Atlas announces new PS-1

[Sokramiketes]

Finally, right Jason?

http://www.model160.com/2012/01/28/springfield-2012-atlas-announces-new-ps-1-boxcar-tooling/

[MichaelWinicki]

I thought Atlas was out of the N-scale business... Or so we've been led to believe. 

[Catt]

To old for my railroad,but it certainly looks like it will make a lot of folks happy.

[wm3798]

Oh my.  I wonder what the MSRP on these will be?  That's a damn fine looking car, and the introduction of metal wheels as a standard is pretty exciting stuff, too.
Lee

[Chris333]

HaHa love it.

So what is the earliest for this one?  Wasn't the MT PS1 from around 1956?

[davefoxx]

That's great news and, at first glance, it looks nice.  I can't tell what ride height is like from those angles, but hopefully the model rides nice and low.  Bodymounted couplers and etched metal running boards: excellent!  Kudos to Atlas.

Depending on roadnames, this is the kind of release that continues to tempt me to backdate to the mid- to late-1950s pre-merger era (think ACL, SAL, RF&P) when first generation diesel locomotives were still on the mainline.  I did recently bag an RF&P FP7A and F7B, and I have always been tempted by the purple and silver ACL FT units when those come available on the 'Bay every now and then.

Anyhow, back on topic.  Interestingly, the stirrups on that preproduction model PS-1 box car must be fairly durable, because one is bent almost to a 40 or 45 degree angle and hasn't yet broken off.

DFF

[Dave V]

Wow, Atlas!  That's awesome.

PRR had a few of these.

[inkaneer]

If they would only do something with that Joe Palooka boxing glove coupler.  It sticks out so far that it looks like a left jab.  You can talk about ride height, metal wheels, body mounts, wire grabs and etched roof walks but the most obviously ridiculous features are the coupler size and the coupling distance between cars.  Fix those and the car's appearance improves 100%.

[BCR 570]

This is very significant news, as it I believe this is the first new tooling announcement from Atlas since the manufacturing upheaval in China.  It means that finally we may be turning a corner with respect to re-establishing tooling and production of hte models we want to see.  The etched parts, body mount couplers and metal wheels are all positive developments which are quickly becoming the new standard.

I notice from the photographs that like the venerable Micro-Trains car, this model will have welded sides.  Did any PS-1 production have riveted sides?  I ask this because for Canadian modellers it is the only significant difference I can think of between a U.S. PS1 and the NSC 40 foot boxcar, especially if they are planning to offer the eight foot YSD door as seen on the display board behind the model.  I will be interested to see the ride height which is a major drawback with the Micro-Trains car.  Well done Atlas!


Tim

[sirenwerks]

This is cause for great celebration! 3rd Q of 2012 though? (Add to that industry requisite delays) How am I gonna wait that long?

[wm3798]

You could always use the time to build a layout, Bry...

[asarge]

For the era(s) the car represents.t would be easier to name the schemes that were not done. Atlas will get an awful lot of cars out of that tooling. Great job!

[Philip H]

These look really nice, but I need undecs to do MOW service in the 1990's.

[lashedup]

Looks good!

[Mark5]

If they would only do something with that Joe Palooka boxing glove coupler.  It sticks out so far that it looks like a left jab. 

Will need to see this one up close but all of the newly tooled trucks have had the coupler sticky out thing corrected. Hey wait, these are body mounted! 

Big move on the good looking metal wheelsets too (the existing Atlas N metal wheels didn't impress me)  - I've been looking at a lot of HO Atlas stuff lately and was thinking that the N scale Atlas wheelsets were lagging behind ... nice!

Mark