Union Tank Car Line for Standard Oil Company (X-3)

The Union Tank Car Line, by the 1930’s, owned over 30,000 tank cars. These varied from 8,000 gallon to 12,500 gallon pressurized, unpres- surized, heated and unheated tank cars. The fleet encompassed every tank car builder in the US. Lettering was simple and unobtru- sive as possible. Union Tank Car virtually held a monopoly of the transportation of crude oil to the refinery, a fact held negatively by the public in general and the Congress at large. Because all the UTLX stock was privately held by all the members of Standard’s board of directors, there was no direct connection with UTLX and Standard Oil, effectively frustrating any antitrust undertaking. A highly unusual example of Standard Oil Company painted on a tank car is seen in this photograph. Although no docucmentation is known, it is generally thought that UTLX lettering was changed from white to yellow in the early to mid-1920’s. This car, built in 1919, was painted all black with all white lettering. By the 1930’s, this car would be repainted with yellow lettering and the Standard Oil Company name painted out

The modeler should pay particular attention to the location of the tank bands, as seen in the accompanying photograph of the proto- type, which dictate the lettering placement. An accurate model of this car is PSC #15523 and 15527.

 This lettering set was designed and sized at PROTOCRAFT DECALS with lettering by Norm Buckhart.