The Department of Defense Helium railroad car was a specialized railcar used to transport helium gas for military airships and NASA rockets . The car was built by General American Tank Car Co. in 1930 and had a unique appearance with 28 cylinders and two diagonal braces on the open-frame sides . The car was later replaced by a newer model built by GATX in 1942 and 1943, which had 30 cylinders and four diagonal cross braces per side . The car was designed to carry helium gas from federal extraction facilities in the region of the Oklahoma Panhandle, north Texas, and southwest Kansas to federal government sites such as the U.S. Naval Air Stations in Lakehurst, N.J.; Hitchcock, Texas; and Tillamook, Ore., as well as NASA’s Cape Canaveral and Cape Kennedy . The car was one of the heaviest freight cars ever built, weighing 243,400 pounds empty . The car's design has changed little since the second GATX batch in 1943, with the biggest change being the omission of the roof walk in the late 1950s . The use of lighter-than-aircraft by the Defense Department was dialed down in the early 1950s, but the Department of the Interior continued to ship helium to military research and NASA destinations until the government privatized the helium production industry in 1996 .
There is a short video demonstration run two of these cars here: Helium railroad cars in mp4 format
Two pair are available at this time
