DOT-111 The DOT-111 tank car, designed to carry liquids such as
denatured fuel ethanol, is built to a US standard. The design has been criticized on safety grounds. The train in the
Lac-Mégantic derailment of 2013 was made up of 72 of these cars.
DOT-112 DOT-112 tank cars are used in North America to carry pressurized gases. One of these tank cars exploded in
Waverly, Tennessee, killing 16, when a
Louisville & Nashville train derailed. While the clean up efforts were under way, the tank car, UTLX 83013, ended up exploding from a
BLEVE.
DOT-114 DOT-114 tank cars are used in North America to carry pressurized gases.
Milk cars for bulk loading at the
Illinois Railway Museum.A milk car is a specialized type of tank car designed to carry raw
milk between farms,
creameries, and processing plants. Milk is now commonly chilled, before loading, and transported in a glass-lined tank car. Such tank cars are often
placarded as "Food service use only".
Liquid hydrogen tank car Tank cars of this type are designed to carry
cryogenic liquid Hydrogen (LH2). North American cars are classified as DOT113, AAR204W, and AAR204XT
Pickle cars A pickle car was a specialized type of tank car designed to carry
pickles. This car consisted of several wooden or metal vats (typically three or four) and was often roofed. Pickles which are preserved in salt brine were loaded through hatches in the roof.
Tank containers :
Tank container (left), and an
open-top shipping container with
canvas cover (right) A tank container, also known as ISO tank, is a specialized type of
container designed to carry bulk liquids, such as chemicals,
liquid hydrogen,
gases and food grade products. Both hazardous and non hazardous products can be shipped in tank containers. A standard tank container is long, high and wide. The tank, which is made from stainless steel, is held within a box-shaped frame with the same shape as an
intermodal container. This allows it to be carried on multiple modes of transport, such as truck, rail and ship.
Torpedo car A
torpedo car or
bottle car is a type of railroad car used in
steel mills to haul
molten pig iron from the
blast furnace to begin the process of primary
steelmaking. The
thermally-insulated vessel is mounted on
trunnions, and designed to endure extremely high temperatures, as well as keeping the metal in a molten state over extended periods of time. The vessel can be pivoted along its longitudinal axis to empty the pig iron into a
ladle. The name is derived from the vessel's resemblance to a
torpedo.
Vinegar cars . A vinegar car is a specialized type of tank car designed to transport
vinegar. The largest such car built was built by
Morrison Railway Supply Corporation in 1968. The car's underframe included all of the modern facets of freight car design including
roller bearing trucks and cushioning devices built by FreightMaster, while the tank that rode on it, made of
Douglas fir, had a capacity of . The car, in what has been called 'the largest wooden tank car ever built', took 18 months to build. The
Reinhart Vinegar Car can be seen at the
Toronto Harbourfront Museum. Vinegar is now moved in ordinary tank cars lined with glass, plastic, or
alloy steel.
"Whale belly" cars In the early 1960s, the
Union Tank Car Company introduced a series of "whale belly" tank cars which offered increased capacity. These cars carried from in CSOX #31084 to as much as in
GATX #96500, which had been conceived as a 'rolling experiment'. The largest tank car ever placed into regular service, UTLX #83699, was rated at . It entered service in 1963 and was used for over 20 years. GATX 96500 is now on display at the
National Museum of Transportation in
Saint Louis, Missouri. This car is long, weighs empty and rides on four two-
axle trucks for weight distribution. It transported diverse substances, such as
liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and anhydrous
ammonia. == Safety ==