3 Dome Tank Wagons/Cars

Most tank wagons running on the QR network up to around the year 2000 were privately owned. A large percentage of then were owned by the oil companies to transport petroleum products from costal terminals to country depots. Most were built in small contract by each of the companies resulting a large mix of types and classes. Other were imported from other states including standard gauge wagons. All up over 500 tank wagons entered service working out of several terminal at various location along the coast. 

Three dome wagons look very busy, and make a great model. Not all had three compartments, some were converted to single compartments, and others were built that way. Only a hand full of companies operated the three dome wagons. QR drawings for tank wagons appear to very much universal, generic, all wagons in the one class listed in a table with a few notes.  Even from company to company some appear to be much the same. Being privately owned, I guess QR didn’t need too much information. QR workshop maintained the wagons for day-to-day operations and carried out modification required until they closed. From around 1995 the owner of the wagon carried out the pressure testing of the tanks. QR/QRN did preventable maintenance/serving to the draft gear, bogies and brakes.    

Mobil was the first company to operate them and had the most in service, with the first one entering service in 1927 when the company name was Vacuum Oil Company. The wagons carried “Plume” marking and were classified the “OV” class. The wagons allowed the operator’s to transport various products to small country depots in one wagon. Looking back to the 1960’s there was “Standard” and “Super” petrol, diesel, kerosene, and aviation fuel, some companies also had allocated wagons for furnace oil to power boilers in industry. I recall BP supplying KR Darling Downs in Toowoomba. Others would have been the various town power houses across the state. 

OV Class “Mobil” Tank Wagons.

Nos.	In service	Manufacture	RICS No After 1984/5.	Remarks
OV 5	1927	Evans Deakin	44471	Riveted Tank. W/O 1971 (Rosewood)
OV 6	1927	Evans Deakin	44472	Riveted Tank. W/O 1991
OV 7	1927	Evans Deakin	44473	Riveted Tank. W/O 1991
OV 8	1927	Evans Deakin	44474	Riveted Tank. W/0 1971 (Swanbank/Yarraman)
OV 9	1927	Evans Deakin	44475	Riveted Tank. W/O 1992
OV 10	1927	Evans Deakin	44476	Riveted Tank. W/O 1983
OV 11	1929	Evans Deakin	44477	Welded Tank. W/O 1992
OV 12	1929	Evans Deakin	44478	Welded Tank. W/O 1995
OV 13	1929	Evans Deakin		Welded Tank. W/O 1973
OV 14	1929	Evans Deakin	44479	Welded Tank. W/O 1994
OV 17	1929/30	Evans Deakin	44481	Riveted Tank. W/O 1992
OV 18	1929/30	Evans Deakin	Allocated 44482	Riveted Tank. W/O 1983
OV 19	1929/30	Evans Deakin	44483	Riveted Tank. W/O 1993
OV 20	1929/30	Evans Deakin	44484	Riveted Tank. W/O 1984 (Ipswich)
OV21	1929/30	Evans Deakin	44485	Riveted Tank. W/O 1992
OV 22	1929/30	Evans Deakin	44486	Riveted Tank. W/O 1994
OV 23	1929/30	Evans Deakin	44487	Riveted Tank. W/O 1992
OV 26	1938	Walkers	44490	Riveted Tank. W/O 1993
OV 27	1938	Walkers	44491	Riveted Tank. W/O 1993
OV 31	1939	Evans Deakin	44492	Welded Tank. W/O 1994
OV 74	1966	Frame x OB 99 Tank x S. Aust	OVA 1981 44530	QR 4 Bogies, 1 Compartment
OV 77	1964	Frame x OB 103	44533

OV 9 Homestead 1969. The wagon had been taken off a train due to a “Hot Box”. (Axle journal without oil, at first they smoke and then catch fire).  Maybe that’s the reason tank wagons were called bombs. ????  

OV 31

OV 31 Cannon Hill

 

 OV 13

OV 8 

Lifting and jacking pads (toe anchors) were fitted on new wagon commencing around 1960, it took about another 10 years to be fitted to older tank wagons. 

Plume marking are just visible. Note the timber blocks on the end of the tank.

OV 12 Townsville July 1995

OV 44478 (12) Townsville

OV 44490 Gladstone Jun 1989

OVA 44530 Cannon Hill Dec1988 

QR drawing (P – 172) shows OV 74 (44530) as a 3 Dome tank with one compartment.

OV 77 (44533) is also shown as one compartment. 

OVA 44533 Cannon Hill Dec 1988 

These tank wagons came from NSW in 1970 and all were scrapped around 2010. 

Nos.	In service	Manufacture	RICS No After 1984/5.	Remarks
OVO 80	1970	1943 NSW MOA 43	44536	1993 – OVOM. W/O 2007
OVO 81	1970	1943 NSW MOA 45	44537	1993 – OVOM. W/O 2007
OVO 82	1970	1943 NSW MOA 49	44538	W/O 2007
OVO 83	1970	1943 NSW MOA 44	44539	W/O 2007
OVO 84	1970	1943NSW MOA 47	44540	W/O 2007

OVO 44538 Pinkenba 

OVO 44539 Gladstone  Not the NSWR Hand Brake Wheel.

OVO 44540

Townsville

4 of the 5 waiting to be scrapped at Doomben (2008?) 

OVO 44540 still fitted with buffers when scrapped.

 OT Class “Caltex” Tank Wagons.     

Nos.	In service	Manufacture	RICS No After 1984/5.	Remarks
OT 3	1941	Evans Deakin	44350	Written Off - May 1993
OT 4	1942	Evans Deakin	44351	Written Off - May 1993

OP Class “Golden Fleece” Tank Wagons.

Nos.	In service	Manufacture	RICS No After 1984/5.	Remarks
OP 1	1944	Evans Deakin	44317	Written Off - May 1992
OPE 17	1960	Com Eng	44333	Written Off - May 1993

OPE 17 entered service as OPX class and reclassified OPE 1966.

 

Just before posting the blog I found a history card for these wagons. 

OP1 built by Evans Deakin Rocklea for Independent Oil Coy Pty Ltd, delivered 9^th October 1944. 3 compartment, Welded Bottom discharged tank with a capacity of 4800 gallons. The wagon was lettered OP 1. 

Dec 56 received at Ipswich Workshops for repairs. Straightened headstocks and reinforced, also fitted with spring type label holder, returned to service Feb 57.

1971 badly smashed in derailment near Gladstone. 

The was derailed oct 75, Jan 76, Sep 78, all in the Rockhampton area (CD)

Renumbered Brisbane area Dec 84. Dangerous Goods signs Ipswich Jun 86. 

Condemned and Written off at Cunnamulla May 1992. 

OPE 17 delivered April 1960 as OPX 17.

Lifting and jacking pads fitted in Mar 1973. (CD - Rockhampton)

Red circle added Feb 1975. (CD)

Derailed May 1975 (CD)

Wagon renumbered Jan 84 (Ipswich). Dangerous Goods signs Jan 87 (Ipswich). 

OHO Class “Amoco” Tank Wagons.

Nos.	In service	Manufacture	RICS No After 1984/5.	Remarks
OHO 30	1969	Tulloch	44163
OHO 31	1969	Tulloch	44164
OHO 32	1969	Tulloch	44165
OHO 33	1969	Tulloch	44166	Reclassed OHOM  1993 Still in service 2017
OHO 34	1969	Tulloch	44167
OHO 35	1969	Tulloch	44168

It appears wagons not modified in 1993 were written off. 

OJY Class “Total” Tank Wagons

Nos.	In service	Manufacture	RICS No After 1985.	Remarks
1	1970	Steelweld	44266
2	1970	Steelweld	44267	OLYM 1993/OJYM 1996
3	1971	Scotts	44268

OJY 3 was a 3 compartment tank without domes, filling equipment sat on top of the tank like many others in the later era of tank construction. Total became Ampol which became Caltex.

 OJY 44266  Townsville Oct 1992. 

Dangerous Goods Information Panels started being placed on wagons from the mid 1980’s. 

OLO Class “Ampol” Tank Wagons

These wagons came from the NSW fleet around 1991. Running numbers 44247 – 44265 were allocated. Not a lot of information is available on these wagons. QR carried out a survey in 2002 in an effort to identify wagons in the class. It appears # 44252 didn’t make it into service. Around 1996, the Ampol fleet was sold to QR, smaller tanks were scrapped for spare parts, many were stripped at country rollingstock deports like Roma. The larger tanks were leased to various oil companies.  The wagons had a mix of two and three domed tanks.

The following had three domes. 

Nos.	In service	Manufacture	RICS No After 1985.	Remarks
OLO 44250	1992	Tulloch		NSW NTAF 4034
OLO 44251	1992	Tulloch		NSW NTAF 4028
OLO 44253	1992	Goodwin		NSW NTAF 4602
OLO 44254	1991	Tulloch		NSW NTAF 4012
OLO 44255	1991	Tulloch		NSW NTAF 4009
OLO 44258	1992	Tulloch		NSW NTAF 4015
OLO 44259	1992	ComEng		NSW NTAF 4042
OLO 44264	1992	Goodwin		NSW NTAF 4607

I was unable to identify wagons 44260, 44261, 44263 and 44265 or the number of compartments on the three dome wagons. 

Most wagons were fitted with QR 29 bogies, some had QR 30. 

OLO’s in Service on the network 08/09/2012

OLO 44251 condemned TOOWOOMBA

OLO 44255 condemned TOOWOOMBA

OLO 44264 available MOUNT ISA

OLO 44250 Loaded for Mt Isa TVL JETTY

OLO 44259 Loaded for Mt Isa TVL JETTY 

QR also purchased steel tank wagons from Caltex (some ex Golden Fleece) and re classified some ORO to OLO. 

A few years later, with the move to unit train operations, no fuel was being conveyed on the QR network, the last being on the Mt Isa line. 

On standard gauge waiting bogie exchange.

QFC wagon being used as workshop mule. 

Bifurcated brake pipe was added for QR operations.

    

OCO Class “BP” Tank Wagons.     

Nos.	In service	Manufacture	Underframe	Remarks
OCO 44647	1996	Tulloch (1950)	PHOA 37135	NSW NTAF 7229
OCO 44648	1996	Tulloch (1950)	PHOA 37151	NSW NTAF 7230
OCO 44649	1996	Tulloch (1950)	PHOA 37178	NSW NTAF 7232
OCO 44650	1996	Tulloch (1950)	PHOA 37157	NSW NTAF 7243

Like the OLO Tank Wagons, not much can be found on these wagons. There is a plan P – 520 dated Apr 2001. All are one (1) compartment tanks carrying between 46200 and 47000 litre of fuel. All tanks are the same in length and inside diameter. 

Unlike the OLO wagons, these were placed on QR wagon underframes.

OCO 44650 Doomben Jan 1997

Models:-

Modelling the 1960’s with a small layout, my main interest is on the 32 ft. wagons. A couple of year’s back I scratched built an OV wagon. 

The frame was built in a jig to keep the solo bar sides straight.

 

The tank was acrylic rod turned down to correct diameter in the lathe. Wagons are being tested on glass to see if all wheels are level. The solid acrylic rod with white metal bogies does give you a heavy wagon around 63 grams. I now have a couple of lengths of thick walled acrylic tube to play around with to reduce the weight. 

Brass was used to make a couple underframes. This wagon had an open solo bar along the side. Not quite prototypal with a brass bean running the full length down the centre. It gave a continuous beam to mount couples and bogies.  

Recently I was able to purchase to couple of per release Caintode Flats resin kits of three domed tank wagons. And as I do from time to time I changed them a bit, the breather pipe on the side of the domes was places of the other side of the dome.  Half way through construction I realised an error in my ways. The wagons I was modelling were built around 1944, the tank were welded and not riveted. ??? Poor research on my behalf. Two wrongs don’t make it right, I changed the number ???/ 

From the prototype photos at the start you will notice the breather pipes did vary from contract to contract, plus the securing straps over the tank to the underframe did vary a bit from wagon to wagon. The ladder position did also vary on some wagons. 

The second wagon was made as OP 1. I had no photos and used photos of other tank wagons in the fleet to complete the model. Given the wagon was built in 1944, again my guess the tank would have been welded.  (Yes, finding the history card yesterday, it too was welded tank???) 

The kit didn’t have bogies, I used FNH brass bogies. Decals are a mix, mainly they are from Ted Freeman stable. The dome is moulded into the tank body, detail is added to the dome.  On the weight bridge the wagons come in at 42 grams. 

Very nice kit that makes an awesome model, thank you Caintode Flats. 

Lesson Learnt. Next time do your homework. Look at all aspects of the prototype just no one thing. 

Acknowledgements.

Australian Model Railway Association Queensland Library.

QR Plans.

Historians and other modellers, John Armstrong, Keith McDonald, Rob Farlow, Peter Ford. 

Queensland State Archives

 Trust you found the information helpful in your modelling endeavours, until next time have fun and enjoy the hobby.  October 2018 there is a short posting with a plan on OV 9 with some additional information. 

Until next time, have fun and enjoy our hobby.

 Arthur H.