[Railroad Librarian]

I've been wanting to get a new set of Helium cars done for quite some time. There was once an older set on Mophouse years back but I've always felt that a newer model was needed. So, as I sort through my workbench boxes for projects I promised myself I'd finish, I finally got around to getting my Helium cars repaints completed.

I'm using a Larry Goss PS1 boxcar as my base model.

Here's my first WIP shots. I still need to get the ends (the complicated part) and I hope to also get some realistic weathering (though I'm still struggling with weathering -- a hard nut to crack).

Anyway, I'm pretty pleased with progress so far.

Kevin B

Attached thumbnail(s)

• 

[Pery Scope]

A very interesting car! :derisive:
Where were these cars used? In which parts of the USA were they to be found?

Best regards

[conductorchris]

Kevin, that looks great! Thank you for doing this.

[Railroad Librarian]

A little background on the helium cars...

With the development of lighter-than-air ships coinciding with the recent development of the helium production in Texas (which until after WWII was the sole producer of helium), there arose a need to transport the gas for the Navy's airship program (blimps and dirigibles). The results was the creation of a specialized car in 1931 to transport Helium gas under very high pressure. The 42-foot car carried 30 fixed tanks mounted so the cylinders could expand and contract with changes in temperature and pressure. The helium was shipped under considerable pressure (3000 to 4000 pounds per square inch), and the thick-walled tanks (30 in number in most of the helium cars) added up to a very substantial weight, around 235,000 pounds, an extremely heavy car in the 1950s.

After the Navy ended the lighter-than-air program in 1955, the Navy turned over most of the fleet to the Bureau of Mines, Department of the Interior, with some cars going to the Atomic Energy Commission. The Bureau of Mines, under the title “Mines Helium Activity” or MHA, continued to produce and ship helium, now in cars with the perhaps obvious reporting marks MHAX. The cars were also repainted from their former Navy gray to silver within a few years after the handover.

With the rise of the space program in the 1960's many of the cars continued in service with NASA and later still in several other industries. Some of the cars can still be seen today across the country -- though most have now become scrap.

My repaints will include: USNX, MHAX and ATMX registrations.

Here's an update ...almost there...

Attached thumbnail(s)

• 

[Railroad Librarian]

Well, this has to be a new record for me...I've completed my entire planned set of Helium cars in 10 hours!

Woo hoo!

So, without further ado, I present my fleet.

First up.. ATMX

Attached thumbnail(s)

• 
• 
• 
• 

[Railroad Librarian]

Next up...MHAX..

Attached thumbnail(s)

• 
• 

[Railroad Librarian]

And finally, my favorite -- USNX...

Attached thumbnail(s)

• 
• 
• 

[Genma Saotome]

Before the jokes start, these cars were VERY heavy and so no ropes, chains, or cables were ever needed to keep either the gas tanks or the cars themselves from floating away.

Helium is extracted from a few (apparently unique) natural gas wells. IIRC in the U.S. in the steam era the NatGas fields with the highest percentage of helium were in New Mexico. The Wikipedia says now the best producing fields are in Southwestern Kansas and the Panhandle areas of Oklahoma and Texas.

[SP 0-6-0]

Will these be released?

I've been toying with the idea of doing these puppies if I can find some drawings for them?

White Train

Link 2

There are many more unique train cars both real and ficitional that would be really neat to have in MSTS for simulating cold war era nuclear traffic on the rails.

Robert

[Railroad Librarian]

Helium cars in real-world. In this case being switched by ATSF

Attached thumbnail(s)

•