GATX 94688 • Michael M. Palmieri • Atlanta Joint Terminal • 9 December 1977

57 CARS • 6 AXLES • BUCKEYE TRUCKS

General American Transportation Corp., May-December 1968

113,000 pounds Light Weight

281,000 pounds Load Limit

394,000 pounds Gross Weight

38,500 gallons

Outside Length 82' 07"

Outside Extreme Height 15' 04"

Outside Extreme Width 10' 02"

Specification No. : ICC 112-A-340-W

Plate C

Built for General American Transportation Corp.

Initially leased to: see below

Initial use : see below

Listed in Official Railway Equipment Register : OCT 1968-APR 1980

This was one of the largest series of RailWhales built in one group, exceeded only by the 75 DUPX 29500-series 6-axle cars and the 70 DUPX 29700-series 8-axle cars.  It was also one of the shortest-lived fleets, with an apparent lifespan of less than 12 years.  The listing for these cars was always combined with cars 98200-98238 until the last of those cars was removed from the ORER in APR 1979; but we have no photos of the 98200-series cars, so we can't compare the two groups.

When new, at least some of the cars were white with blue Dow diamond emblems and used for Vinyl Chloride service; so it is possible that all of these cars may have been initially leased to Dow.  The two photos we have are of white cars with no corporate markings, and they are lettered for Butadiene service.  Of course the fact that these cars had no markings doesn't mean they weren't still leased to Dow, as many tank cars had their logos and prominent lettering removed in the early 1970's.

All 57 cars were listed through the JAN 1979 ORER, and then their quantity steadily decreased until all were gone in JUL 1980.  All of the cars, plus GATX 98238, were refitted with 4-wheel trucks and assigned to LPG service as GATX 26701-26758.  They first showed up in the ORER sometime between JUL 1982 and JAN 1985.  At least some of these cars operated into the 21st Century, but all were gone by mid-2013.

GATX 94655	Brian Ehni
GATX 94688	Michael Palmieri	Atlanta, GA   12/09/1977