Tank Car Rescue / Hooker Tank Car Project

 Greetings All,

Tank Car Rescue 

Hooker Tank Car Project

I was recently taking stock of my tank car rolling stock that have been basically sitting in the tank car box for a few years with an eye towards repainting several that I thought could use a cosmetic upgrade to get them back on the layout. 

I settled on trying to paint and letter them as Hooker Chemicals tank cars using decals from K-4 Decals.

Prototype Information

Founded in 1903 as "the Development and Funding Company" by Elon Huntington Hooker, of Rochester, NY, the company used the Townsend cell to electrolyse salt into chlorine and sodium hydroxide (NaOH), also known as "caustic soda" and "lye," in a chloralkali process. Elmer Sperry, founder of Sperry Electric, and Leo Baekeland, inventor of Bakelite and Velox photographic paper, consulted Hooker to improve the design of the cell.

The company was sited in Niagara Falls, NY foremost because of the low-cost electricity from the Niagara Falls power project, but also because of the abundance of salt from nearby mines, and availability of water from the Niagara River.

"Vintage Ad #1,857: Hooker's New Chemagination Center" by jbcurio is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.

Chlorine, used for sanitation and the chlorination of drinking water, was sold as chlorinated lime and chlorobenzene, which was an ingredient for an explosive used in World War I. Later, solvents like trichloroethylene and phenol were sold for use by the subsidiary degreasing and dry cleaning company Detrex. Hooker licensed his diaphragm cell technology to other chloralkali producers.

In 1918, Hooker formed a company to hydrogenate vegetable oils, while Hooker Chemical also began producing sulfur chloride and sodium chlorate.

In 1922, Hooker bought the S. Wander & Sons Company for the retail sales of lye and chlorinated lime. Samuel Wander had a retail store at 105 Hudson St, New York, NY, and factories in Albany, NY. Hooker sold the business in 1927. Hooker built a new chloralkali plant in Tacoma, WA in 1929. Additional products, including sodium sulfide, sodium sulfhydrate, sodium tetrasulfide, and aluminum chloride were produced by the company.

In World War II, Hooker was a leading supplier of dodecyl mercaptan for the synthesis of rubber. The company also produced arsenic trichloride, thionyl chloride, and hexachlorobenzene. Hooker expanded into plastics manufacturing, developing epoxy vinyl ester resins, and in 1955 acquired the Durez Corporation, a manufacturer of thermoset plastic phenolic resins founded in 1948.

Occidental Petroleum purchased Hooker Chemical Company in 1968. Subsequent owners have renamed the company several times.

The company became notorious in 1977, when residents near its chemical waste site, Love Canal, reported extraordinarily high incidences of leukemia, birth defects, and other injuries. Although Hooker had sold its old chemical waste dump site to the Niagara Falls School Board in 1953, the company was held responsible as a result of a lawsuit thereafter.

"Love Canal" by Roadgeek Adam is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

Servicing Hooker / Occidental Petroleum

According to the Operations Special Interest Group industry data base the Hooker Electro Chemical Plant in Niagara Falls, NY was switched by the Lehigh Valley Railroad via their Suspension Bridge Freight Yard

Commodities Out: Caustic soda

Commodities In: Chemicals

The Occidental Petroleum plant in Niagara Falls, NY was switched by the New York Central and later Penn Central Railroads via their Niagara Falls Yard. 

Commodities Out: Chlorine, gypsum, HCl, methylene chloride, Potassium sulfate, sodium hydroxide.

Commodities In: Potassium hydroxide, sulfur dioxide

I believe Occidental is still in business and is switched by CSX. 

Model Information

The tank cars in the large tank car box are older inexpensive tank cars from IHC, Model Power and Bachmann that came in trainsets or I purchased individually for a dollar or two. Over the years all have received body mounted knuckle couplers, metal wheelsets and a blast of Testor's Dullcote to tone down their paint schemes.

I settled on four cars to be repainted and lettered for Hooker Chemicals, Niagara Falls NY. On the three cars below rattle can black was applied first. After allowing time for the black paint to dry I used a strip of blue painters tape to cover the center of the car and applied the rattle can orange.

The paint job looks promising. Next stop the decal shop.

The tank cars have received their Hooker decals.

The gloss orange rattle can paint worked very well for the decal application. 

End decals were applied.

The white Bachmann trainset Cyanamid tank car is now Hooker Chemicals tank car SHPX 6185. This car was painted in reverse with the orange applied first and taped for th black to be applied.

The tank cars have been sprayed with Testor's Dullcote and its time for reassembly. All of the project tank cars have received additional weight as shown below.

The tin containers hold some of the parts for each tank car. The clear containers are used for the decals.

Separate parts like ladders and railings were spray painted with rattle can flat black. Time for final assembly!!

The four tank car project is done!!!

I'm thinking a four car block of these Hooker tank cars will look pretty impressive in a freight train. All four tank cars have SHPX reporting marks that belong to American Railcar Leasing.

Final Thoughts and Comments

The tank car rescue turned four cheapie tank cars into nicely painted and lettered models. While the Hooker Chemicals Company certainly left a nefarious legacy the fact remains that the company did produce and ship chemicals in lots of tank cars bearing their name during the eras which I mostly model. 

Additional Links & Info

Hooker Chemicals Wikipedia.

Occidental Petroleum Wikipedia

Hooker Chemicals tank car 1969 with HCPX reporting marks

Hooker Chemicals tank car 1979 with HCPX reporting marks

Hooker Chemicals tank cars Niagara Falls, NY with HOKX reporting marks. No date.

Hooker Chemicals tank car with SHPX reporting marks at Marshalltown, Iowa 1967

Occidental Chemicals tank car 1969 Marshalltown. Iowa.

Thanks for reading and watching!!!

See you soon!!!

Locomotive Spotlight #5-2026 / A White Knight Arrives

 Greetings All,

Locomotive Spotlight #5-2026

A White Knight Arrives

Welcome to another installment in the ongoing Locomotive Spotlight Series. Today the spotlight will shine on Kansas City Southern snoot nose SD40-2 #686 in the "white knight" paint scheme. Pay no attention to the label the locomotive is powered.

The ongoing search for a pair of Walthers Trainline Southern Railway Alco FA-FB locomotives continued to deliver notifications for the Southern, Southern Pacific and Kansas City Southern railroads from ebay. Being a fallen flag this locomotive piqued my interest and I made the move to add it to the roster.

Also complicit in the purchase was Trains & Railroads of the Past Issue #31, 3rd Quarter 2022 magazine that featured an excellent article by photographer and author Carl Graves looking back at the KCS White Knights of forty and fifty years ago. I just happened to be looking at this article when I saw the KCS snoot nose offering. 

Prototype Information

The EMD SD40-2 is a 3,000-horsepower C-C diesel–electric locomotive built by EMD from 1972 to 1984. The KCS locomotives were delivered in white paint with a large red KCS on the long hood which gave them the nickname of "White Knights".

"4/24/77, KCS SD40-2 659" by OHFalcon72 is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

The SD40-2 was introduced in January 1972 as part of EMD's Dash 2 series, competing against the GE U30C. Although higher-horsepower locomotives were available, including EMD's own SD45-2, the reliability and versatility of the 3,000-horsepower SD40-2 made it one of the best-selling models in EMD's history, edged out only by the GP9, and was the standard of the industry for several decades after its introduction. The SD40-2 was an improvement over the SD40, with modular electronic control systems similar to those of the experimental DDA40X.

"4/24/77, KCS SD40-2 644" by OHFalcon72 is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

Peak production of the SD40-2 was in the mid-1970s. Sales of the SD40-2 began to diminish after 1981 due to the oil crisis, increased competition from GE's Dash-7 series and the introduction of the EMD SD50, which was available concurrently to late SD40-2 production. The last SD40-2 delivered to a United States railroad was built in July 1984.

"More of Roger Puta's KCS Photos at Pittsburg, Kansas" by railfan 44 is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0.

Kanas City Southern SD40-2 #637 was the very first SD40-2 constructed in January 1972. KCS SD40-2s #677-690 were built with extended "snoot" noses. Many are now in service with Canadian Pacific Kansas City. In total the KCS purchased forty six EMD SD40-2s

"Kansas City Southern KCS 676 (SD40-2) (10568689756)" by Gary Todd from Xinzheng, China is marked with CC0 1.0.

KCS SD40-2 646 looking good in the Southern Bell scheme prior to  the Canadian Pacific takeover.

"6-22-21, KCS SD40-3 646" by OHFalcon72 is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

The KCS SD40-2 Snoot Nose

The KCS purchased fourteen "snoot nose variants" of the EMD SD40-2. The question is what was a snoot nose used for? Lets take a look at the reason for this modification. A crew benefit was that the longer noses included a separate room for the onboard chemical toilet, and an enclosed space for better ventilation. According to Craig Hensley via Wikipedia the 123-Inch Nose was utilized by railroads like Santa Fe (ATSF) and Kansas City Southern (KCS) for extensive Locotrol remote-consist equipment. That's a Jimmy Durante nose for sure!!

"NS i70 Irondale, AL 3-1-15" by JEFFG205 is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

More Kansas City Southern Snoot Nose Info

In the Trains & Railroads of the Past 3rd Quarter 2022 magazine article Kansas City Southern White Knights author Carl Graves reported on his encounters with the KCS White Knights during the 1970s and 1980s. The new White Knights started to arrive in 1966 adding a new paint scheme to the KCS which had relied on red locomotives.

"More of Roger Puta's KCS Photos at Pittsburg, Kansas" by railfan 44 is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0.

Mr. Graves reports that the KCS under Deramus management had adopted the business practice that railroad revenue was to be expended in non railroad operations only which led to the inevitable suffering of the railroad infrastructure. Sounds familiar.

Another management policy was to run much longer trains using Locotrol much like the Southern Railway that had been running such trains with some success. Also sounds familiar with today's distributed power locomotives.

The Locotrol system worked liked this... in Shreveport, LA or Kansas City, MO KCS would assemble a train of 200 or more cars, the maximum length and tonnage that couplers and air brakes would allow. Two to four SD40-2s would be placed on the headend, the first of which would be equipped as a master. One or two crewless "slave" units would be placed two thirds of the way back in the enormous consist.

Mr. Graves further reports that from the start these mega-trains had troubles, some not related to Locotrol. Two hundred car trains did not fit into the forty-fifty car length sidings commonly found on the route.

The other problem was when the Locotrol lost signal and the slave units continued powering the train in the last signal it received like Run 8. Derailments and train breaks occurred, with some of them in excess of sixty cars on the ground with the "slave units" laying on their sides still in notch 8.

"Figure 1 Accident Site-Rev 1" by NTSBgov is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0.
In 1984 KCS completely abandoned crewless mid train helpers for manned rear end helpers due to the cost to update the Locotrol system as well as the need to run more and heavier southbound trains. 

Model Information

The newest locomotive in the fleet is this Athearn BB KCS SD40-2 "snoot nose" in the White Knight or Ghost paint scheme. The locomotive was a used purchase at a nice price since it was missing some detail parts which I believed I have on hand.

The locomotive came with the motor and trucks hardwired but with no headlight. The motor connects to the tower gears via the newer Athearn hex driveshafts. This is technology I can embrace!!! Out of the box the engine did not run. A removal of the shell revealed the motor had come loose from its mounting during transit even though it was well packaged. An easy fix and the engine ran well after the motor was reseated.

A large #3 was on the box and fuel tank. Not sure what it meant. Where I live the number 3 is for late NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt. That will be painted out

Original testing of the KCS 686 was between two Athearn BB BN SD40-2s where they ran well in consist.

The 686 featured rear numbers in the number boards but no rear handrails.

After running the engine I took the shell off and did some of the cosmetic repairs like adding rear metal handrails from a GP38-GP40 handrail set that has been in the parts room for almost a decade. The new handrails were brush painted with acrylic red spice.

Numbers were added to the front number boards.

A scrap box headlight was soldered to the front truck power pickup and attached to the headlight mounting bracket with a 2-56 nut and bolt.

In the KCS white knight article the author noted that both the KCS and BN units were usually clean even as they hauled coal tonnage past his vantage points. I added a little black weathering to the vents, louvers and fans as seen in several photos.

The 686 is now ready for prime time. KCS modelers will note that the 686 had black handrails. If the engine had the old Athearn metal handrails it would have them now. 

KCS 686 teams up with BN and ex BN SD40-2s to haul tonnage to and from Terminal Yard.

Final Thoughts and Comments 

The ongoing search for the Walthers Trainline Alco Southern FA-FB continues to be a big drain on my wallet!!! The KCS SD40-2 was reasonably priced but I never would have saw it if not for the "you may like this" notifications that come with the Southern Railway locomotive search!!! And I would have cruised right past it if not for the TRP article that I was reading at the time of the notification.

That said the KCS 686 is a nice looking, good running locomotive that can be run in multiple with the various BN or HLCX SD40-2s on the combined family roster. 

Additional Links and Info

KCS 686 at Pittsburg, KS 1984

KCS 686 at Kansas City, MO 1989.

KCS 686 at Wylie, TX 2006

EMD SD40-2 Wikipedia

Utah Rails Snoot Nose Report

Trains and Railroads of the Past 3rd Quarter, 2022.

Thanks for reading and watching!!

See you soon!!!

Layout Odds & Ends July-August 2026

 Greetings All,

Layout Odds & Ends July-August 2026

July and early August was a busy time in the train room with three projects completed and the purchase of some new motive power for the combined family fleet. What started as a continuing search for locomotives of a specific railroad ended with several purchases but not one of the road names I was searching for. Such is the life of a trainaholic...

The DJS Railway Locomotive Search

The DJS Railway, named after my nephew who sports those initials and who has entrusted my with his Southern Alco FA locomotive continues to run transfer trains between the DJS Sterling Yard and Terminal Yard providing important connections to southern railroads, manufacturers and markets.

A typical DJS Railway transfer from Sterling Yard with Southern FA-FB Alcos and leased FB-FA locomotives passes RA tower on its way to Terminal Yard.

For several months I have been trying to add another Southern FA-FB set to make this a four engine Alco FA-FB-FB-FA lash up. Finding Southern engines for this has been frustrating to say the least. There are few to be found so far on the typical model railroading internet selling sites and those that are listed are way over priced. Below the FA-FB set is starting to show some weathering from all their hard work.

Leased LV Alcos can often be found in the DJS motive power consists are are also showing some wear and tear. After watching an LV video that included their Alco fleet I noted they were extremely dirty from the soot coming out of the exhaust. I painted the vents on the Southern units above and the LV units with a black wash. They look better to me now with some grime.

DJS Railway Action July, 2026

You May Also Like This

This feature is often included in the ebay email search notifications for Walthers Trainline Southern locomotives. This three engine ERIE A-B-A lash up like new in their boxes was offered at a Buy it Now price of $50.00 plus $8.50 for shipping.

My son the BINO man is also an Erie / Erie Lackawanna man so these will be added to his portion of the combined family fleet.

Here are two of the Erie locomotives leased to the DJS in July.

With the Erie engines running a PRR passenger train with a pair of E8As belonging to my other son made a nice layout companion.

The PRR E8A 5700 is mars light equipped and was actually purchased by my son when he was in high school. The 5700 became PC 4300 at which time the mars light was blacked out.

An Erie RR transfer powered by the new FA-FB-FA consist makes it way thru Empire City.

The Erie Alcos are ready to head back to their own railyard from Terminal Yard. Have to admit this is a good looking consist and was a great buy.

But Wait There's More

You May Like This!!

A pair of used Athearn Blue Box EMD GP7 locomotives (one powered - one dummy) were also included in a you may like this email notification. A previous owner installed and painted the handrails. I added the black paint to the vents. CBQ #244 was in fact a CBQ GP7 however without dynamic brakes.

The powered locomotive is an old school Athearn with the silver flywheels and metal truck frames. I swapped that motor for one with a gold flywheel and it runs fine in multiple with my other BB engines. CBQ locomotives could be found in power pools with the NYC, PRR and PC which was the reason for this purchase.

The non powered CBQ GP7 also numbered 244 (pending a renumbering) was put into this consist featuring a Walthers BNSF GP9m and friends.

The friends are the two Santa Fe Walthers Trainline GP9ms below that found there way to the BINO mans portion of the combined family fleet in late July. I was looking for BNSF predecessor BN and ATSF motive power that I could run in multiple with the Trainline BNSF engine on my DC controlled layout. The search for a BN locomotive is ongoing.

ATSF 2050 in the blue & yellow warbonnet scheme is numbered for a similar looking GP7M. ATSF 2264 in the red & silver warbonnet scheme is a GP9M but in the blue and yellow paint. I blacked out the grills on all four units.

With new locomotives to test I put together several locomotive consists and trains from the combined family fleet like this early BN train with predecessor NP & CB&Q power.

The NP hi hood GP has been in the fleet for almost twenty five years now and fits right in with the new CB&Q GP7 on this train.

I bumped the era up to the BNSF and put together a few consists and trains. The BNSF GP38-2, an Athearn BB model, is another veteran of twenty plus years in the combined fleet.

The new Walthers Trainline GP9m and a veteran Trainline BNSF GP9m team up to bring tonnage to Terminal Yard. These three engines ran in multiple reasonably well.

Last but not least some of my Conrail fleet got into the action with a run thru BNSF GP38-2. The CR locomotives are Athearn BB and have been with me for well over two decades.

BN, CBQ, ATSF, CR and others enjoy their layout time.

Last But Not Least

Let's Try The Local Hobby Shop

On Saturday July 25th, 2026 I visited Trainmaster Models in Auburn, GA to pick up a parts order and look for some Southern motive power and rolling stock. I came across this Southern All Door boxcar and Central of Georgia boxcar in the football or blimp scheme. 

The CG is a subsidiary of the Southern Railway. 

Both cars are Bachmann products that came with knuckle couplers and metal wheelsets. According to photos on the Facebook Prototype Freight Cars page both are in fact prototypical.

The DJS Soldiers On

The DJS Railway continues to work the Sterling Yard-Terminal Yard transfer runs using leased power from his cousins locomotive fleet that provides an important connection to the southern markets and interchanges. It's become kind of a family affair reminding me of the short lived Family Lines after the L&N-SCL merger.  Here is the DJS in action in August

Final Thoughts and Comments

The search continues for that elusive reasonably priced Holy Grail of the Southern Railway, the elusive FA-FB set as of the writing. It appears that the longer the search goes on the more "you may like this" notifications I will receive. This will no doubt put my willpower to the test to avoid additional purchases. We'll see how that works!!!

Thanks for reading and watching!!!

See you soon!!!