New RTC 20K Acid Tank Cars

Three New Tank Cars

I had some business that took me to Dallas today so I made a side trip to Discount Model Trains in Addison.  The inventory there seems to have declined over the last few years and there is often less and less new stuff to look at so my visits have become more infrequent.

As expected, I noticed lots of sparsely populated shelves, though there is always something to buy. Three Athearn RTC 20K Acid Tank Cars from the latest release caught my attention.  I think that tank cars are the largest deficit in my freight car fleet and I need to focus there.  Especially since I will be modeling an area with traffic going to and coming from the chemical rich Louisiana and Texas Gulf Coast regions!

The three cars I picked up were RTMX 2027, UTLX 802654, and UTLX 802726.  Each one represents a different paint scheme series.  Though Athearn made three numbers in each release, Discount Model Trains only had multiple copies of the same number.  I have noticed that they seem to order only one number per release.

Regardless, these three cars are very nice models.  The UTLX numbers represent a series of former RTMX cars in the Union Tank Car Company fleet.  The RTMX 2027 is adorned with the distinctive Eaglebrook Corp logo.  In 2004 Eaglebrook was purchased by Kemiron (Kemira) which produces coagulants for waste water treatment.

While it is possible that I have photographed more cars wearing the Eaglebrook color scheme, the below image of UTLX 130207 which I took in Albuquuerque, NM on 1-9-2007 is the only one that came to mind.  I think this car could be nicely represented on a Walthers 54' Funnel FLow model!

Chris