Athearn Rio Grande 2600 airslide hoppers prototypical

[dsumner]

I really think the just released Athearn Rio Grande 2600 airslide hoppers are a neat car.  I have looked online at several sources trying to determine whether they are prototypical, without luck.  Does anyone have any information re. this particular release??

[bryan9]

I can answer this question with respect to the 2600 cu. ft. airslides owned by the D&RGW.  The model appears to be quite faithful to the prototype. However, I don't think the Athearn model is enough of an improvement over the very good Atlas  version of the same car to justify its much higher price.  Athearn's etched metal walkways are thinner, but they're more prone to warping, as the publicity photos(!)  for D&RGW #18103 clearly show (see the link below). I'm not a fan of the McHenry couplers, which seem especially oversized on this car. If you look carefully at the photo linked below, it seems that the stepladders are rather crudely molded, at least in comparison to today's standards.

Here's a link to a reasonably high-resolution pic of the Athearn's D&RGW #18103: 
http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/PhotoDetails.asp?ShowDESC=N&ProductCode=ATH-23062

--Bryan (Charlottesville, VA)

[asarge]

But what if you want the D&RGW Airslide and the Atlas car isn't available?

 I'm no fan of the price spikes either, but if it's a car I want and no other option is currently availble, I'm likely to spend the cash on it. Just may not be able to buy multiple cars and I might not be willing to spend $30+ to have multiple cars with the same number or change numbers.

[Sokramiketes]

There's the Atlas car, which is awful.  Thick roof, poorly rendered hatches, diagonal end bracing not in correct spot, ladders twice as thick as Athearn's, poorly rendered airlines at bottom, etc.

The Atlas car is much older tooling, and fine for its time, but life has improved now that the Athearn car is out. 

[sirenwerks]

If you look carefully at the photo linked below, it seems that the stepladders are rather crudely molded, at least in comparison to today's standards.

Um, the Atlas car's ladders are worse.