Close your eyes and you’ll swear you’re hearing a real freight train pass by.

In the last decade, growing public and government support for Ethanol as an alternative fuel source has created the need for an expanded fleet of modern tank cars to haul millions of gallons of Ethanol from the corn-belt Midwest to high-consumption areas across the country. The most common tank car used for ethanol transportation today is the AAR-classified “T108” model. This nonpressurized, modern tank car has an impressive capacity of 30,000 gallons and is nearly 60’ in length. The ethanol is filled through a fueling hatch and emptied quickly though a bottom drain after it is transported. While primarily used to haul ethanol, these tank cars are also used to transport chemical solvents, beverage grade alcohol, and gasoline. As demand for ethanol increases, 30,000-gallon tank cars are increasingly seen in long unit trains, some nearly a hundred tank cars in length!

Lionel kicks off its Vision rolling stock collection with an all-new 1:48th scale version of the modern 30,000-gallon ethanol tank car. Designed to accompany our Vision Genset Switcher and the General Electric Hybrid locomotives, these tank cars are dressed accurately in off-white and bear the colorful “Eco-Energy” logo.