Hauling Gasoline On The Sumpter Valley Ry.

Here is a rare image showing the Sumpter Valley Ry. #99 tank car in service. For obvious reasons it is also known as the "Zerolene Car". The photo was taken in South Baker at the time table west end of the yard where trains were made up for the trip up country. The Zerolene car went into service in June of 1923 and #17 had the second air pump added in Nov. of that year. This puts the earliest date for the photo as late 1923. However, since there is no sign of snow on the ground, it is probably later. In 1927 #17 received a Ruston "cabbage" stack replacing the diamond spark arrestor, so that gives us a latest date. The #99 car was used to carry gasoline and diesel fuel to a Standard Oil distributor in Prairie City. The power company supplying Prairie City used a diesel power generating plant in that period to supplement a small hydroelectric plant down river below Prairie City. The diesel fueled plant was likely close to the depot grounds and near the fuel distributor. In the modern day a buffer car would be required between the locomotive and a car carrying flammable or hazardous material. Not sure I would care for being the crew on #17 with 6500 gallons of gasoline right behind the tender! Some years back SVRR recovered an identical tank which may be the original Zerolene tank. There is a hope that one day it will be restored and mounted to a reconstructed flat car. The scan is from the SVRR Archive.