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locked Vertagreen tank cars
Marv Clemons
Back in the mid-60s Southern routinely handled several tank cars of Vertagreen liquid fertilizer on the rear of Nos 7 & 8, the KC-Florida Special, between Brunswick GA and Birmingham AL. Does anyone know the history of these cars, more specifically the points of origin and destination?
Thanks, Marv Clemons
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Robert Hanson
Marv -
What the actual billing point was, I do not recall. Bob Hanson
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From: Marv Clemons <mclemonsjr@...> To: main <main@SouthernRailway.groups.io> Sent: Fri, Dec 13, 2019 9:13 am Subject: [SouthernRailway] Vertagreen tank cars Back in the mid-60s Southern routinely handled several tank cars of Vertagreen liquid fertilizer on the rear of Nos 7 & 8, the KC-Florida Special, between Brunswick GA and Birmingham AL. Does anyone know the history of these cars, more specifically the points of origin and destination?
Thanks, Marv Clemons
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Carl Ardrey
Vertagreen is Cherokee,AL. Still in operation and a large customer.
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CEA
On Dec 13, 2019, at 9:25 AM, Robert Hanson via Groups.Io <RHanson669@...> wrote:
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C J Wyatt
Marv, The May-June 1998 issue of Ties has an article on the railroad owned tank cars used, but does not have much to say about them being pulled on the end of passenger trains: Trains Magazine, if I recall, had an article about riding the last heavyweight Pullman line (Atlanta-Brunswick) where the tank cars on the rear are mentioned. I have also seen a video showing the tank cars on the KC - Florida Special near Birmingham. Jack Wyatt
On Friday, December 13, 2019, 10:13:17 AM EST, Marv Clemons <mclemonsjr@...> wrote:
Back in the mid-60s Southern routinely handled several tank cars of Vertagreen liquid fertilizer on the rear of Nos 7 & 8, the KC-Florida Special, between Brunswick GA and Birmingham AL. Does anyone know the history of these cars, more specifically the points of origin and destination? Thanks, Marv Clemons
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George Eichelberger
Marv:
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There was a full article on these cars in TIES magazine a few years ago. Someone needs to help find which issue. It has always been unusual for any railroad to own revenue tank cars. There were two groups of 100T capy cars blt by ACF and GATX, painted Southern freight car brown. They were in captive service between Rockland, FL and Vertagreen, near Sheffield, AL. (Rockland was east of Mulberry, FL off SR 60). I lived in Sarasota and Brandon at the time so I was able to photograph them parked beside the highway quite often. The attached photo of Sou 323 was taken at Chattanooga 8-93 long after the Vertagreen service ended. They could not be used to ship flammable materials (like diesel fuel) so they were used to store used oil at Citico (and probably other shops). Ike
On Dec 13, 2019, at 10:13 AM, Marv Clemons <mclemonsjr@...> wrote: Back in the mid-60s Southern routinely handled several tank cars of Vertagreen liquid fertilizer on the rear of Nos 7 & 8, the KC-Florida Special, between Brunswick GA and Birmingham AL. Does anyone know the history of these cars, more specifically the points of origin and destination? Thanks, Marv Clemons
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Here is a useful website documenting Rockland. It was an old mine from the 1920s and finally shut down in 1994. These shipments would have also been handled by SCL locally prior to 1983. Rockland Mine was located north along State Road 630 West and east of CR555 in Ft. Meade, Florida (3225 State Road 630 West). The mine was a property of U.S. Agri Chemical and was a Phosphoric Acid plant after playing out the phosphate deposit. Justin May
On Dec 13, 2019, at 18:21, George Eichelberger <geichelberger@...> wrote:
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George Eichelberger
The service pre-dated SCL, the tank cars were originally stenciled to return to Rockland on the ACL. Note attached photo of Sou 341 stored at the food terminal in Chattanooga, the “ACL” stencil is quite visible.
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Also note the car has a full center sill, a feature of the ACF cars, the GATX cars were frameless. The cars were rubber lined to carry phosphoric acid. The lining was a maintenance problem, particularly when men went inside the tank to clean out sludge…..using a pick and shovel….duh! Ike
On Dec 13, 2019, at 7:50 PM, Justin May <westpointroute@...> wrote: Here is a useful website documenting Rockland. It was an old mine from the 1920s and finally shut down in 1994. These shipments would have also been handled by SCL locally prior to 1983. Rockland Mine was located north along State Road 630 West and east of CR555 in Ft. Meade, Florida (3225 State Road 630 West). The mine was a property of U.S. Agri Chemical and was a Phosphoric Acid plant after playing out the phosphate deposit. Justin May On Dec 13, 2019, at 18:21, George Eichelberger <geichelberger@...> wrote:
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Ed Mims
If I recall correctly these are the cars that were routed from the Bone Valley to Waycross then put behind the caboose on a manifest freight to Savannah and cut off on the fly at Jesup,GA. The ACL/SCL Jesup switcher would then deliver them to the Southern. On Dec 13, 2019, at 6:21 PM, George Eichelberger <geichelberger@...> wrote:
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George Eichelberger
Ed:
Do you recall if the routing via Jessup continued after the SCL merger? Prior to that, the interchange between the ACL and Southern was at Tiftton, GA, nothing was done through Jax. The Tifton-not-Jacksonville scheme went back to the original Sou ACL trackage rights agreement from Hardeeville/Savannah to Jax. The Southern wanted several thnings in the SCL merger, one was to interchange with the SCL at Jacksonville. The ICC denied that so the SR went to court. Thagt was the only condiiton they managed to get. There are Extensive files on the SCL merger in the SRHA archives. Ike On Dec 14, 2019, at 8:46 AM, Ed Mims <wemims@...> wrote: If I recall correctly these are the cars that were routed from the Bone Valley to Waycross then put behind the caboose on a manifest freight to Savannah and cut off on the fly at Jesup,GA. The ACL/SCL Jesup switcher would then deliver them to the Southern. On Dec 13, 2019, at 6:21 PM, George Eichelberger <geichelberger@...> wrote:
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Ed Mims
Ike, I don’t recall others routings for the “phosphoric acid tanks” as they were called. I learned about this from an ex-Southern superintendent who became Supt. of Mine Service for ACL in the Bone Valley after he was fired once too many times on the Southern. His first name was Terry but I can’t recall his last name. Ed On Dec 14, 2019, at 9:32 AM, George Eichelberger <geichelberger@...> wrote:
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C J Wyatt
I believe the Kansas City - Florida Special was gone by the time of the SCL merger, so the Jessup routing would have no longer had a service advantage. Jack Wyatt
On Saturday, December 14, 2019, 09:32:51 AM EST, George Eichelberger <geichelberger@...> wrote:
Ed: Do you recall if the routing via Jessup continued after the SCL merger? Prior to that, the interchange between the ACL and Southern was at Tiftton, GA, nothing was done through Jax. The Tifton-not-Jacksonville scheme went back to the original Sou ACL trackage rights agreement from Hardeeville/Savannah to Jax. The Southern wanted several thnings in the SCL merger, one was to interchange with the SCL at Jacksonville. The ICC denied that so the SR went to court. Thagt was the only condiiton they managed to get. There are Extensive files on the SCL merger in the SRHA archives. Ike If I recall correctly these are the cars that were routed from the Bone Valley to Waycross then put behind the caboose on a manifest freight to Savannah and cut off on the fly at Jesup,GA. The ACL/SCL Jesup switcher would then deliver them to the Southern. On Dec 13, 2019, at 6:21 PM, George Eichelberger <geichelberger@...> wrote:
Marv: There was a full article on these cars in TIES magazine a few years ago. Someone needs to help find which issue. It has always been unusual for any railroad to own revenue tank cars. There were two groups of 100T capy cars blt by ACF and GATX, painted Southern freight car brown. They were in captive service between Rockland, FL and Vertagreen, near Sheffield, AL. (Rockland was east of Mulberry, FL off SR 60). I lived in Sarasota and Brandon at the time so I was able to photograph them parked beside the highway quite often. The attached photo of Sou 323 was taken at Chattanooga 8-93 long after the Vertagreen service ended. They could not be used to ship flammable materials (like diesel fuel) so they were used to store used oil at Citico (and probably other shops). Ike <Sou 323-2.jpeg> On Dec 13, 2019, at 10:13 AM, Marv Clemons <mclemonsjr@...> wrote: Back in the mid-60s Southern routinely handled several tank cars of Vertagreen liquid fertilizer on the rear of Nos 7 & 8, the KC-Florida Special, between Brunswick GA and Birmingham AL. Does anyone know the history of these cars, more specifically the points of origin and destination? Thanks, Marv Clemons
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Marv Clemons
Thanks, gents, for the plethora of information on the Vertagreen movements. From your responses I've learned the shipments originated in Rockland, Florida and were routed Waycross-Jesup-Birmingham-Sheffield-Vertagreen, AL.
For forensic purposes, I've attached a copy of the morning consist copied at BT on June 26 1965 showing the tank cars coming in on the rear of #7. I'm sure you'll recognize the other Southern consists, along with #33, SAL's Silver Comet. I switched these cars on the rear of #7 & 8 while working the towers at Birmingham and Atlanta terminals. It was really strange seeing them tacked on to the rear of the heavyweight Pullman out of Atlanta. But this was the Brosnan era when passenger trains had become primarily mail, express, and in this case, expedited freight carriers. Regards, Marv
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Ike, Thank you for the images and the follow-up information on the routing of these tanks. I have seen the cars denoted as return to "SCL", but the "ACL" definitely adds more interest. Does anyone have a general arrangement diagram for these cars? The full length center sill and welded construction are definitely a unique features that could be modeled. I know SOU 992454 at Spencer is one of the members of this series. Justin May
On Fri, Dec 13, 2019 at 8:57 PM George Eichelberger <geichelberger@...> wrote:
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Ed Mims
A few more UBI’s:
I’m pretty sure the routing on ACL was Lakeland to High Springs and DuPont to Waycross then on to Jesup. I was told that they were rubber lined for phosphoric acid service. I assume this was true. Ed
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D. Scott Chatfield
> Does anyone have a general arrangement diagram for these cars? The full length center sill and welded construction are definitely a unique features that could be modeled. I know SOU 992454 at Spencer is one of the members of this series. These tanks are shortened versions of the diesel fuel tanks ACF built for the CB&Q and GN in the mid '60s. In other words, Athearn's "62-foot tank car". The tank barrel might be a tad slimmer. I couldn't find a GA drawing for them in my ca-1970 GA book. Something else to look for in the archives. Couldn't make it this week. Hope to be there next month. Merry Christmas! Scott Chatfield
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I don't know if they are the same as the Southern tank cars, but Burlington Northern inherited several 19,000 gallon tank cars from Northern Pacific. Many of them were converted to fuel tenders in the 80s. A folio diagram showing the general arrangement and overall measurements of the original NP tank cars can be found on the GN NP joint archive.
An article appeared in Model Railroader in the late 80s that showed how to shorten one of the Athearn 62' tanks to match the ex-NP tanks more or less. I have followed this article and used the folio diagram from the GN NP archive to shorten and modify two Athearn tanks but instead of cutting and splicing the underframe I 3D printed a new one to match the shortened tank barrel. I still haven't finished the models with the plumbing of the locomotive air brake equipment being the holdup. It was pretty easy to get to the point I'm at with these models now. If one was inclined to build a non-fuel tender tank car following the MR article and just omit the fuel tender parts it's a simple conversion. -- Ryan Harris Fort Worth, TX
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C J Wyatt
I wonder how the returning empties were handled?
On Saturday, December 14, 2019, 10:18:46 AM EST, Marv Clemons <mclemonsjr@...> wrote:
Thanks, gents, for the plethora of information on the Vertagreen movements. From your responses I've learned the shipments originated in Rockland, Florida and were routed Waycross-Jesup-Birmingham-Sheffield-Vertagreen, AL. For forensic purposes, I've attached a copy of the morning consist copied at BT on June 26 1965 showing the tank cars coming in on the rear of #7. I'm sure you'll recognize the other Southern consists, along with #33, SAL's Silver Comet. I switched these cars on the rear of #7 & 8 while working the towers at Birmingham and Atlanta terminals. It was really strange seeing them tacked on to the rear of the heavyweight Pullman out of Atlanta. But this was the Brosnan era when passenger trains had become primarily mail, express, and in this case, expedited freight carriers. Regards, Marv
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Ryan,
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These tanks are roughly 14,500 gallons, so the principles of the kitbash would not change, but there would be a bit more material to remove. The saddles are the same design as well. Is the underframe printing available to the public via Shapeways? I was thinking of using Plano and styrene to build a new running board in lieu of using the Athearn part. Justin May
On Sun, Dec 15, 2019 at 1:19 AM Ryan Harris <ryan.harris@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
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Yes, it is available:
http://shpws.me/OO8B It's set up for truck spacing of approximately 5.1" and an overall length of 6.54". Again, that's based on the article where the author took two inches of length out of the Athearn 26K tanks. It's also set up so that etched material can be installed on the walkway supports. Here's an in-progress photo of the car showing the walkway: https://pbase.com/mecrharris/image/166690293 If anyone can provide me with the truck centers of these Southern cars I can easily cut the CAD file to the correct length and post it for sale. -- Ryan Harris Fort Worth, TX
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George Eichelberger
All of the general arrt and detail drawings for both the ACF and GATX versions are in the SRHA archives. The Gen Arr’ts and stencil drawings are scanned. I am just back from this weekend’s archives work session. When I get semi-organized, I’ll post some downsized versions.
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I don’t have a photo of the model, but years ago I cut down an Athern LP gas tank car and came up with a reasonable HO version. The tank car decals/stencils were standard Southern sizes and look quite good on a freight car brown 100-T tank car. Ike PS The “F-Card” (drawing list) and Specifications for just about ALL of the Southern’s freight equipment is now scanned and loaded on the network file server. The F-cards represent 4,122 page scans and the Specs are 5,114 scanned pages. There are thousands of freight car drawings scanned. SRHA’s plan is to make all of that available, but we have not figured out how much they should cost, different prices for SRHA members and non-members, if we should let (major) donors have access to everything scanned or what. We would appreciate any idea or comments.
On Dec 15, 2019, at 12:49 AM, D. Scott Chatfield <blindog@...> wrote: > Does anyone have a general arrangement diagram for these cars? The full length center sill and welded construction are definitely a unique features that could be modeled. I know SOU 992454 at Spencer is one of the members of this series. These tanks are shortened versions of the diesel fuel tanks ACF built for the CB&Q and GN in the mid '60s. In other words, Athearn's "62-foot tank car". The tank barrel might be a tad slimmer. I couldn't find a GA drawing for them in my ca-1970 GA book. Something else to look for in the archives. Couldn't make it this week. Hope to be there next month. Merry Christmas! Scott Chatfield
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