Atlas Model Railroad Co. Product Review

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This review was taken from the March, 2003 issue of Model Railroader Magazine and is reproduced with permission of Kalmbach Publishing Company, Waukesha, WI.

N SCALE ACF INSULATED 11,000-GALLON TANK CARS

Review by David Popp

Atlas has released a series of ready-to-run plastic tank cars that are offered decorated in private-owner road names with or without dome platforms. They include solid-bearing 50-ton trucks and Accumate magnetic knuckle couplers

These models follow American Car & Foundry’s insulated 11,000-gallon liquefied petroleum gas car designs as built in the late 1940s and early ‘50s. The cars are similar to ACF’s type-27 10,500-gallon pressurized tank cars built to carry liquid propane (LP) and butane, but reflect changes the firm made in the design after World War II. These later tank cars, officially designated ICC-105A-300W, had insolated fusion-welded tanks with a pressure rating of 300 pounds per square inch. ACF also built variations of the car to haul other liquefied gasses.

The Atlas models closely follow the dimensions give in the Railway Prototype Cyclopedia Vol. 7 (RPP CYC Publishing Co.). Dimensions for the post-World War II cars were similar to those of the earlier type-27 cars, except that the tank diameter was increased from 85” to 89 ¼” and the original overall car length of 40’-5” was shortened by two feet.

Like many of the firm’s newer offerings, Atlas has provided some nice features with this fully assembled model. The tank car comes with appropriate 50-ton solid-bearing trucks molded in black acetal plastic; it also includes the firm’s low-profile wheelsets, which will work with Atlas’s Code 55 track. The free-rolling wheelsets were all in gauge, and their dirty rust-brown color, though shiny, gives them a realistic appearance. The car’s truck-mounted Accumate couplers are molded in the same rust-brown plastic.

The fragile-looking handrails, ladders, platform safety railings, and grab irons are all cast in flexible acetal plastic and seems to easily withstand handling. An especially nice feature is that the handrail that runs all the way around the tank is cast as one piece, and is therefore very durable.

Our sample cars were neatly painted with clean separation lines between colors. I was able to find prototype photos for two of the paint schemes offered by Atlas, and the markings on the models were consistent with their real-life counterparts. The printed lettering on the cars is crisp and finely detailed. Though some of it is only readable using a magnifying glass, you can actually read every word!

The car weighs 1 ounce, which is very close to the National Model Railroad Association standard of .95 ounce for a car with size (.5 ounce plus .15 ounces per inch of car length).

Atlas has produced another high quality freight car that will be right at home on any model railroad set in the late 1940s to the early ‘60s.

N Scale ACF Tank Car

Price $14.95 each

Manufacturer:

Atlas Model Railroad Co.

378 Florence Avenue

Hillside, NJ 07205

www.atlasrr.com

Description:

Ready-to-run plastic tank car with Accumate magnetic knuckle couplers

Road Names:

(All cars are available in two road numbers and an undecorated version).

• Tank car without platform: California Despatch Line, Sturtevant Mill Co., and Warren

Petroleum Corp.

• Tank car with platform: Associated Cooperatives Inc., Fuelane Corp., Gulf Oil Corp.,

Hooker Chemicals, Pyrofax Bottled Gas, Republic, Shell Chemical, Shippers Car Line, Sid

Richardson Gasoline Corp., Sunray, Tank Gas Corp., and Union Tank Car