Atlas Announces 3 NEW body styles at Nat'l N Scale Convention

gdmichaels Jun 26, 2017

  1. gdmichaels

    gdmichaels TrainBoard Member

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    [​IMG]
    While at this week's 25th Annual N Scale National Convention in Pittsburgh, PA, George learned about some exciting new product announcements from Atlas.

    The company introduced three new body styles that it plans on producing (no release or pre-order dates were given): 40' Rebuilt Well Car, 45' container and Bx-177 Box Car.

    As of the writing of this blog, we could not find any of the usual details about these releases on the Atlas website. However, here is some information George learned while chatting with Paul at the Atlas booth and some data we gleaned from the product fact sheets, which George photographed and are also on the Atlas FB page/website.

    New to N scale: 40' Rebuilt Well Car
    This size well car, which is not articulated, is completely new to n-scale. Apparently, Micro-Trains and Atlas chatted with each other before committing to making future well cars and this resulted in a 40' model from Atlas and a N 48' Husky Stack Well Car from MTL, which has been in production since earlier this year. Note: the lengths mentioned for these two cars are the lengths of the container wells - the cars are longer....

    Some of the features of the 40' Rebuilt Well Car will include: die-cast body, etched metal walks, metal wheels and body-mounted couplers.


    45' container
    [​IMG]

    This size container, along with 48' and 53', is used in the U.S. and Canada so we would expect North American road names. This model is an all steel corrugated container and will come in shipping names: Maersk, Triton, Matson and Seacastle.


    Bx-177 Box Car
    [​IMG]

    The Bx-177 box car will be another new model for n-scale; some of the features of this freight car will include: body-mounted couplers, separately applied cut levers, trainline air hoses, etched metal cross over platforms and 36" metal wheels.

    We look forward to hearing more details about these releases.
     
    Last edited: Jun 26, 2017
  2. Metro Red Line

    Metro Red Line TrainBoard Member

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    Are the 40' single well cars common on Intermodal trains? I know I see the 53' single well car everywhere. I just assumed all the 40' wells are 5-units. Can any Intermodal spotters confirm for me?
     
  3. greatdrivermiles

    greatdrivermiles TrainBoard Member

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    the Bx-177 is a former BLMA model.
     
  4. wcfn100

    wcfn100 TrainBoard Member

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    It's probably BLMA design and/or tooling, but BLMA never released it.


    Jason
     
  5. Mr. Trainiac

    Mr. Trainiac TrainBoard Member

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    20' 40' and sometimes 45' containers are used on ships, while the 48' and 53' containers are domestic use only. Most trucks are 53', so the 48' container is almost completely obsolete today. If you see a train with 53' containers, it usually won't have 40' containers. Theses new Atlas wells are the rebuilt ones. Since international trade has increased, there is a higher demand for 40' well cars. The 48' wells were basically used for 40' containers, so 8 feet was cut from the middle, making the 40' rebuilt well car. Some has sections added to make new 53' cars. Walthers makes both in HO scale. These rebuilds happened mid 2000's. Most well cars are articulated, to reduce coupler slack. The 40' and 48' wells are 5 unit, and the 53' wells are 3 units. The 53' container is newer, so railroads had time to improve the design. They removed 2 wells for greater flexibility in train length. Single unit wells, especially the Gunderson car (this Atlas model), are referred to as "Huskies." They can carry heavier loads, like Tanktainers, since the trucks do not have to support two wells, as in an articulated well car. As a side note: if you have Tanktainers in your train, do not stack them. They ride single level only.
     
  6. greatdrivermiles

    greatdrivermiles TrainBoard Member

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    You're right, I was thinking of their bx-166 model.
     
  7. Mr. Trainiac

    Mr. Trainiac TrainBoard Member

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    I went out this weekend to film some trains, and I saw two of the rebuilt well cars. One was a NOKL and the other was had DTTX markings. Here is a picture. The weld line where a section was cut out is clearly visible. (About 2 feet to the right of the shadow from the lamp post.) There is one at the other end that is a by harder to see. The DTTX car is right behind the NOKL with two 20' containers. IMG_3590.PNG
     
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  8. gdmichaels

    gdmichaels TrainBoard Member

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    On September 6, 2017 Atlas released some more information/details regarding this new tooling. Here is a link to our blog
    Atlas Shares More Information on New Tooling: BX-177 Box Car
    about it. http://www.trovestar.com/generic/blog.php?Article=163
     
    Hardcoaler likes this.
  9. Point353

    Point353 TrainBoard Member

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  10. ecfitzgerald

    ecfitzgerald TrainBoard Member

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    Did you click the link? There is more context than the atlas page.
     
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  11. Point353

    Point353 TrainBoard Member

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    Yes - and, again, there is no direct link to the product announcement on the Atlas site.
     
  12. jpwisc

    jpwisc TrainBoard Member

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    Yes, single 40' well cars are pretty common in International stack trains (all 40' and 20' containers coming out of POLA) coming through Vegas. We see them on a daily basis.
     
  13. gdmichaels

    gdmichaels TrainBoard Member

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    ecfitzgerald, thank you for pointing this out. Our blog article endeavors to dive a little deeper into the details of this release specifically addressing whether this model is a re-release of a BLMA model or a new tooling. Also, since the Atlas website is constantly in flux, we don't usually link to specific pages (deep links) inside their site, as these links often go stale inconveniently. We do, however, link the MR article (which is much less likely to go stale) that discusses the BLMA HO model of the very similar BX-166.
     

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