Rapido 224002-6 - Halliburton Pneumatic Rail Car (Cement Car): 1970s Scheme: Single #85

Rapido 224002-6 - Halliburton Pneumatic Rail Car (Cement Car): 1970s Scheme: Single #85

HO Scale Halliburton Pneumatic Railcar features:

• Newly tooled from original blueprints and measurements
• Full underbody details and piping
• Separate metal grab irons
• Stainless steel metal roofwalk
• Semi-scale metal knuckle couplers
• Free-rolling trucks with profiled metal wheelsets
• Available as single car or six-packs unless noted
• Suggested minimum radius: 18”

In 1961, the Halliburton Company teamed up with the Pullman-Standard to create a pneumatic covered hopper car. Many know this car by its moniker of “Halliburton Cement Car” but the products it carries goes beyond just cement. This car was specifically designed to haul dry bulk materials such as cement, pozzolan and fly ash, all critical to oilfield operations for the drilling of mud.

Externally, this car had a shape never seen before in railcar history. Instead of the common, angled hopper bays, these cars featured three vertically mounted cylindrical tanks. These tanks were placed on a flatcar-like platform with a brakewheel at one end and vertical handrail supports on both ends. They measured 43’7” in length with a 70-ton capacity and 2,400 cubic feet of volume.

The basic flatcar build was manufactured by Pullman-Standard, then shipped to Halliburton Company’s Duncan, Oklahoma facility, where the tanks along with custom piping, tank supports, ladders and running boards were completed. In all, 75 of these unique cars were built, carrying road numbers 50 through 124, all under the HWCX reporting mark system. Despite being built for such a specialized service, the cars lasted well over 40 years. They could be seen across the United States and even Alaska, where many wound down their careers in the early 2020s.