Rio Grande Associates
TOP QUALITY 1.5" & 2.5" SCALE BACKYARD RAILROAD PRODUCTS
|
Rio Grande Associates
TOP QUALITY 1.5" & 2.5" SCALE BACKYARD RAILROAD PRODUCTS
|
|
|
This car is the U.T.L.X. Frameless Tank (a.k.a."GRAMPS") These cars were built in the 1908 to 1912 era as standard gauge tank cars with a capacity of 6000 Gallons and were mounted on Archbar Trucks. In the mid to late 1920's some of these cars were converted to Narrow Gauge by the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. These cars were named after Lafayette "Gramps" Hughes who owned a small refinery in Alamosa Colorado and refined oil from the oil fields above Chama, New Mexico. During these years Mr. Hughes grandchildren wanted to know which cars belonged to their 'gramps', so he leased 20 cars and had them stenciled 'GRAMPS", and that's how they acquired the naming. Some of these cars were converted back to standard gauge, and both standard and narrow gauge cars survived into the 1950's. Our cars are 1.5" scale replicas of the original cars. Through several years of research and measuring the surviving cars, we are building these accurate models with a level of detail that is not found very often in this hobby. These cars have loads of details including Retainer valve, Brake Cylinder, Air Reservoir and Triple Valve, Brake rigging, Train line, Ratchet and Pawl on the Brake Wheel Shaft, coupler lift bars, Couplers already installed on our modified Cardwell Draft Gear, working Dome lid and drain so you can use these cars for an auxiliary water car or for fire service, and the Flammables Placard on the side's of the cars. The Placard is a Photo of an original Placard we found in the Chama pump house back in the 1970's, shows a little weathering, but a great detail none the less. If you are looking for the best model of a Frameless Tank car that your hard earned money can buy then look no farther, Rio Grande Associates is your model builder. CONOCO Tank Cars: We group the Conoco tanks into three different categories for ease of explanation, but we don't compromise the details of each individual car when building. The first category is the tanks on Flat cars, #5,#6, #14. The second is the Narrow frame group, #8, #10, #11. The Third category is the Wide Frame cars, #21-#46. TEXACO Tank Cars: The Texaco cars #70-#73 were double dome tank cars. There capacity of 6335 gallons will make them a nice addition to your tank car fleet. UTLX Narrow Frame Tank Cars: These cars were built between 1924 and 1930 and had 4"8" Archbar Trucks mounted on them. Westside Lumber Company: The #2 tank car on a 24' Flat will be the first car built here. Standard Gauge 10,000 Gallon Tank Cars: These cars were built by American Car and Foundry in the early 1900's and feature riveted construction as well as all of the details we are noted for. Note these are also available in 8000 gallon versions also.
Key Benefits
Pricing (includes trucks and couplers, paint & lettering)
|
|
Send mail to
riogrand@southwind.net with
questions or comments about this web site.
|
