Atlas buys Walthers tooling

[conrail1973]

This is great news!!  I will be looking forward to an announcement for the following (fingers crossed):

NYSW GP18's 1800, 1802, 1804

NYSW SW9 120

CR and/or PC SW9/1200

Cryogen Reefers

and if they have the tooling for the C424...DH, ME, and any shortline that got ahold of them.

[EspeeGoldenState]

I need about a dozen or so undec ballast cars and few Difco side dumps.

At least Walthers sold the tooling instead of letting it rot away. Hopefully between Lowell and Atlas we end up with a resurgent N scale market.

Chris

[peteski]

VERY useful  - if you model NKP 
(the 0-8-0 is also useful if you model NKP of course)

0-8-0 is important to B&M Modelers.
B&M also had Coffin feed-water heater Berks, but the LifeLike model was a bit different.

[up1950s]

Could it be that Atlas bought the tooling so Bachmann couldn't and apply those prices printed with helium based ink ? I wonder if Walthers will drop N everything . My guess is Atlas will not use many if not all of the dies . Knowing that they will not be stepping on any toes because they own the rights , do redesigns on some stuff to keep mechanisms Atlas with shared Atlas parts . I further guess Atlas will do the models members of The Railwire request the most .

[ljudice]

Even though already have one good PD hopper, it would be nice to have two body styles to pick from.

PD5000 covers 1990's and earlier - -  and some more colorful schemes.....

[daniel_leavitt2000]

My worry is that since if the cars: NACC box, PD5000, ballast hoppers are too crude and Atlas will abandon them rather than spend the money to update them. The NACC box has rivets 6+ inches LONG in some places near the door. Both hoppers would need totally new end details plus a roof walkway for the PD car. The ballast car has very bulky weights and I doubt it could be remedied easily.

I think the bay window caboose is on the cusp: new under frame, window glass and end rails. But they could sell. These are the same prototype that Bluflord is making.

The Thrall container cars are a no-brainer. They need milled articulated joints and etched details replacing the crappy plastic. A good model would easily sell $100 at the shop.

The cryo body is excellent but the under frame is garbage. That would be a fairly easy fix. I imagine they could also do a refrigerator conversion as well.

The PS covered hopper won't need much to be in the Trainman line.

The side dump, Greenville hopper and Russell plow could make it to the master line with little modification.

Maybe we'll see the rebirth of the 50' autobox. Without warped doors this time.

Does this mean Atlas will have X72s?!

[PiperguyUMD]

+1 

What’s a guy gotta do to get a few fireballs!?

[unittrain]

Great news indeed  hoping to see the C424, also the C425 is a much needed Alco in N scale lots of good road names could be done.

[CBQ Fan]

I just hope Atlas finds a way to get additional production capacity. Having more products to force through the same small funnel is pointless. They can’t produce what they already have timely. I expect by the time a lot of this Walthers stuff comes to market most willmhave forgotten Walthers ever produced N let alone remember who Life Like was!

[Ngineer]

Atlas, please make the 10-6 sleeper available. Please make the 10-6 sleeper available. Pretty please.

I need at least one in C&O colors and perhaps one in Illionois Central colors for my California Zephyr.

   Javier

[randgust]

I think Walthers proved that they couldn't sell to the N market at the prices they thought.

Atlas' tendency to rerun ad-infinitum with a new paint scheme should keep them busy for another 20 years, and the paint quality is first rate even if some of the older tooling isn't.  There are gems and stumps in there.  It doesn't solve the problem of Chinese production unless, by some miracle, this deal actually includes all the tooling and it can be relocated to another production site.   

Hmmm.   I've had a bunch of SW's, the Berk, a 424 (original Canadian), GP20.   The only flaw I ever attributed to all LL production was an odd wheel alloy that got better tractive effort than slippery Atlas, but tended to corrode up and seemed to need cleaning more, then fine for a long time. 

Just think.  Atlas now has a PA.  And the real historic mess of all LL- NO FREAKIN PARTS - might be addressed as well.

But on the downside, the incentive to invest more money in any completely new tooling?  Well.... you may never see that RSD15 at least from them.

[sd45elect2000]

Atlas, please make the 10-6 sleeper available. Please make the 10-6 sleeper available. Pretty please.

I need at least one in C&O colors and perhaps one in Illionois Central colors for my California Zephyr.

   Javier

Atlas did not buy Walthers passeneger stuff, Lowell Smith did a while back...


I was getting used to my custom painted Milwaukee Erie Built ABA sets being worth a mint....

I'll miss all the offers to buy them from train show folks.


RSS

[thomasjmdavis]

Atlas, please make the 10-6 sleeper available. Please make the 10-6 sleeper available. Pretty please.

I need at least one in C&O colors and perhaps one in Illionois Central colors for my California Zephyr.

   Javier

Javier-
See the Lowell Smith "On Track" at the bottom of this webpage and check out the "Railsmith" button on the webpage header:
https://lowellsmith.net/

He also has a survey to help him determine future releases: https://lowellsmith.net/railsmith-fan-survey/

[mplsjct]

I might be the only one, but I’d sure like to see Atlas run a bunch of the old Walthers 4427 hoppers, even under the Trainman line.

Exactrail sure doesn’t seem interested in making more.

[Mark5]

For the record, thanks to @spookshow , here's a list of locomotives they just picked up:

0-8-0 USRA Switcher
2-8-4 Van Sweringen Berkshire
2-8-8-2 USRA Mallet
Alco C-424
Alco DL-109
Alco FA-1 & FB-1
Alco FA-2 & FB-2
Alco PA-1 & PB-1
Alco RS-2
EMD BL2
EMD E6A
EMD E7A & E7B
EMD E8A & E8B
EMD GP18
EMD GP20
EMD GP38-2
EMD GP60
EMD SD7/9
EMD SW8/900/600
EMD SW9/1200
Fairbanks-Morse C-Liner A & B
Fairbanks-Morse Erie-Built A & B

The C424 might not be included, but god damn I hope it is.

Minor correction