Atlas 3 Rail Trucks for old Atlas 2 rail 50' gondola??

Are you staying with three rail couplers or going Kadee? If going Kadee just take the coupler off and use the trucks. going the other way I use old Weaver trucks, just plug the hole in the car with a wood dowel and drill new center hole to fit screw for weaver trucks.

thats what I do. I like that older Atlas/Pola rolling stock have a bunch of it. If you have the ones I'm thinking of those couplers should work for you with three rail or Kadee.

 

Is the gondola like this one?

 

If so, then for what it's worth, these cars will run just fine with your 3-rail track and rolling stock unmodified. I did it all the time with no compatibility issues.

 

---PCJ

 

 

I learned my lesson once buying an odd coupler car. I would avoid the old, non-compatible Atlas O. Even the box car bottom frames are different from today’s Atlas. Shells are not interchangeable either. It probably could be modified but not worth the effort in my opinion.

Weaver 3 rail trucks and couplers work great on those old atlas cars.

I you want, you can also pop out those plastic wheel sets and pop in metal ones. Then body mount any coupler you choose.

They need no modification at all, and I run them with everything else; I like the Atlas plastic trucks - they look great - better than some of the new ones. The couplers

have a failure rate equal to or better than the "correct" couplers.

If the car is not heavy enough, put some weight in it. That's why we have lead. I buy

the older cars when I see them, and they are usually under-appreciated.

 

I bought one years ago that had no trucks; I glued a bit of styrene sprue from a kit

in the larger hole, drilled it, and mounted Weaver trucks.

 

BTW, these cars continue to live - at least the bodies, do - in the Atlas Trainman line.

There are some new T'man cars now, but at least the gons and plug-door boxcars

are from this 1960's tooling (put them side-by-side). There was a nice stockcar,

also. The frame mounting methods are different.

 

I just bought a GN boxcar (P&D Hobby Shop custom run) at auction from the 70's. Runs well, looks good.

Trainbrain……... if you need those trucks and couplers I have some. Let me know and I will mail them.

 

Clem

 

What I do is take the under frame off and cut the end part off where the trucks mount. Next I drill a 1/4" hole directly into the bottom of these gondolas- then I use 3-rail MTH trucks or you can also mount Kadee couplers directly in place. This makes for a very low riding car and they look great!!

Weaver 3 rail trucks and couplers don't really look all that great on those old Atlas cars.

Weaver die-cast T&C's make the car body higher. Couplers are not even next to the later Atlas O T-Man on the left.

Prices on used T-man's are about the same. Why spend another 16.00 to add T&C's on those old cars?

I believe the Atlas aftermarket trucks come with the plug to go into the hole in the old Atlas-Roco cars. The catch is do you want to spend $20 or the couplers and another $15 for the car when you can probably find a Trainman Gon on eBay for about the same money?