Now, the tank car traffic on our model railways will chiefly be representing the movement of refined petroleum products from originating points to the retail fuel company facilities on our layouts. So, our originating points are few in number. The receiving point will be the retail fuel dealer. All ten of the above mentioned companies had such facilities. In either case, they typically had a number of vertical or horizontal tanks, pumping facilities and an office.
Steam show numerous examples of retail oil companies on local track maps.
It remains then for you as a modeller to decide on the oil companies you wish to represent, then construct the facilities. In contrast to the movement of boxcars, replicating tank car traffic is relatively simple. Within the giant American UTLX existed the Products Tank Line of Canada, with a portion of the large fleet thus assigned. In addition to the obvious cars, a specific oil company may have received fuel in UTLX, CGTX, GATX, SHPX or NATX cars. I'll resign myself to be happy just lettering the aforementioned models accurately for various Canadian reporting marks.