Nostalgia & History > Linde Tank Car on eastbound at Martinez 1961

Were these a common box car back in the early 1960's? Martinez was one of my favorite hang outs in that time period.

Robert Morris
Dunsmuir, CA
Robert Morris Photography

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Saw similar Linde cars in Wilminton CA in the late 60's ton mid 70's. Have no pics to show.

Also saw them in Philadelphia area in late 50's.  I think Linde was part of Union Carbide Co in those days.

I recall a Linde Plant just east of I-15 in Etiwanda (near West Colton) California.

James R.(Jim) Baker
Whittier, CA

Last time this subject came up someone jokingly wrote he didn't need a physics lesson so...

Union Carbide bought the Linde US operations after World War I as part of a war reparations settlement. It was run as the Linde Division of the Union Carbide Corporation for seventy years. Following the Bhopal disaster, Union Carbide spun the division off as a separate entity, creating Praxair in 1988.

Meanwhile, the Linde A.G.corpoartion still existed in Germany and in many places in the rest of the world. After several years of negotiation, the US, EU and various other governments approved the merger of Linde A.G. and Praxair, early this year.

There was an ongoing thread about the model cryogenic tank cars that were first manufactured in the mid-60's, that were eventually sold or leased to many of the industrial gas companies here. Those operated by Union Carbide started out with the Linde name in block letters, then adopted a stylized blue and green lettering. Following Bhopal most of the Linde fleet first went generic white, then were re-lettered Praxair with the same block letter style and colors.For now the "new" Linde is using the Praxair name in their US operations.

The engineering and technology for shipping cryogenic liquids evolved from small 200-300-500 gallon spherical and cylindrical tanks to the self-contained tank cars. CVA outside Baytown builds the newest design now. But from the late '40's forward, special box cars were used, at least by Union Carbide/Linde, for longer movements.Not sure what the maximum number in the fleet was, or how long they lasted. There wasn't a standard internal outfitting design. Some had semi-permanently mounted tanks, others had more portable skidded tanks that had the option for removal. Good catches finding them still operating in the early '60's.

Sorry for droning on! It's my business...

Saw these regularly on various railroads through Houston, Texas and along the chemical coast in the 70's and early 80's. Dark green with white lettering or all white with dark green lettering.
Tom Kline
Houston

Got any shots of Lucky Linde?

A peek inside, at Kaiser in April 1976.
There was (is?) a Linde plant south of the SP main line and IIRC we had gas lines under the tracks to get their products to Kaiser Steel.
To answer Bob's question, they were not common, but not really rare.
All the ones I remember were some combination of green and white.

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Railway Prototype Cyclopedia #14 has 38 pages of information, drawings and photos of the Linde box/tank cars. Cars were built by three manufacturers: American Car & Foundary, General American Tank Car and Pressed Steel Car. Looks like the total fleet of cars peaked at ~500 in the mid-1950s. 
Without a car number, the car in PhotoBob's photo appears to be one of 25 cars built by AC&F in 4/45.
The cars in RailTieBallast's photo are as follows:
LAPX 172 part of a 30 car order from PSC built in 11/41 (151-180)
LAPX 199 part of a 39 car order from GATC built in 5/42 (181-219)

According to the article there were 36 cars still running in the late 1980's but all were scrappped by 1992.

Does anyone have roof shots of any of the car boxcars? That always seems to be a point of contention.

Rick W