ATLAS 5161 CVD HOPPER SCHEME

Interesting... and I'll take the "Death Star" too!

lets be honest. although the most selling hopper, it lacks a lot of prototypical paint schemes out in the 1:1

Thanks for the other photos,nice cars.

The 5161s are a relatively new car to the Railroad Industry in comparison to the 4750 & 4600 cu ft grain hoppers. I think those cars are the backbone of the grain industry yet today & probably for many years ahead.

I saw a whole train of 3281's last evening,doubtful Atlas will ever make a model of that car.

Al Hummel

Also, keep in mind it's easy to mix up the FCA and Gunderson/Greenbriar variations of these popular C114 AAR class 3 bay covered hoppers.  I believe in most cases Atlas has left off the Trinity Industries markings of popular cars such as the KCS belle scheme, but there are so many schemes of these cars, along with the 2 and 4 bay versions that Atlas could have a winner for many decades to come!

With the downturn in rail traffic, many class 1 railroads also have started to release portions of their 5166 fleet, such as a recent spot of a freshly patched STLX (Tate & Lyle) ex BNSF Swoosh.    Many of these now 2nd hand 5166 cars are replacing those lower capacity mainstays of 4750's, etc.

Alan Hummel posted:

Thanks for the other photos,nice cars.

The 5161s are a relatively new car to the Railroad Industry in comparison to the 4750 & 4600 cu ft grain hoppers. I think those cars are the backbone of the grain industry yet today & probably for many years ahead.

I saw a whole train of 3281's last evening,doubtful Atlas will ever make a model of that car.

Al Hummel

Al,  Let's keep a positive outlook on those 3281's and 6351's from Atlas.  Would be VERY easy for them to take what they have and modify for the 2-bay version and a 4 bay version, at least drawing wise. Reduce the upfront cost for designing a whole new car

Atlas will continue to run repainted and popular paint schemes as long as they reserve out, do to ever rising costs on an all ready expensive car I would not fore see  a smaller version. Any thing new in a Masterline car to this level of detail would be a different car, think centerbeam flat car [a brass importer is talking one at $500 ea] or something unique that they have done in their HO/N line. Interesting fact the Evans 53' DD box car has been run 10 times since 2000?

I would like to see Atlas O make their HO and N scale "shorty Beer" tank cars come to O scale! I also would like to see some Scale 2 Bay Covered hoppers OTHER than PS2!

The are no question many prototype cars that could be made by Atlas, let's hope they continue to monitor the forum and requests at shows to bring these sought after cars to us sooner rather than later!

I'd definitely like to see a 73' Centerbeam myself, but also interested in more of everything we see today! ... LOL!

Unfortunately,"wishing"&"receiving" seem to be in opposite corners of the"ring." This GREATLY saddens me,especially when I look at new & rerun products in the HO section of the Atlas Catalog,it's like "WOW"! It's like visiting 2 different worlds compared to the O section.

I understand the manufacturer's dilemma,"no demand,no profit,no product", but what I DON'T UNDERSTAND,is when modelers commit to a product,the GP-40-2 is a good example,and the sales would be there,why no effort is made to develop this. Another thing that has to change is going years after a model is announced with no product. This isn't doing anyone any good. Evidently it takes a brain surgeon to change this situation. 

The thing I can say with absolute certainty,is if we lose hope,regardless what we're facing,the race is over.

 Al Hummel

Mike DeBerg,

Something just came to me & maybe it's not a NEW model,but at least retooled&that's the Atlas O 50ft DBL Door boxcar. It has external grab irons & no roofwalk. it's a VERY sweet looking model. If Atlas can up date a model,or as their Lit says,"new model," what's 1 have to do to get a new model of other designs? Or is it that the quote "modern era" models don't sell? I don't think the latter is the case as the Hobby Dealer I bought my last 5201 CSX cars from,quoted,"They're a VERY big seller."

What you thinking here folks?

Al Hummel

Mike DeBerg posted:

...

I'd definitely like to see a 73' Centerbeam myself, but also interested in more of everything we see today! ... LOL!

You mean like these? These are old MTH Center Beam flats that pop up on eBay from time to time. The old ones have the trucks at the ends to handle sharp curves. The later ones used longer coupler arms and had the trucks in the right place and are easier to convert. I put bolsters in the right place and used Weaver plastic equalized trucks with 36" wheels. They'll negotiate 36" radius just fine (the trestle is 48" radius, though). I picked up the loads off eBay and they're glued in place. At some point I'll strap them down. The "opera window" cars are harder to find.

Matt,

Those are the ones.  If MTH would add a little more detail to the last run of these, I would be happy, but would prefer an Atlas Master car with all the details like only Atlas can seem to do in O Scale.  Like they did on their HO version of this car!

Nice centerbeams!! MTH has a lot of nice cars but need more "to Prototype" details like ladders,airlines,etc.

Al Hummel

Alan Hummel posted:

Nice centerbeams!! MTH has a lot of nice cars but need more "to Prototype" details like ladders,airlines,etc.

Al Hummel

 

Thanks. Atlas definitely does better with the details. The down side of that is you have to be more careful handling the cars as they can sometimes be fragile. I'm going back and forth about whether I want to convert a batch of MTH auto racks with a similar configuration or if I just want to sell them off.