Model Railroading > Borden's Milk Tank Car

I recently acquired one of the above which is built like a box car so presumably for milk in churns ? It was too nice a model to pass over but was wondering how prevalent these were in the Pacific North West as my layout will feature NP/GN/Milwaukee & CPR somewhere on the northern Borderlands of the Inland Empire.
Or will I just apply "Modeller's Licence" ! LOL.

Are you able to submit a photo?  You did say it was box car style.  Sometimes cars like that had large stainless steel tanks on either side of the center door.
jb



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/03/25 11:04 by boejoe.

Here it is thanks to the wonders of technology ! Managed to do this without having to call the teenage grandson ! LOL

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Corpach Wrote:
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> I recently acquired one of the above which is
> built like a box car so presumably for milk in
> churns ?

Two large, glass-lined insulated tanks were on either side of a center passage that contained the pump connections. Also chiller connections and a stirring mechanism. Sometimes with refrigeration. Also known as Pfaudler milk tank cars. Pfaudler made the tanks. Very common car under a variety of railroad and private owner names. Solid trains were common. More common was a car or two with the express cars on passenger trains. These cars were equipped for passenger service and were only in passenger and express trains. At peak, there were more than 2,500 cars on the rails. Common everywhere that there were dairy farms and customers. 

The photo appears to be an Athearn Pfaudler milk car. Walthers and Intermountain and probably others have made milk cars.



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 01/03/25 10:18 by Lighter.

Pretty rare in the PNW, I would think. . 
RB

The BC Electric (BCER) interurban line hauled lots of milk in the Fraser Valley, mostly as "express" shipments; I'd expect the CPR did the same west of Hope towards Vancouver. I don't know what kind of equipment the CPR used though.

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Darren Boes
Lethbridge, AB
Southern Alberta Railfan

On the west coast both SP and Santa Fe handled some milk traffic in milk cans in standard baggage cars.
The cars like the Borden's Milk Tank cars were used mostly in New England to move milk from the country to New York City and Boston.

If memory serves correct (Been 5 years and a rush visit at that), I believe the The National Museum of Transportation in Missouri has one of these cars in their collection and you can walk inside to see the containers on either side of the car.

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Thanks for the comprehensive info on the Milk Tank Car. It's very much appreciated.
Dave

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Fascinating history of these cars.  I never would have known these had tanks inside.

If memory serves, the RPI model RR club in Troy, NY did a thin, perfect bound summary of the milk by rail industry. 

Concentrated on the northeast, of course, because that's where the customers were located. 

Worth looking at for sure.