Atlas 60' passenger cars shipping!

[Joetrain59]

Just got an email from Hogtrainz that he tried to ship my order, but CC needed to be updated.
 Joe D

[mu26aeh]

yep, got my PayPal notice for payment.  With the Athearn LPG tankers coming, it's like Xmas in April 

[Point353]

An initial a report on another forum about the cars rolling qualities is not encouraging.

[Maletrain]

An initial a report on another forum about the cars rolling qualities is not encouraging.

Replacing wheels or trucks seems like one of the easiest fixes.  Still waiting to see how the detail really looks - especially in comparison to the old Bachmann "shorties".

[brokemoto]

Still waiting to see how the detail really looks - especially in comparison to the old Bachmann "shorties".

The same complainant who posted his complaints on a different forum also states that the detail on the Atlas ain't all that much gooder than on that thar'
B-mann.

A well known large Atlantic Seaboard e-Tailer who also has a brick and mortar establishment has most of the sets as well as single cars.  If it has any of the painted/unlettered sets, they are not showing on its website.  It has single cars in painted/unlettered, but has run out of painted/unlettered coaches, already (SURPRISE!).  That is not a big deal, as I am more interested in the combine and head end cars, anyhow, which I did order.  Also, I ordered two of the open deck observation cars.  I plan to cut them up and bash either a CNJ coach or a Lackawanna Boonton.  Likely it will be the former, as someone does sell CNJ passenger decals.  Never have I seen any Delay, Linger and Wait passenger car decals in N scale.  I did forget to order a Can't and Never Will baggage car for my mail trains.  According to Atlas, all of the cars, except the open deck observation, are based on C&NW cars.

[mu26aeh]

The same complainant who posted his complaints on a different forum also states that the detail on the Atlas ain't all that much gooder than on that thar'
B-mann.

A well known large Atlantic Seaboard e-Tailer who also has a brick and mortar establishment has most of the sets as well as single cars.  If it has any of the painted/unlettered sets, they are not showing on its website.  It has single cars in painted/unlettered, but has run out of painted/unlettered coaches, already (SURPRISE!).  That is not a big deal, as I am more interested in the combine and head end cars, anyhow, which I did order.  Also, I ordered two of the open deck observation cars.  I plan to cut them up and bash either a CNJ coach or a Lackawanna Boonton.  Likely it will be the former, as someone does sell CNJ passenger decals.  Never have I seen any Delay, Linger and Wait passenger car decals in N scale.  I did forget to order a Can't and Never Will baggage car for my mail trains.  According to Atlas, all of the cars, except the open deck observation, are based on C&NW cars.

I don't think Atlas released the undec/painted cars as sets.  They were only listed as the individual cars.

[nickelplate759]

The same complainant who posted his complaints on a different forum also states that the detail on the Atlas ain't all that much gooder than on that thar'
B-mann.

A well known large Atlantic Seaboard e-Tailer who also has a brick and mortar establishment has most of the sets as well as single cars.  If it has any of the painted/unlettered sets, they are not showing on its website.  It has single cars in painted/unlettered, but has run out of painted/unlettered coaches, already (SURPRISE!).  That is not a big deal, as I am more interested in the combine and head end cars, anyhow, which I did order.  Also, I ordered two of the open deck observation cars.  I plan to cut them up and bash either a CNJ coach or a Lackawanna Boonton.  Likely it will be the former, as someone does sell CNJ passenger decals.  Never have I seen any Delay, Linger and Wait passenger car decals in N scale.  I did forget to order a Can't and Never Will baggage car for my mail trains.  According to Atlas, all of the cars, except the open deck observation, are based on C&NW cars.

DL&W decals ARE available - check here: http://primemoverdecals.com/dcaltemp.html?code=1&field=DLW
You'll need to scroll down past the HO stuff.

I've used their streamlined DL&W decals and they are good!

[thomasjmdavis]

That large Atlantic Seaboard retailer snatched the baggage car out of my shopping cart and sold it to one of you guys.  But I have an RPO coming.  My own fault in the sense that I took to long shopping, but that would have gone much faster if said retailer had not erased my wish list and if they had grouped Peco track joiners with Peco track.  Grrrr.

Actually, the detail on Bachmanns, at least some, was not that bad once you stripped the paint (which was almost as thick as Walthers used on their recent SW1200 MILW).  They may have touched up the tooling when they brought them out as a multi car set ("plus"? 'spectrum"?), but I have a car body here somewhere that looks pretty good.

[Maletrain]

I am waiting to see what the Atlas cars look like sitting beside the old Bachmann cars.  Unfortunately, the old Bachmann "Shorties" have a slightly scrunched look about them, especially in the doors.  Apparently, they were something like 65' prototypes that were shortened to about 60' (but the extra-large coupled distance puts the OAL back to about 65').

The other attraction to Atlas is the RPO window arrangement, which is much closer to transition era prototypes than the MTL RPO. 

It is too bad that the Atlas shorties seem to be a one-shot product, not a "staple" car that can be bought for a decade or more.  I was hoping that the "Trainman" sales model would be followed to make sure that the Atlas shorties are usually available, because I think they will provide a good starting point for "bashing" as well as provide for passenger trains that can accommodate 9-3/4" radius curves.

[thomasjmdavis]

It is too bad that the Atlas shorties seem to be a one-shot product, not a "staple" car that can be bought for a decade or more.  I was hoping that the "Trainman" sales model would be followed to make sure that the Atlas shorties are usually available, because I think they will provide a good starting point for "bashing" as well as provide for passenger trains that can accommodate 9-3/4" radius curves.

Why do they "seem to be a one-shot product"?  All the other Trainman stuff comes out the same way, nowadays.  I think what we are seeing is just that there is a lot of pent up demand, and the first shipment is rather small. There have been delays (based on the original estimates given when the cars were announced), which can make the rush to purchase worse.

My own suspicion is that the coaches and combines will not do that well, because the market is so saturated with the Bachmann product, and because there just are not very many prototype roads that had 60' cars, and the C&NW is the only one that comes to mind that was large and has a large model railroad following.

The baggage cars and RPOs, however, would be readily sustainable and could be put in rotation like Trainman boxcars- different roads each time. 

What would be the rationale, given Atlas way of doing things, for investing in tooling for 5 cars, and only doing one run?

[Ngineer]

That large Atlantic Seaboard retailer snatched the baggage car out of my shopping cart and sold it to one of you guys.

Their new shopping system is a mess.   

It takes to search every item you want. With their old shopping system, you could browse through all of their N-scale models. That is impossible with the new shopping system. And yes, they erased my shopping cart, too.

   Javier

[Chris333]

Funny all I wanted was the coach and combine. I added them to my cart yesterday, they are still in my cart even though they are out of stock. Wonder if I check out will I get them?  No biggie, I'll wait for back ups.

[Maletrain]

Why do they "seem to be a one-shot product"?

I don't know one way or the other.  But, the "pre-order" and rollout to "customers in good standing" seems more like what is done with limited runs.

[narrowminded]

So just how foobed is the whole C&O set as it comes and what era might be appropriate for that paint scheme?  I ask because the door layout I have to run on has some pretty tight radius curves and the heavyweights just look wrong on them.  To my untrained eye for the prototypical detail the appearance rolling through the curves is enough that it bugs me to run them. 

I have seven to ten cars each of the old Rivarossi heavyweights as well as Bachmann shorties.  The shorties don't have that inherently wrong look about them that the heavyweights do and for an occasional run I would be inclined to run a shorty set whereas the heavyweights are a no go for me.  But to satisfy my discerning eye I would like to at least have the wheels on the bottom and the colors near right.

[chessie system fan]

For C&O, the rpo is correct, and the baggage car is probably correct (or at least close enough).   The rest are foobs.   But if short curves are an issue, then you might as well grab the rest.  In the late transition era, C&O mostly had light weight coaches.

It's possible to make a good C&O passenger train now!

Atlas rpo
Atlas/WOT baggage cars
Centralia/ROWA coaches
ROWA sleepers
ROWA observation

The only things missing are a diner and an E8.

I'm patiently waiting for the B&O cars.