Atlas 60' passenger cars shipping!

[wcfn100]

Try flipping the body end for end. They do go on only one way. (at least what was my experience earlier) Make sure the "glazing" is flush on the interior also.
 Joe D

It's nothing with assembly, the shells I have are bowed.  It's not a ton, but I can see it clearly with the naked eye, and a straight edge confirms it.  I'd bet it's all the cars, but if it's not noticeable to other people, history tells me it's best to just leave it alone.

Happy trees.

Jason

[thomasjmdavis]

Jason,
That is a fine eye you have.  I never would have seen it if you had not pointed it out.  But assuming you mean an end to end bow (slightly high, and I mean slightly, like maybe .005, in the center of the car), yep, it is there, checked with 2 straight edges just to be sure it isn't the particular straight edge.  But I am sure that I have a lot of cars that are worse, just haven't given them the degree of scrutiny I just gave the Atlas RPO.

Let me say, before going on, for @Atlas Paul or anyone else from Atlas reading, these are GREAT cars.  I certainly have never gone over a car this way before, and I am sure I am not saying anything your own crew hasn't already figured out.  Whatever is "wrong" with the cars is tiny by comparison to what is right with them.  My only "complaint" is that the initial run did not contain enough undecorated baggage cars, which is to say, please make more.

While I had the car out of the box to look for bowing, I thought I would take a look at the (6 wheel) trucks and why they don't roll as well as I would like.  It turned out, when I tried to spin them with a finger, the ones on the ends spun freely (spun for several seconds with the flick of a finger), and the one in the middle did not (only moved through a quarter or half rotation).  I found this was still true, even with the bolster pin removed. Put the trucks back on less the center axle, and the car rolls as well as my MT RPO.  Per my earlier "review"- the axle length of the Atlas wheelsets measures (on my RPO, anyway) .572, so I tried a shorter axle.  Unfortunately, I don't have any .563 axles in my spares box, but do have a lifetime supply of .553 plastic wheelsets.  These are too loose (would fall out) but do roll very well in the center axles (confirming that the center bearing is a tiny bit tighter than the ends), and I speculate that changing out the center wheelset for one that is .005 or .010 shorter would resolve any rolling issues on 6 wheel trucks. It is difficult to tell whether the trucks actually bow out a tiny bit on the ends, or there is just more plastic in the center, but there is zero side to side play in the center axle, and a few thousandths play in the outer axles. Although I think I will change out bolster pins as well, or "turn down" the head a bit to avoid any chance of it contacting the axle.

[Maletrain]

Well, it seems that the unlettered versions have sold out faster than my pre-order was filled.  I sure hope Atlas makes more unlettered versions in the same color for those of us who got shorted on the first production.

[Point353]

Well, it seems that the unlettered versions have sold out faster than my pre-order was filled.  I sure hope Atlas makes more unlettered versions in the same color for those of us who got shorted on the first production.

Which cars were you trying to find?

[wcfn100]

Jason,
That is a fine eye you have.  I never would have seen it if you had not pointed it out.  But assuming you mean an end to end bow (slightly high, and I mean slightly, like maybe .005, in the center of the car), yep, it is there, checked with 2 straight edges just to be sure it isn't the particular straight edge.  But I am sure that I have a lot of cars that are worse, just haven't given them the degree of scrutiny I just gave the Atlas RPO.

Yeah it's very slight and if you're going to run them out of the box, it's probably a non-issue.  But when planning a kit bash putting two cars together to make a 81' car, it could be an issue.

Jason

[thomasjmdavis]

Yeah it's very slight and if you're going to run them out of the box, it's probably a non-issue.  But when planning a kit bash putting two cars together to make a 81' car, it could be an issue.

Jason

I see your point.  Having done a few kitbashes myself, it is hard enough to get everything lined up and squared and glued up without major glue lines, even if the cars you start with are near perfect.  Hopefully, that first shipment sold well enough to encourage Atlas to make more, and we will see the production kinks worked out in future runs. 

[Maletrain]

Which cars were you trying to find?

I got shorted 1 coach from my order.  But, I found one elsewhere - it just cost me $5 extra to get it that way - and it was the only one left, where I found it.

So, I have the runners that I wanted.  But I will probably be in the market for bashing fodder.  In particular, I am thinking about a 60' RPO/baggage combine with a shortened RPO "apartment" that would be about right for my fantasy short line.

[Joetrain59]

I can't find an unlettered baggage car anywhere. Had one on order, along with a NH car from Hogtrainz. Order was confirmed. Saw my CC was charged, so I emailed Paul about the order shipping. Going out Thursday, but OOS on the unlettered! This has never happened to me before with a vendor. Let's hope it's just growing pains.
 Joe D

[Point353]

I can't find an unlettered baggage car anywhere. Had one on order, along with a NH car from Hogtrainz. Order was confirmed. Saw my CC was charged, so I emailed Paul about the order shipping. Going out Thursday, but OOS on the unlettered!

Walthers still shows the unlettered baggage car as in stock.
https://www.walthers.com/60-baggage-unlttrd-green

[thomasjmdavis]

I can't find an unlettered baggage car anywhere. Had one on order, along with a NH car from Hogtrainz. Order was confirmed. Saw my CC was charged, so I emailed Paul about the order shipping. Going out Thursday, but OOS on the unlettered! This has never happened to me before with a vendor. Let's hope it's just growing pains.
 Joe D

You can still find lettered cars at several dealers (at prices several bucks below what Walthers wants for an undec), so if you are willing to strip the paint, that might be another way to go.

As several of us predicted, unlettered cars in general, and unlettered baggage cars in particular, have been in high demand.  It looks as though Atlas "rationed" them as I am sure that MBK, which sold out of the unlettered baggage cars within a few hours of listing them (I put one in my "cart" with an RPO, and when I checked out 15 minutes later, it was gone), would have ordered more in the first place, or restocked by now, if they could.

[Lemosteam]

Note this is not a bash on Atlas, so no need to go there.

I was really looking forward to these models from a Kitbash/Keystone Details perspective, and I am sooo disappointed in this construction design.  Would have made a great core for a B60b if the roof was removable.  Can't easliy add an arched roof and because the roof is cast flush with the side, you can't easily design an etched overlay as you would have to mill and undercut to fit the overlay.

 

Maybe I could make another Polar Express.... NOT!

[Atlas Paul]

You can still find lettered cars at several dealers (at prices several bucks below what Walthers wants for an undec), so if you are willing to strip the paint, that might be another way to go.

As several of us predicted, unlettered cars in general, and unlettered baggage cars in particular, have been in high demand.  It looks as though Atlas "rationed" them as I am sure that MBK, which sold out of the unlettered baggage cars within a few hours of listing them (I put one in my "cart" with an RPO, and when I checked out 15 minutes later, it was gone), would have ordered more in the first place, or restocked by now, if they could.

1) As we always do on the initial run of a product, the cushion quantity (order above reservations) was a multitude higher than a rerun.  There was no rationing of product.

2) Another run with new road names as well as painted/unlettered will be announced in the very near future.

[thomasjmdavis]

@Atlas Paul
I apologize for speculating. And "rationing" was probably a poor choice of words on my part.  As it happens, I was at your website a little while ago, and read the note on Atlas' production and pre-order standards which is very helpful in figuring out how Atlas does things, which is different from how several other manufacturers approach design-production-pre order- delivery.

Good to hear that more will be available before too long, along with more roadnames.

Tom D

[OldEastRR]

Atlas tried, but still .... for an item like this, a heavyweight 60' baggage car which has been needed in N scale for a long time, certainly anyone with any knowledge of N scale history would realize that there would be an elastic demand for the item. Same with the KATO UP 10-6. So with other cars. I understand manufacturers have a phobia about warehousing a huge stock of something, but some items are NOT like GG1s or DL109s, so even producing a "standard" run of much wanted items seems pretty short-sighted.

[SkipGear]

A bit late to the party. I bought the C&O set when it came out. Figured it would be a nice short train for N-Trak shows. We have a show coming up this weekend so I decided to pull them out and see how they ran before the show.

The cars look great, a little more proportional than the Bachmann cars with 1000% better paint however the wheels are the worst wheels I have seen on an N scale car to date. The older Athearn wheels used to hold that honor but but these have eclipsed the Athearn wheels. As someone mentioned earlier, they run rough. Looking closely at the wheels, they are not smooth round wheels. they have small flakes, almost like a wheel that has hours and hours of crud build up on it, but this crud is molded into the wheel. So disappointing on a car set that I really didn't want to put any effort into.

What ended up being the best solution for wheels?