreland and would buy up antique tank cars in the 70s and lease out others under the ageis of TRM Industries (an acronymn that stood for "The Railroad Museum"). He owned at least a dozen modern tank cars for leasing, and a red 40' steel boxcar that until recently was stored in Jim Thorpe, Pa. York also had a 1950s Southern Railway bay window caboose stored there but in 1994 it was moved to Nanticoke, Pa. He also owned a PRR P70 steel coach which was used on the Quakertown & Eastern main line excursions in the 60s. Some of the historic tank cars were scrapped in the late 90s, including a beautiful wooden billboard car. Hartzels was one of the proposed sites for the restoration of Royal Hudson No. 2839 but due to weight restrictions on a culvert on the Reading's Doylestown branch the engine was never moved there. Since these antique tank cars are abandoned property, interested parties who might wish to acquire these cars should contact Sam Haines, Jr. at Hartzels, Chalfont, Pa., and see if they might be acquired. I am surprised the nearby New Hope & Ivyland hasn't tried acquiring one or more of the cars since they are always seeking antique freight equipment for photo special trains.

K.R. Bell
Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania

Unless there is another, pretty much identical set of three tank cars in the area, they are. See my post below.

JAC

That's great news! Another little known fact is that for a few years George Hart had some of his equipment stored in the same place as the tank cars in Chalfont. Hart, Haines and York were all friends. One of his Reading "Northeastern"-type cabooses was stored here until 1972, when lightning set the coal trestle shed on fire at Hartzel's Mill which contained the caboose and everything burned. He also stored one of his ex-Reading wooden bunk cars here until 1971 when it ended up going to Dushore, Sullivan County, Pa., where it is parked to this very day. Go around the corner to the Chalfont Fire House and you'll find a driver tire from ex-BEDT 0-6-0T No. 14 used to support a Reading locomotive bell that's used as a fire company display on Main Street. Across the street is the P&R depot built in 1910, restored in 1983. Across the creek from Hartzel's is an abandoned amusement park (which I'm writing a book on) that years ago had a CPR live steam engine and Crusader train that ran on 15" ga. of track. The park was also served by the P&R and was a railroad park from 1885 until 1964. It's funny, you'll find traces of railway preservation where you least expect it!

K.R. Bell
RR Museum of PA