2: A Standard Oil of California bulk oil dealer in
Waterford, California (east of Modesto). Here there are
two vertical tanks, with two horizontal tanks between
them, all painted silver. Barely visible behind the right-
hand tank is a truck loading platform, and in the dis-
tance is the warehouse. This 1973 photo was included
in the April 1996
Railmodel Journal
article listed in the
Bibliography. – Robert Schleicher photo.
Getting Real Column - 3
this photo illustrates, the one place such cars did go was to
local oil dealers.
Another interesting example of a bulk oil plant is a Standard
Oil of California facility in Waterford, California, about 12 miles
east of Modesto. This plant had two large vertical tanks of dif-
ferent heights, and a pair of large horizontal tanks. It is shown
in (2). The tanks of different sizes, combining vertical and hori-
zontal, were common at these facilities, likely reflecting con-
struction at different times.
My third example was found in Ukiah, California, an indepen-
dent dealership. There were four tall vertical tanks of the same
height, two shorter vertical ones, and several horizontal tanks.
It is shown in (3).
One additional prototype dealer to be shown was photo-
graphed in 1981 in Livermore, California, by which time it
was no longer rail-served. It had all the elements: vertical and
horizontal tanks, truck loading facilities, and a warehouse. It
is shown in (4, 5 and 6). It’s notable that the tanks shown are
white. I have also seen light gray tanks, but silver is the most
common color.
What was in those tanks? It depends on era. Before World War
II, kerosene was widely used for lighting, cooking and tractor
2
3: This dealership in Ukiah, California had four vertical
tanks of the same height (the fourth is behind the vis-
ible three), and two shorter tanks, along with horizontal
tanks, in 2008. – Author photo.
3
MRH-Mar 2014
