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From: "Paul R DOT Tupaczewski" paultup AT comcast DOT net
Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2008 23:29:34 -0500
Subject: Atlas 89' piggyback flat in HO scale
"atlas-underframe.jpg" - image/jpeg, 1053x700 (24bit)

Hi listers,

Since this was a topic of discussion in recent months, I just wanted to give
a brief review of the new Atlas 89' piggyback flat. I am not a piggyback car
guru by any stretch of the imagination, so I'll leave it to our resident
"piggyback guy" Paul Brezicki to give more detail on the prototype.

The Atlas car is quite nice. It's nicely painted and lettered, has a lot of
"heft" since most of the car is die-cast metal (the details are plastic),
and has very smooth rolling trucks. The appropriate hitches come with the
car, but they need to be assembled and installed. It also comes with
container pedestals (since this model represents the TTAX "All-Purpose"
variety of car), and those need to be installed if desired. The hitches are
very finely detailed, moreso than any other commercially-installed hitch
I've seen.

Paul B. told me he thought the deck was a few inches too high, and compared
to the Walthers car he is correct. The Atlas car is about 4 scale inches
higher off the truck. The attached photos show the difference. Looking
underneath the car, the reason becomes obvious - Atlas has full underframe
detail along the length of the car, while Walthers cut four octagonal holes
in the underframe under each wheel. This allows the trucks to be situated
further under the sidesill, but removes the detail on this part of the
underframe. IMHO, the deck difference isn't a big deal, particularly when
it's rolling along in a string of similar cars. The Atlas (ACF) car also
appears to have a slightly thinner sidesill compared to the Walthers
(Bethlehem) car.

A few other notes about these cars:

* Walthers' bridge plates move, Atlas' are fixed in the upright position
* Atlas has Accumate couplers, Walthers has their scale couplers. I plan on
replacing all with Kadee scale couplers!
* The Atlas trucks run FAR better than the Walthers ones
* The Walthers car is a metal frame with a plastic deck surface, the Atlas
car is metal throughout (though both cars have plastic centersills)
* Atlas' car has more/better detail (including uncoupling levers and air
hoses), and they're all installed :)
* Atlas has a fixed coupler pocket while Walthers uses their swinging
pocket. I think I prefer Atlas' method better with these cars, and in curves
I noticed the Walthers pocket really doesn't do much better than the fixed
one.
* Atlas' lettering is a tad better than Walthers
* I do like the different deck-top rubrails between the two!

These cars are correct for EL modelers in the 1973-1976 timeframe. This
particular car never wore the TT red paint, and the Atlas car is painted how
they would have been when running on the EL. These are a wonderful addition
to the intermodal models available to HO folks, and I can't wait to get mine
loaded up with some UPS trailers.

- Paul


atlas-underframe.jpg

Image EXIF Data:
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