Atlas Undecorated N scale 50' Reefers... Decals?

[Kisatchie]

Isn't brown  roof and ends a PFE or FGE scheme? SFRDs had black. What kind of "yellow" are the cars? post a pic.

I just won these cars on eBay, and I haven't received them yet. Here is the eBay auction link:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/111740307074?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

I'm only showing the eBay picture (yellow color in pic may not be accurate) because I don't have a digital camera and thus can't post pictures of the cars when I finally get them.


Hmm... I could paint
a picture of the cars...

[Mark5]

I'm intrigued.  When were these cars introduced?

George

The Atlas model was tooled back in the 70s I think.

[glakedylan]

@Kisatchie

wow...what a bargain price! great deal. thankful you were able to find and purchase.
enjoy!

sincerely--
Gary

[Kisatchie]

@Kisatchie

wow...what a bargain price! great deal. thankful you were able to find and purchase.
enjoy!

Yeah!

I wondered what I'd do with so many shells, but I'm thinking I'll add Micro-Trains underframes, jewel cases and nests, then custom decal the cars for my Kisatchie, Gulf & Northern RR.

Of course, I don't need 100 more reefers, so I'll probably try to sell some here on TRW. Give me a few years to get 'em ready...


Hmm... I guess Kiz'll make
me dust off the cars for
years since they probably
won't sell...

[OldEastRR]

Those look like Fruit Growers Express paint schemes. FGE is the PFE of the eastern US. The prototypes of mech reeefers like this were introduced in the late '50s. Luckily for you, I just got MicroScale to issue a new set of FGE decals that are made for cars like this: 60-6015. A bonus for modelers is railroads who used FGE cars could have them lettered with the names and logos of that railroad, so a string of FGE reefers could be labeled for a bunch of different roads and thus look different (unlike PFE reefers). The decal sets have the various railroads markings to do this.

[nickelplate759]

The Atlas model was tooled back in the 70s I think.

Sorry, I meant when were the prototypes introduced.  You are correct about the Atlas version coming out in the 1970s - I have at least one I bought back then.

Regards,
George

[Mark5]

I think its narrowed down to R-70-6:

http://www.railgoat.railfan.net/spcars/byclass/reefer/r070-06.htm

Originally built 1946 for AMRX, then bought by PFE in 1950, then rebuilt to mechanical reefers in 1954.

Mark

See above for proto info on the Atlas car being discussed.

Mark

[Kisatchie]

...Luckily for you, I just got MicroScale to issue a new set of FGE decals that are made for cars like this: 60-6015. A bonus for modelers is railroads who used FGE cars could have them lettered with the names and logos of that railroad, so a string of FGE reefers could be labeled for a bunch of different roads and thus look different (unlike PFE reefers). The decal sets have the various railroads markings to do this.

I just went to the Microscale website, but they don't have set 60-6015 listed yet. Is it scheduled for release soon?


Hmm... by soon, Kiz means
within the next five years...

[nickelplate759]

See above for proto info on the Atlas car being discussed.

Mark

Very helpful, thanks.   A little googling, and I see that the R-70-5 is also very similar.

[nkalanaga]

OldEastRR:  As far as I know the prototype uses two tanks, and all of the models I've seen with tanks have two, so you're right.  That's the way I've done it all along, two blocks, one on each side.  A single block going all the way across would be considerably harder to fit.

I gave the same car pictured above painted for WFEX (GN), and there's one minor issue with installing tanks.  The underframe is a boxcar underframe, and the air brake parts are where the fuel tanks should be.  On the WFEX cars the brakes were more-or-less centered under the doors.

I found three ways to solve that, depending on how picky one is.  The simplest is to turn the floor around.  The brakes don't show when the car is on the track, so it won't make any difference to most people.  That's what I did.

One could swap floors, but that gets expensive, and I'm too cheap to do it.

Finally, one could carve all of the brake rigging off the floor and build new brakes.  That would look very nice, but then the rest of the car would need to be upgraded, and it would become a major project, especially if doing a fleet.  I'm too lazy for that.

[casmmr]

Kiz, I went to the micro scale web site and found 3 FGE decals; 60-1505, insulated 40' & 50' with MONON; 60-238, insulated 50' with many Eastern road names; and 60-450 out of stock it was solid cold.  Hope this helps out.  later Craig

[Kisatchie]

Kiz, I went to the micro scale web site and found 3 FGE decals; 60-1505, insulated 40' & 50' with MONON; 60-238, insulated 50' with many Eastern road names; and 60-450 out of stock it was solid cold.  Hope this helps out.  later Craig

Thanks.

The 60-1505 set I think is for insulated boxcars, not reefers. Atlas makes the FGE 50' box, which I have plenty of, so I'll need a couple of sets of the 60-1505s.

The same applies to the second set you listed. I already have a couple of those sets.

The third set is too late for me. I want to model 1971.


Hmm... that was the year
Walt Disney World opened
in Orlando, Florida...

[OldEastRR]

Looking at old photos, it appears the only difference in the paint/markings between the FGE insulated boxcars and the mech reefers was the word "Insulated" or "Refrigerator" to the right of the door. One decal sheet can do a bunch of mech reefers, the extra sheets no doubt you'll be just using the word "Refrigerator" off of them. FGE switched over from the "old-style" lettering to the "modern" style in the mid-50s.
The latest MS decals come with much-more detailed instruction sheets than the older sets. I assume the ones in the 60-1505 sets will be very helpful.
For the record, FGE started in 1953 getting mech reefers like this model in large numbers.

[OldEastRR]

About lettering these for your own road:
why not do like all the FGE member RRs did and put your reporting marks where "FGEX" would go on the regular FGE paint scheme? If you look at enough FGE cars you can see that they''ll look alike as far as lettering and color, except they'll be marked for "C&O", "PRR", "N&W" etc. Rather than make up a whole set of new decals for your RR use the standard FGE markings but put "KG&N" as the reporting marks and your own car number and you're set with minimum fuss and muss. You can get the N, &, and G as parts of the RRs names already on the sheets. Then they'll be cars from your RR. (or at least be leased by your RR).

[nkalanaga]

The GN's Western Fruit Express was allied with FGE, and many of their early cars were painted similar to FGE.  They had "Western Fruit Express" instead if Fruit Growers Express:, and WF?X initials, but the striping and lettering arrangement was the same.  So, if you want to have your own roads full name on the cars, you can still use much of the FGE decal set.  And, if you want your road to be associated with FGE, having at least a few of the cars lettered for FGE or other FGE-associated roads would be very prototypical.  Between all of that you should be able to pretty well use up the decal sheet.

I have the remains of a MS 60-238 set from years ago, and it also has four pair of "MECHANICAL REFRIGERATOR" labels, not just the "INSULATED" cars.  So it may also be useful.