Atlas Model Railroad Co. Product Review

Back to reviews index

This review was taken from the September, 2000 issue of Model Railroader Magazine and is reproduced with permission of Kalmbach Publishing Company, Waukesha, WI.

HO 60-foot auto-parts boxcar

Review by Jim Hediger, Senior Editor

This sharp looking 60-foot auto parts boxcar from Atlas is modeled after a prototype built by American Car & Foundry starting in the late 1960s. cars like this were used to haul heavy automobile parts like steel castings, engines, and transmissions.

The model comes assembled, except for couplers, and it closely matches prototype dimensions shown in an ACF car diagram in the 1970 issue of the Car and Locomotive Cyclopedia (published by Simmons-Boardman).

This car nicely captures the look of the prototype. The model has a well-detailed plastic body shell, but the side and end ladders, brake wheel, and crossover platform are separate pieces which are neatly cemented on. A single movable sliding door is mounted on each side, and the doors include simulated wood grain in the tack boards.

The floor has board details on both sides. It has a plastic top with the underside a zinc alloy casting between the bolsters. The underframe and brake components are plastic, and extra weights are concealed atop the floor.

Accumate automatic knuckle couplers and horn-hook couplers are both included in the package. They’re easy to install in the coupler boxes molded into the extended ends of the simulated cushion underframe. The coupler box lids are secured with small Phillips head screws.

The free-rolling trucks have rigid acetal plastic frames which represent AAR 70-ton roller bearing types. All of the wheelsets have 33”-diameter turned nickel-silver wheels and needlepoint stub axles that are pressed into an acetal axle tube. The wheels have an RP-25 wheel contour and match the National Model Railroad Association’s standards gauge.

Model Railroader’s sample car weighs 4.75 ounces, about .5 ounce light compared to the NMRA Recommended Practice of one ounce plus .5 ounce per inch of length.

Our samples came neatly painted with sharp, opaque lettering.

These cars are an excellent addition to Atlas’ line of ready-to-run freight cars.