• Product:  GATC 1917-design 8000 Gallon Insulated Tank Car
• Scale: HO Scale 1:87.1
• Truck: Tangent 50-Ton Cast Steel Spring Plank Truck
• Wheels: CNC-Machined 33″ Flat Back Wheels

GATX “Roma Wine California” 1940+ has a silver-painted carbody with red and black (shadowing) “ROMA WINE” stenciling, which additionally includes stenciling for the cities Roma Wine loaded from: Lodi, Manteca, Fresno, and Healdsburg CA. As always, this scheme comes directly off of a prototype car that matches our model. Roma’s advertisements claimed their wine was “made in California for enjoyment throughout the world,” and these tank cars delivered wine to receivers nationwide, making them broadly applicable to almost every railroad in North America. Our ROMA WINE 1940+ replicas come with era-correct K-brakes and they are available in four road numbers

   By the end of World War I, U.S. production of oil and oil-related products was sharply increasing thanks to the combination of war-related demands as well as demands from home. In order to move oil and new consumer products, tank car producers introduced new car designs.

    In 1917 General American Tank Car introduced a new general service 8,000 gallon (non-insulated) tank car and quickly followed that production with and insulated 8,000 gallon tank car, which utilized a “jacket” that surrounded the tank and dome.  Built in East Chicago, IN, these insulated cars were easily identifiable by their circumferential rivets that surrounded the tank body, with notably different heights between the courses, and with their “recessed ends”.

  These “radial course” tank cars utilized steel bolster plates that rise up vertically to hold the tank in place, complete with a “web” section behind to minimize steel consumption.  At a time of fairly monochromatic box cars plying the rails, these insulated tank cars carried consumable products, and they were typically stenciled for lessees advertising consumer products such as gasoline, wine, and corn products.  The GATC 1917-design family were the most prolific tank cars built during this period and were found everywhere from 1917 to roughly 1970. 

   Built in East Chicago, IN, these cars were easily identifiable by their circumferential rivets that surrounded the tank body, with notably different heights between the courses. These “radial course” tank cars utilized steel bolster plates that rise up vertically to hold the tank in place, complete with a “web” section behind to minimize steel consumption at a time when steel was a scarce commodity.

   The Tangent Scale Models GATC 1917-Design 8,000 Gallon Insulated Tank Car is a highly-detailed tank car model that includes details accurate for each paint scheme, including KC- or AB-brake variations, with or without Cardwell draft sill springs, and different hand brakes.  Other visually-distinctive details for our models include the “see through” bolster section, circumferential rivets, and differing course heights.  Our RTR models include correct “true-to-life” colors and “hyper-accurate” lettering including exact fonts and lettering placement.  Finally, our scale replicas operate as well as they look, equipped with free-rolling all-metal wheels and Kadee® scale couplers, meaning our models are truly ready to run.  

Features:

• Circumferential riveted tank body and riveted underframe
• Radial course tank body – note the “stairstep” appearance
• All new underframe for the GATC 1917-design
• “See-through” cast knee above the bolsters
• Accurate dome appliances
• Dimensionally correct hazardous placards with accurate hole detail
• Separately applied tank handrail
• Separately applied tank strap detail
• KC- or AB- brake variations depending on the prototype car
• Inclusion of Cardwell draft sill springs depending on the prototype car, otherwise “oval” frame openings where the springs were removed
• Different hand brake appliance options depending on the prototype car
• Highly correct “true to life” colors
• “Hyper-Accurate” lettering including exact fonts and lettering placement, including lettering applied to the underframe and air reservoir
• Durable wire grab irons and coupler lift bars
• Separate air hoses
• “Near-scale” draft gear box with side detail
• Kadee “scale-head” couplers
• CNC machined 33” wheels in high-quality Tangent Scale Models ASF cast steel truck with spring plank and with separate brake beams
• Replacement semi-scale wheels available separately from Tangent
• Recommended age 14 years and older