As the popularity of rail transportation grew in the mid-1800s, cars were developed for just about every purpose. Boxcars carried dry goods, flatcars carried oversized loads, and gondolas carried bulk goods that didn't need to be covered. When it came to liquids, however, there was no good option for this purpose. You couldn't fill a boxcar with water or oil, so these important commodities were mostly transported within boxcars in barrels - a slow and inefficient way to move them. It wasn't until 1866 that the first tank cars were patented. These cars were primitive by today's standards. They were essentially just massive wooden vats built onto flatcars, but the amount of liquid they could hold remained unrivaled until the more conventional horizontal tank car was invented. Bachmann’s Old-Time Water Tank Car pays tribute to these curious early cars in several vibrant and authentic paint schemes. Each car is fully assembled and features a separately-applied brake wheel, blackened machined metal wheels with RP25 contours, magnetically-operated E-Z Mate® couplers, and more. The Bachmann Old-Time Water Tank Car is the perfect addition to any layout set in the fascinating period of westward expansion and complements other Bachmann cars in this range, such as the Old-Time Boxcar.
